Throw pillows are finished!
Yellow stripe and floral jacquard, and the solid grey piping fabric are from Fabmo distribution. The backing is grey with white accents, a bit stretchy for this application but making it easy to take the inserts out.
The Juki making an overcasting seam on the raveling piping strips with a special type C foot. I also used a zipper foot to get the piping close to the edge when sandwiching the fashion fabrics together.
I cut the pillows a little too large, so they aren't as smooth as I'd like, but they are nice enough. The Juki sledded over the piping crossover with not a hitch. The corners weren't turning out quite right until I remembered to fillet two stitches at 45 degrees. After I snipped the points, the finished edges were nice and sharp. Only issue I had with the machine was putting the wrong foot on and hitting metal with the needle. I panicked until I released I could just roll the needle back the old fashioned way, by hand...
The Juki's bobbin is the taller flat bobbin on the left, while the smaller tapered bobbin on the right is for the Singer. So far I see no real difference in performance, though I'm switching over to the big bobbin as my thread runs out. I've filled two so far and still need to get the knack of using Juki's method of wrapping and using the built in thread cutter.
Using the Juki for this project was utterly painless. I am no longer fighting to get my fabric properly fed since the machine goes in a nice straight line (backwards too) without any fuss at all. In fact, there are times when I'm totally hands off and so confident that I'm watching TV. On the Singer, I always had to insert the fabric just so under the needle, pull the tails of thread at the beginning of any stitch so my fabric wouldn't jam or catch, and watch diligently as I guided the fabric into the right place. With the Juki, I don't pull the bobbin thread up, nor do I hold the top tail when I start it, nor do I spend a huge amount of time positioning the fabric. I just hit the pedal and the fabric rolls under nice and smooth. Sometimes the starting point is a bit scribbly on the back, but for stuff in the seam allowances, that's ok with me. If I want the seam neat I can pull out the threads, hold (not pull) them back and let the Juki rip. I'm also getting used to the needle threader now and can ace it in there every time as quickly as the Babylock. Just takes some practice.
Pants up next...
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