I can't say enough great things about the Janome Sew Mini sewing machine for card making! The best place to begin is at the beginning.

Basic Setup
How many of you bought this great little machine? How many of your machines still look like this?

Well, it's time to take it out of the box. Go get it...i'll wait....

Okay. When you open the box, inside you will find everything you need except thread.

In the picture, you see the machine, the manual and warranty, the power supply, the foot pedal and a small bag of bobbins, a needle threader and an extra needle. (pictured below)



To begin, plug in the foot pedal. Use this top hole of the right side of the machine.



Then, plus in your power supply using the hole under it on the right side of the machine.



Put the pedal on the ground and plug the machine into the wall.

The Bobbin
Don't be afraid of the bobbin. It's easy to make one and you can have a couple of them so you can make three different colors. Extra bobbins are available for purchase at Hancock fabrics.

To begin, find the thread holder. It's on the back of the machine. Not on the top like many other sewing machines.



Open it up by pushing on it.


Then, put your thread on the holder. It doesn't really matter which way the thread comes off the spool. I tried it both ways and it worker the same. So just stick it on there.



Then, wrap your thread around this.



Next, pull the thread through your bobbin like this. There is a little hole on the bobbin. Pull your thread through the little whole and let it hang out of the top.



Then, place the bobbin on the bobbin threader like this.



See how I am holding on the the thread that was hanging out of the top?
Next, push the bobbin to the right like this.



Keep holding the loose end of the thread up and press your foot pedal. The bobbin with start to wind Don't hold the thread taunt. Just hold it so it doesn't fly out of the bobbin or you will have to re thread it through that little hole. Once it's wound around the bobbin a little bit and no longer loose, you can cut off the loose piece you've been holding on to.


Can you see the thread going up?
That's the one I am holding on to as the machine is winding the bobbin.

Here is where I cut it off and continue to wind a little more.



You don't have to fill your bobbin for single cards and scrapbook pages. You just need it about 1/4-1/2 way full. This way, if you want to change colors, you can unwind the rest without too much thread waste. However, keep in mind that if you use certain colors a lot, like white, black and brown, you may want to fill those bobbins all the way so you don't have to alway be making bobbins.

Then, push the bobbin back to the left and take it off the threader.



So that's your basic set up and making a bobbin. I will be back in a little bit with the next tutorial called, "threading the machine." In that tutorial, you will learn the thread path and how to insert the bobbin and "take it up." Then, we'll move on to sewing!

Stay tuned!

Hugs,
Gina K.