meet the Gnome!

My sewing machine (a fairly basic Brother model) is a year old and has been getting on my nerves for a while. I've been getting skipped stitches, holes in seams, loose threads, weird tension issues and a bunch of other crap, and it complains when I ask it to work with knits, zips, fabric that frays quickly, anything heavier than medium weight cotton or lighter than lightweight cotton. For a while I wondered if it was me, but I wasn't getting these issues with garments I made in a class, or on my mother's machine at Christmas (and that one had been sitting in the loft for however many years). I'd already decided that I would be upgrading my machine as soon as I had money coming in again, but this weekend I had a minor disaster - story coming next week - and I reached terminal frustration.

Meet The Gnome, my new roommate.

I picked the Gnome for a few reasons:

- I've used Janome machines in classes and I like them
- It has several stitch options I've been missing, but doesn't have 300 stitch options I will never use
- It didn't have any reviews that weren't excellent
- 'Janome' is a really funny word
- I'd already thought of a name for it
- I nearly called this post "Getting to Gnome You". Sorry.

I bought it in John Lewis and carried it home on the Tube, need for instant gratification overcoming my natural laziness (thing I learned: using a piece of string as a handle is quite painful for the hands). The Gnome came with all the usual sewing machine paraphernalia and also brought me a couple of surprise bonus presser feet not listed in its standard accessories, so I think it wants to please me.

After two days of use, the Gnome and I are getting along well. It has happily complied with all the tasks I've set it so far, only protesting a bit when I tried sewing a thicker double-layer jersey fabric on a stretch stitch, and even then it was fine when I turned the speed down a bit. It vibrates quite a bit when going really fast, so I think I'll need to make it a little cushion (spoilt sewing machine). It makes quiet little whirring and humming noises when switched on but not in use; that might be normal for computerised machines, but I've never had one before so I've no idea.

The Gnome has a bunch of useful things my previous machine didn't - ability to change length and width of stitches, speed limiter, needle up/down function, 1-step buttonholes, stretch stitch, and an actual proper spool pin so the thread doesn't fall off the machine every time I speed up a bit (seriously, why would you not have a spool pin? Why would you just provide a useless stump thing?). It also claims to be able to do a makeshift overlock stitch, which I'll be interested to try while I'm still too terrified to get my Gremlin overlocker working. I know, I know, I'm pathetic.

Welcome to the Gnome! Hopefully this is the start of a beautiful friendship.