AcuFeed Flex Single VD Foot – Accessory Of The Month February 2019

 

In addition to the original twin type, single type feet can now be used, expanding sewing possibilities. The single AcuFeed foot is great for those crafty projects which have some bulk but lets you get in close to sew a narrower area as well as the edge of cloth.

This Accessory of the Month has a bonus project for you to make.

Download brochure here

 

Overcast Foot (M) – Accessory Of The Month January 2019

 

Use with an overcasting stitch to allow thread to wrap around the edge of the fabric to prevent unrav-elling. The foot guides the fabric and keeps your edges flat by compensating for the lack of friction when the needle makes the right-most stitch. Particularly good for finishing off medium to heavy-weight, easily frayed woven fabrics such as tweed, gabardine, and linen.

This Accessory of the Month has a bonus project for you to make.

Download brochure here

 

Buttonholes With A Snug Fit

 

When it comes to buttonholes, the perfect fit is key. Long gone are the days when you need to manually mark out the size of each buttonhole, making it a guessing game as to whether you’ll actually have a reliable closure on your garments.

Many of Janome’s modern sewing machines today come equipped with a one-step buttonhole foot and a stabilizer plate for effortless buttonhole creation. You can sew buttonholes of the appropriate size by simply placing your button into the button holder of the foot and pushing the clamp right up against the button. The foot will measure the size of your button and ensure the buttonhole is made to the correct size.

Button placed into the foot – this does the sizing of the buttonhole automatically for you.

When the buttonhole foot is attached to the buttonhole stabilizer plate, the machine will feed various kinds of fabric and uneven layers more smoothly instead of eating the fabric or causing the needle to get stuck in position.

If you have an older model, you might have a one-step buttonhole foot which looks similar to the one pictured below, except that it may not have the more advanced feature of lengthening or shortening the buttonhole.

This upgraded one-step buttonhole foot comes standard with all 9mm Janome sewing machine models. Basically, it allows you to tweak the length of your buttonhole slightly to accommodate knit/stretch fabrics or domed buttons.

By adjusting the screw to the left or right, the marker will move to L – for long, or S –  for short, thereby increasing or decreasing the buttonhole length.

When working with knit fabrics, such as a stretchy T-shirt which may be more prone to tugs and pulls or get stretched during a machine wash cycle, a slightly shorter buttonhole will ensure the button remains securely in place once buttoned.

A shorter buttonhole on knit fabric can prevent the button from slipping out.

On the other hand, if you’re dealing with heavy fabric or using domed, thicker, or handmade buttons, you may require a larger button hole.

Have you ever measured your button, sewn your buttonhole, only to find that it still isn’t big enough?

This is often the case when the thickness of the button hasn’t been taken into consideration. For example, a dome shaped button might be 1/2″ wide from end to end, but if you measure across the dome you will notice that it is slightly longer.

To take the thickness of the button into account just add a little length to your buttonhole to accommodate the button. You can adjust your one-step buttonhole foot slightly by adjusting the marker to the L position.

The upgraded one-step buttonhole foot and stabilizer plate are great tools to have for making all the difference when sewing buttonholes.

If your machine does not come with them or is not of a compatible model, you are most welcome to discuss your options with an authorised Janome stockist, who might suggest upgrading to a machine which offers these fantastic features.

 

A Brief History of Janome Australia

 

Janome Australia was incorporated in NSW on November, 1969 and soon after set up the first State and Head Office in Sydney at 10 Martin Place under the guidance of our first Managing Director Mr Charlie Yamamoto and his Sales Manager Mr Graham Hodgeson. In 1971, the head office was moved to Melbourne at 42 Levanswell Road, Moorabbin.

In the early years while Janome was establishing itself in Victoria the other States were very well looked after by our agents being:

New South Wales – Cameo Machining Co

Queensland – Walters Import

South Australia – W D Taylor

Western Australia – Max Shaw

During the 1960’s and 1970’s particularly in Melbourne, Myer had a huge influence both as a shop window as well as a sales outlet.  Graham Hodgeson did a good job in obtaining a presence for Janome in Myer, both under our own brand as well as supplying Myer Victor models.  As a company this ensured we were on our way.

At this stage the sewing machine market in Australia was dominated by the European brands particularly Elna and Bernina.  There were several importers of Japanese machines in the market but they were mainly interested in importing product to sell through mass merchandisers.  Janome was the only company to look how the European brands were doing things and follow suit but trying to do better.

In the early years Janome employed two sales representatives, Mr Brian de Vaus and Mr Colin Brooks who really did a good job gaining extra exposure in specialist retailer stores as a support to the European brands.

To assist Janome gain attention with retailers we took on the agency for Passap Knitting Machines which was a precision top end Swiss made knitting machine which sold very well at the time.  Having that extra product to sell proved an excellent introduction to gaining acceptance in dealer stores.

Our founding fathers worked hard to identify what was required to be successful with specialty retailers and that was a ready supply of stock plus a ready supply of spare parts and accessories at affordable prices.  This formula worked really well and gave Janome a real presence in the market place as well as providing the profit for the company to move to the next phase of an expansion program.

During 1974 Janome opened their own office in New South Wales with Colin Brooks as State Manager.  Colin spent a lot of time visiting all the specialist retailers to ascertain who the best were before approaching them to become Janome retailers.  This format worked well and 2 years later Colin moved to Brisbane to do the same job, once again very successfully.

In 1978 Colin returned to Head Office in Melbourne as National Sales Manager and later Sales Director and took over the expansion of Janome in the market place.  Perhaps the introduction of the model XLII was the time when everybody realized that Janome “quality” was as good as or better than the European brands.

Also under Colin’s guidance we took our product to the people with extensive television promotions.  Janome also featured as prizes on top rating game shows on television.  We were also innovative being the first company to provide a free instructional video tape with our sewing machines which was revolutionary at the time.

Over the years we have had many Managing Directors with Akira Suzuki, Sam Aiko, Roy Kambe, Nobby Koseki, Kenji Wada, Yasu Kozu, Masashi Kawashima, Minoru Tokunaga, Toshi Takayasu, Shinichi Ohashi & presently JoJo Yamada.  All of these gentlemen have had some input into the success of Janome Australia.

Today, Janome Australia has a unique position in our industry with support from all the best specialist retailers and selling more product than all of our competitors put together.  Also for a company with relatively small staff numbers we have a lot of staff members that have worked with the company for many years which must be an asset.