Janome HD1000 Sewing Machine with Premier Package

I had a Pfaff Hobby (which I would NEVER recommend) for many years. When I decided to buy a new machine I did a lot of research and settled on this one, sight unseen. I was amazed when I got my Janome, at how fast it is! Very sturdy body, simple clean design. I sew mostly apparel, some quilts, and occasionally some heavier fabrics, and I've had no trouble with it. If you want a strong basic machine that's not going to be giving technical trouble, this is the machine you want. A few minor details--I do find you need to dust out/oil oftener than the manual advises. The knobs feel slightly clunky, but work perfectly. The fact that the needle-plate is marked in both metric and english makes it a little harder to read. One thing I do miss is a 1/4 inch presserfoot. That said, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.

I made the mistake of buying one of these new plastic machines. It lasted all of 2 months. My husband saw how frustrated I was and told me I should just spend the money on a good machine. I saw a review of these machine by Leah Day, of the Free Motion Quilting Project. They way I see it is that if she gives it the stamp of approval, I'm sold. I am in love with this machine. I have had it for 3 months and use it daily. I am able to sew varying thicknesses of fabric and not worry about the tension. It is quieter than my old plastic machine too. The only negative is the high speed isn't as fast as I wish it would be.

This sewing machine is a real workhorse. It is a purely mechanical machine, which is a benefit to me. It does not have a huge library of fancy stitches like the computerized machines but it has far fewer parts to break. I added the walking foot and it works great for quilting. I have plowed through 4 layers of light duty nylon webbing, 4 layers of cotton and 2 layers of batting in one stack while making a dog coat. The 4 step button hole works well. Stitch adjustments are simple and intuitive. The bobbin is simple to load, the holder and all the parts around it are steel and well made. No machine is perfect though. I find disengaging the needle for bobbin winding to be a bit cumbersome. I would have liked to have a way to see how much thread is left on the bobbin as well. These are clearly minor nit picks. Overall I am very satisfied with this machine.

This is the best buy I could have hoped for. I have been sewing everything including upholstering for a life time & so far this machine works great for me. It's like my old Singer, tuff & straight forward with no bells & whistles to distract you from your work. I like being able to use my my experience & my brain instead of a computer chip! This is a good workable machine!

This is a good, basic, sturdy machine that punches through multiple layers of heavy wool, linen and silk suiting with ease. The body feels heavy and doesn't rattle; the noise level is low. It's easy to use and the instructions in the booklet are helpful and easy to read. My only beef with this machine is that the plug for the power cord and foot pedal is not particularly secure where it attaches to the machine. It's easy to unplug accidentally when you touch the right-hand side of the machine, and I would like to see a deeper and more secure plug there. Otherwise, I love this machine.

I am a beginner sewer, and have been using my mom's ~1963 Singer named "Mario", which sews fast even on the slow setting. Anyway, after I took the Janome HD1000 out of the box, I followed all of the directions step by step, and tried sewing two pieces of denim together using a straight stitch. Unfortunately, the machine kept jamming in the bobbin area: the top thread was getting stuck on the shuttle. I figured it was a bobbin problem, and tried adjusting and re-threading the bobbin. It still jammed, so I called my mom, watched some videos online, and discovered that the top might be threaded wrong. Sure enough, I had threaded it wrong. (Thanks, Mom!) On page 20 of the manual, between steps 2 and 3, it looks like the thread should go far left, but it really needs to be tight to the upper thread guide (to the right of a disc in there and to the left of the thread guide). With the machine threaded correctly, it sewed the denim easily and smoothly. I also love the bobbin winder and the removable extension table on the Janome; although, keep in mind, I am comparing it to "Mario". I'm looking forward to using this machine more, and I'll update my review after I've used it for a project. UPDATE August 2014: I haven't had a lot of time to work on my sewing projects, but I did make some things out of thick felt. This machine has been working perfectly. I'm still glad I have it, and Mario (the old machine) is still sitting inside his cabinet. UPDATE March 2015: Made some projects with thick felt and denim. I'm selling Mario! :)

I have been a Singer user for many years, so Janome was new to me. After getting used to this machine, and with the help of a friend fixing the bobbin problem, I'm doing just fine. The instructions manual is very well put together and simple to understand.

So worth it. Sounds so nice!

I received this sewing machine as gift two years ago and it's still sewing well! I am a pedal to the floor sewer and I have lost count the amount of blankets/quilt type blankets I have sewn on this in the last two years. It's a bit loud but that's probably because I sew too fast but that's just me. Otherwise it sew through everything and works amazingly well! My mother has this really expensive janome that is super quiet and can do all this fancy stuff but it's electronic too and more than once it has frozen or locked up due to the fact that it was too much material or it didn't like minky fabric or something. That's when I would use my trusty machine and it always powered on and never got hung up like hers! quality and durable and I have done very little besides blow dust out of it on occasion.