Hello! I’m not sure that you can raise the foot higher – if the needle keeps breaking with a thicker fabric, that suggests to me that you are currently using the wrong type of needle for your fabric. There is a fabric weighting and needle guide on page 8 of the manual, which you can find here: https://www.janomeflyer.com/pdf/Janome%20Sewist525S%20manual.pdf The only other thing I can think of is to drop the feed dogs (see page 6 of the manual). Hope this helps! Clare 🙂

Hello Carryl! Yes, there is an overcasting foot that comes with this machine – I have used this when making clothes and it’s been a good alternative to purchasing an overlocker so far 🙂 Clare

Hi Marie! Yay, I’m so pleased that you found my review helpful and that you decided to go with this machine. Have you tried it out yet? Hope you enjoy stitching! The accessories can be a bit expensive sometimes, so I’m glad that you’ve sourced a foot a bit more cheaply. Good luck! Clare 🙂

How lovely, Beth! Brilliant to hear that you’ve been so happy with this machine, and that it will have another home with your friend’s little girl. Wonderful! 🙂

Hello Bianca! I’m SO sorry for taking such a long time to get back to you. I think that as long as you had the right needles for the tougher fabrics, this machine could handle it just fine. I’ve stitched some thicker fabrics on it and it has done the job great so I’m sure you’d get on well with this machine. Lovely to know that my blog has reached readers in Norway! 🙂 Clare

It’s performed very well, it’s been regularly serviced after every major project (like the draperies) and almost always if there is a problem, it’s because I’ve done something wrong, like forgetting to put the presser foot down on thick fleece! I’d highly recommend it without reservation.

Mine will, I hope, soon be going to that wee girl who’s now 10, and I’m looking at a slightly more advanced model for some additional decorative possibilities and such.

Could you tell me if this is the one?

Greetings!

Bianca (from Norway!)

Hi Evelyn! I think it would do just fine with canvas – the thickest I’ve used is what Cath Kidston calls ‘cotton duck’ and that’s pretty hard wearing. I’ve stitched through a few layers with this machine and it has been fine 🙂

Hi Jen! So sorry for taking ages to get back to you – the dimensions are width 42cm, height 28cm and depth 17cm. Not sure how that compares to the other machines that you’re looking at, but hope this is helpful! 🙂

Hi Debs! Thank you for reading my review – I’m glad it has been helpful 🙂 Sorry to hear you’re having buttonhole issues! Is it with the automatic buttonhole? This has happened to me before, and despite following the instructions I had not pulled the buttonhole lever down far enough. This is what makes the buttonhole foot kick in to the other side, so if it isn’t pulled down far enough then it won’t happen when it gets to the end. Have you got some scraps of fabric to test it on exactly as you will sew the finished project? Also, don’t forget to ‘reset’ before trying again – you need to do this between each buttonhole. I’ve forgotten to do that too and the stitches carried on forever! Good luck, and let me know how you get on 🙂 Clare

Hello! Oh I’m so pleased that you found my review helpful, and that your wife is getting into sewing. I really hope she’s enjoying it and getting on with her Janome! Although this machine has what the manual calls ‘decorative stitches’, they aren’t decorative in the sense of embroidery type stitches. They include things like smocking, pin tucking and quilting – all of which I would refer to as ‘techniques’ rather than decoration I guess. You could get a bigger zig-zag stitch by lengthening the stitches (have a practice on some scraps of fabric to test this out), but it doesn’t sound like that is exactly what your wife wants to do. The nearest thing that this machine does is a decorative satin stitch (see stitch ‘I’ on page 34 of the manual), which would work on delicate fabrics.

I would suggest that once your wife has got to grips with the machine and feels like she’s more confident at sewing (and would, therefore, definitely like to continue) she may wish to upgrade from this machine to one that does a better selection of embroidery stitches. The computerised models will do this, and Janome do a wide range of these. It would be more of an investment, but worth it if she wishes to sew more embellishments on her work. I hope this helps! Clare 🙂

Thank you for the wonderful review and post. I have just bought this machine as a gift for my wife, whom has just recently taken up sewing. She is into Indian Fashion and is trying to do a wavy stitch – we can’t figure out which setting/stitch length we need to be on or if it is even possible? Any help would be much appreciated – J Singh & B Kaur 🙂