Memory Craft 6000 stitch library

Janome's Memory Craft 6000 is the only electronically controlled machine in my collection - I usually shun them as I cannot repair electronics. But this one has a reputation of being relatively indestructible, so I made an exception. 🙂 Made in 1986, it has fairly modern reliable electronics, but no fancy graphical parts and no…

Janome’s fancy stitches: New Home 551

I always find Janome's designs to be very sensible. They may not have been the fanciest machines of their time, but they were always so very useful. Janome New Home 551 is such a machine. It has 14 built-in stitch patterns, independent zig-zag and stretch stitch, and a three-step buttonhole. To select patterns, first set…

The Jaguar fancy stitches

The Jaguar sewing machines from 1970s had amazing fancy stitches. The machines were branded in Europe as Frister & Rossmann, and in America as Kenmore 158, see my recent post for more details. ​Having played with these machines for a while, I thought it would be useful to make an overview of all the different…

Fanciful ways of fancy stitches

How does a sewing machine produce fancy stitches? It's a combination of stitch length, zig-zag, needle position and reverse feed, and every fancy stitch can be reproduced manually, although it can be a very tedious process. Skip to particular sections: Fancy stitches done manually Fancy stitches with modulated zig-zag width Cam-driven zig-zag Combinations of geared…