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From: Hippiegirl
Date: 03-27-2005, 10:44 PM (1 of 4)
|
Hello. What is free arm on a serger? I was looking at Janome 634d and 504d and the 634D does not look like it has a free arm if a free arm is the front part sticking out on the 504D... The ad's dont say whether or not the 634D have a free arm. Does it make a huge difference? Does anyone have the New Home 504D? Do they like it? I cant find any reviews. Thanks. HG |
User: Hippiegirl
Member since: 03-21-2005 Total posts: 77 |
From: Kylnne2
Date: 03-28-2005, 03:10 AM (2 of 4)
| The free arm is like on sewing machines where part of the bed of the machine can be removed to leave a thin arm to make stitching items like cuffs etc. easier. The new Janome coverhem machines and their 734D and 744D sergers have a free arm. The New Home is a Janome also but the 504D does not have a free arm. I had that serger, and my daughter's friend now has it. The on line prices for this good basic serger can't be beat. Sears Kenmores are also Janome and if you have a Sears close by you might want to give them a test drive. The 504D needs more oiling than some sergers but it is a work horse that stitched well for me on all fabrics from sheer to plastic coated canvas. It has a beautiful rolled hem and you don't need to change the plate to do a rolled hem. I sold it to my daughters friend because she needed one and I owned several sergers and recently bought a serger with coverhem and many stitch programs. I would not hesitate to buy another 504D if I needed another serger. |
User: Kylnne2
Member since: 07-10-2004 Total posts: 629 |
From: Hippiegirl
Date: 03-28-2005, 11:10 AM (3 of 4)
|
The free arm is like on sewing machines where part of the bed of the machine can be removed to leave a thin arm to make stitching items like cuffs etc. easier. The new Janome coverhem machines and their 734D and 744D sergers have a free arm. The New Home is a Janome also but the 504D does not have a free arm. I had that serger, and my daughter's friend now has it. The on line prices for this good basic serger can't be beat. Sears Kenmores are also Janome and if you have a Sears close by you might want to give them a test drive. The 504D needs more oiling than some sergers but it is a work horse that stitched well for me on all fabrics from sheer to plastic coated canvas. It has a beautiful rolled hem and you don't need to change the plate to do a rolled hem. I sold it to my daughters friend because she needed one and I owned several sergers and recently bought a serger with coverhem and many stitch programs. I would not hesitate to buy another 504D if I needed another serger. Oh, thank you for this review. Right now, I want to learn serging first with a less costly model and 200 is good. If I grow out of it fast and want a coverhem, I'll give it to my mom while I buy a serger w/coverstitch. Did all the feet come with it? Are New Home feet generally expensive? I've seen all the markups on White and my Pfaff machine has $30 feet. It would be nice if the NH feet were less.... Thanks! Kelly |
User: Hippiegirl
Member since: 03-21-2005 Total posts: 77 |
From: Kylnne2
Date: 03-29-2005, 03:10 AM (4 of 4)
| The NewHome (Janome) feet are not as expensive by any means as other feet like Pfaff etc. My 504D did not come with extra feet but the video that came with the machine showed the optional feet and I believe also showed how to use them. My Elna serger w/coverhem also came with a video and showed a couple of extra feet but not how to use them. I did get 3 extra feet that are Pfaff and they fit my Elna and they cost $100. I think some of the Janome feet run as little as $9. You can get a foot catalog from Janome. Email them and they will send one to you free. Sears also carries a free catalog of feet that you can pick up at the store. NewHome and Kenmore are both Janome and the feet will work on all the sergers I believe. In my NewHome video the machine that was used for the demo said Janome. The Sears Kenmore with the lay in threads is much like the 504 and the 634 Janomes. The Kenmore when on sale will be $249 usually runs $349. This machine does not need as much oiling as the 504 and also it has an extra lever for better tension on rolled hem..sort of an auto rolled hem tension. I believe the 634 has this lever also. Both the 504 and the Kenmore have the same little lever to change to rolled hem but the 504 does not have the extra lever for the tension for rolled hem..it still did a great rolled hem. These sergers are very basic and once you learn the parts and what they do you can probably use any serger. Not all the parts are labeled as to what to do..like on the inside left where you push a lever to drop the knife or to change the the stitch width. On the outside the differential feed knob and stitch length are labeled. The book and the video do show you what the parts are and what they do. These are good sergers that can take a beating and probably last for years and usually take household needles and not special needles. The Kenmore says use Kenmore needles of course..but I am pretty sure it would take Schmetz like the others being Janome also. You might want to ask about that. |
User: Kylnne2
Member since: 07-10-2004 Total posts: 629 |
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