Hah! I found this in my draft dated from July - and now it's the end of October. I've been feeling really bloggish recently so I thought I'd just share this and follow up with the most recent update later.
Late December 2024 - I forget about Lolita and decide that 2025's hyperfixation would be putting together my own studio space, one just for me. I paint half the walls and the interior closet of the room for good measure. Windows are repaired, ect. I probably finished by the end of January.
But what I really wanted was to talk about are my machines upgrades, which started from Dec '24 to July '25. I moved on from my little guys that carried me for 10 years to some heavy duty investments that can match the level I want to work at.
I am a loyal Juki girl now. That's all you need to know.
The first newcomer back in December was my big Juki, aka big jooks. My specific model is the 5550N which is a common industrial sewing machine meant for light and medium weight fabric. The misconception is that industrial machines can handle everything, but that's not true! They're designed for a specific tasks, and they're designed to do it for hours on end without stopping. I can certainly throw heavier fabrics under her, I can even swap out some parts to adapt it for heavy duty sewing - but my personal interest is in apparel, not upholstery. :)
Big Jooks is my main girl as industrial feet are just so much better to use than domestic ones. Just the machine head weighs 75lbs.
My second upgrade was my overlock - I replaced my starter overlock (Brother 1034D) with a Juki MO-2800. I purchased this as a used classroom demo machine and she's been an unstoppable force. I appreciate my old overlock for being immortal and teaching me life lessons, but the tension settings and thread changes were nightmarish, and I consider myself very proficient with sewing machines.
My MO-2800 is just a better built household monster with a much more refined controlled feed. QOL includes a magnetic tray and an extra tension switch just for rolled hems. It takes me about 20 seconds to adjust tensions and trim widths for different fabrics. Coming off a machine that took 15+ minutes to adjust, the MO-2800 is a 22lb angel lifting me into the rapture.
I like the air threading, didn't technically need it, and I assume the risk that the machine's longevity might be compromised by this feature. The nice part is that the mechanical motor will chug on - I just have to manually thread it. I know the aged-tested trick of tying off threads to change colors but I think the 1034D conditioned me to fear that.
Any Juki mid-price overlocks would have been good, it just happened that classroom demo offer was the right time and right place.
My last machine is another domestic - I snagged an open box Juki HZL-F600 off Ebay for a ridiculously low price. I was keeping my older Brother SE400 around and I did intend to replace it, just not so soon.
I specifically had my eyes on a last-gen model from this series (300/400/600) because it's a robust home machine with a good feed, good stitch quality and it makes really, really good buttonholes. I also like having it for specialty stitches like a blind hem!
I've had this one set up in multiple ways. Sometimes I use it over my industrial because it's faster to start up. Sometimes I want to stand instead of sit, so I use this one on the adjustable table. Sometimes both Big Jooks and the F600 are set up together for dual use! I also think the F600, as an all-rounder, handles heavier fabrics more elegantly than Big Jooks, but I haven't really tested that out. It has a lot of modern conveniences and covers what the industrial does not.
And... that's it. I just wanted to talk about my 3 Juki babies. Did you forget my username is seams_witch for a reason?
Oh, the F600 also weighs 22lbs.
