Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This was a wonderful fit for me as a person looking to try quilting as a new hobby without spending an arm and a leg, and also wanting to avoid the random issues that can come up with electronic machines. Pros: -Setup for (in my opinion) everything you could possibly want to do with the exception of a lot of random "fancy" stitches like swirls and such, which I don't like to use anyway, or embroidery which drives up the price of a machine by a lot lot. - Mechanical not electronic, which makes it less prone to issues, and makes troubleshooting much more straightforward. - Literally the least expensive machine that could be used for quilting that also had a great reputation for being solid and lasting. - Worked well for free motion quilting. Since this comes with standard accessories, needed to get quilting accessories separately. (Note: even with this added expense, it was still much less expensive than alternatives) - Much faster and hardier than the Singer Confidence Quilter that I had used previously (see story in background below), there is even a video online of this machine sewing multiple layers of denim. Things to keep in mind: #1 When purchasing accessories, this little engine that can has a shorter needle and different setup than a lot of its siblings (like the Jem) so be sure to check that accessories are for a 5mm front load bobbin machine - thank you love2sew66 for mentioning this in your review! Lessons learned while free motion quilting with this machine: #1 Buy the Janome Front Load 5 Piece Quilt Kit for $50 b/c it will fit this machine, it has both the free motion quilting foot with a clear bottom and a walking foot. Mine was from Sew Vac Direct. It was really hard to figure out if this would fit while online shopping... fortunately it does. #2 The needles for this machine are shorter than most other Janome machines, so be sure to check that you are getting the right type. Janome Red Tip Needles (Size 14) worked well for me as an all purpose type for heavier materials/ multiple layers. #3 Remember to put the presser foot down when free motion quilting. This sounds silly, I know, but it isn't as obvious as when you are sewing normally, since you don't really see it drop down. If you don't then the tension discs won't engage and you will either get a nest of threads on the bottom of your quilt OR it will look like your top thread tension is too loose and the bottom thread will just look like a flat line with eyelashes. #4 If your thread starts getting caught in the front-load bobbin area, i.e. does half a loop rather than full loop around the hook area, take out the bobbin and replace it with a full one. This usually happened when the bobbin started getting low and is the only reason for my 4 rather than 5 star rating. --> UPDATE: Changed my rating up to 5/5 because this issue seemed to be mostly due to using a poly-blend thread. Made my second quilt using a cotton machine thread and only had a jam like this once in the 80+ hours spent piecing the quilt top/bottom and free-motion quilting the quilt sandwich. #4A: USE COTTON THREAD in this sewing machine. This one worked for me personally: http://www.amazon.com/Machine-Quilting-Thread-White-Each/dp/B000WMGJOM/ref=cm_rdp_product #5 Really hold the thread strings down when you start a new line since it pulls hard at the beginning (probably adjusting the tension) and will unthread itself otherwise. I'll often do the first couple stitches using the wheel to get around the hard pull at the start so everything goes more smoothly. #6 When you move the switch over to raise the the feed dogs after they have been dropped, they will not actually go up again until you turn the wheel/ press the petal to start sewing again. So don't get worried about them not popping up immediately after moving the switch. Background info: I'm more of a beginner/intermediate sewer, my recent experience was borrowing a friend's machine to give quilting a try. Had used a Singer Confidence Quilter machine for a couple weeks before it randomly stopped working during free-motion quilting and gave a beep sequence that the Singer representative indicated is an electrical problem. I've been using the Janome 2212 for about two weeks now for both regular sewing and free motion quilting. Just finished a crib sized quilt, well, finished save the edges ;) which is the last step. Hope this review helps some of the other beginners! --> Update 8/8/12: Have now used this machine for the last couple months and have logged 100+ hours in use. Used the walking foot on quilt edging, the darning foot for free-motion quilting, and regular foot for piecing