Getting to Know You, Juki

I’ve had my JUKI TL-2010Q for about 6 weeks now and felt a mini review was in order. If for no other reason, I am glad I got it for its excellent stitch. I experienced a lot of variance in stitch with my other machine, especially depending on my speed. The Juki is SO consistent.

Though the Juki gets super reviews for free-motion quilting, I have yet to try that. At heart, I'm a walking-foot quilter, so that's all I've done so far. I've read folks suggest that you don’t need to use the walking foot to do quilting – just use the regular foot. But the regular foot is a scant quarter inch, and though it's fine for basic stitching, I really like the heft and width of the walking foot when I am quilting. I have also heard many people complain about the noise, but I don’t find mine any different than I'm used to, and definitely not excessive. I did on my first go find that the needle rubbed the edge of the foot, but a little tweak/twist on the foot took care of that. So personally, I find using the walking foot a very positive experience.

After quilting for a while though, the walking foot was squeaking just a bit. I was reminded that the presser foot tension should be adjusted (turn the knob on top so the line in the window is at the very top). I did that and the squeak decreased, but my stitches weren't as consistent, so I dialed it down a bit until I was satisfied. So I'll continue to explore that - maybe the fabric or batting choices can make a difference?

As far as that scant 1/4" foot goes, I bought a true ¼” foot from another company and it fits and works just fine. And I do like having both options, depending on what I'm sewing.

The Juki is known for it’s SPEED, which I take advantage of more for piecing than quilting. It can go half again as fast as my other machine, but is adjustable, not that I've turned it down yet. {grin}

Another feature I'd heard alot of negativity about was the needle-threader, and at first it was a little tricky (read: unreliable). But after a bit of use, I got my success ratio up to 75% or so. Then I watched a video by Maya Aralimatti, and though I'd been doing everything right, she mentioned putting the presser foot down right before the final step of threading, and now I thread it successfully nearly every time. I also make sure my needle is all the way up, which seems to make a difference. Just for the record, I really only use Aurifil, and the Juki seems happy with my choice.

I LOVE the thread cutter on the pedal. I'm less used to using the knee bar, so I go in spurts with using that.



At first, I was sewing without the included sewing table, but added it when I started quilting. Silly me, I showed hubby how uneven it was with the base of my machine, and he knew right off that its legs were adjustable. doh. Now it's perfect.

So far, there are really only two small items I'm not 100% happy with. One is that the thread-cutter leaves the thread tails very short. It can be a bother, but is manageable; the other is I'm used to having my presser foot raise and lower automatically when I stop and start sewing. So I miss that but again, I'm adjusting. So yeah, I'm really pleased. Kinda can't get enough of it!