A year with the Juki TL2010Q

I’m about a month shy of my one year anniversary with my Juki TL2010Q and my initial review of the machine, and since I still get many emails asking me about this machine, I thought I’d talk about it after sewing on it for a year.

Let me just start with…

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!

In case you didn’t get that… I love this machine.  Let me also state for the record, a year later and I have never changed the presser foot, the stitch plate, or anything else after making my initial adjustments to set the machine up for piecing quilts.  That is all I use this machine for, and it makes the most perfect, exquisite patchwork seams.  It easily does every bit as nice a job as a dual feed machine or a walking foot.  Because the feed dogs are so narrow, the fabric does not “swim” as you feed it through either.

When you get to the end of a seam, you will never find your seam wandering off to the right.  It just won’t happen!

I never made a square quilt before I bought the Juki.  Honestly.  I don’t even measure my quilt tops anymore before cutting my borders and applying them, whatever the dimension should be, it is.  I design all my quilts in EQ7, and simply cut my borders to the size EQ tells me to.

I do not work for Juki, I do not get any kickbacks for raving about this machine, I am simply telling you how absolutely wonderful it is for piecing quilts.  I’m not going to tell you anything else about the rest of the machines abilities, because I’ve never used them.

There are still a couple of things that are lacking on this machine.  The threader is abysmal compared to my Berninas.  The lighting, while good, doesn’t compare to my Berninas. I haven’t a single other complaint about it.

One thing I REALLY like that I may have left out of my original review is the thread stand.  It’s built in to hold two cones.  I only ever purchase large cones of thread, whether it’s piecing thread, embroidery thread or quilting thread for my longarm, as it’s more economical that way.  With the Juki, I don’t have to use the stand alone thread stand (there’s one behind the machine in this picture).  I always have two cones up there, one I’m sewing with and one for bobbin threading.

In fact, I’m so impressed with the machine that I am considering purchasing a Juki Exceed F600.  It’s about the same price range as the TL2010Q, but is a zigzag machine with a decent feature set on it.  Nope, it doesn’t have anywhere near the features my Bernina machines have, but it doesn’t have anywhere near the price tag either.  I don’t really care about the features, but I do care about quality and capability.  I’m thinking it might make a wonderful class machine… especially since it comes with a hard case and would fit in my Miata!