by Sherri Sylvester | Nov 8, 2018
Today my youngest and I are excited to share our review of the Janome New Home Pink Sorbet sewing machine. We’re answering the question – Is the Pink Sorbet a good kids’ machine?
This post is sponsored by Janome Canada. I am a Janome Artisan and have been using Janome machines for many years – before they started sponsoring me. I love their machines and only recommend what I truly love. Thanks for reading!
First off – Unboxing this machine with my daughter was so much fun. She is so EXTRA *lol* – and was thrilled to open every package of accessories and see all the parts of the machine. Opening the bobbin case and removing the free arm. Peeking into every part of it, figuring out where the light above the needle came from. (Making sure to get out her handmade the sewing supplies and apron first!)
As an aside, you’ve got to check out this hilarious video of her unboxing the machine – “It’s Pink!”
Where we’re coming from:
- Normally I sew on a Janome Skyline S9 – an on-loan combination sewing and embroidery machine. I also own a Janome 2030 QDC machine. My daughter loves to sew as well and the bigger “fancier” machines sometimes feel like a lot for her to handle on her own.
- Janome gave us the chance to check this one out and I’ll be reviewing this “Colourful Series” Pink Sorbet machine with kids in mind.
The Short(er) story:
- This is a great beginner machine. I love Janome because they include diagrams for inserting the bobbin, easy bobbin filling locations and simple-to-thread machines. This one is no different.
- It will grow with your child! As per Janome’s usual they have included so many accessories – perfect for a beginner to comfortable home sewer and allows your child to explore options beyond a straight and zigzag stitch, once they master those.
- Lots of extras. This machine includes a zipper foot, buttonhole foot, and blind hemming foot. It also has four bonus feet I would have loved to have when I just started out – a gathering foot, 3-way cording foot, rolled hem foot and gathering foot.
- Lots of stitches. This machine goes beyond straight and zig-zag, there are multiple stretch stitches for sewing knits and it even allows you to sew on buttons with an included darning plate.
- It feels sturdy and is a great weight. This machine is easy to lift, but weights enough to be sturdy and stay in place while you are sewing.
My REVIEW: In general, I love that this machine is beginner-enough to allow your child to sew on their own, yet has enough features and included feet to let them explore and learn for many years. It is a great first machine that will grow with them until they are ready to invest in their own machine.
Kids aside, it is
also great for a home sewist who would like to be able to do simple sewing tasks like mending, tailoring, and hemming – using those included feet! It is also great for simple quilt piecing, as you can see in
this review by Ginger Quilts.
The Long(er) Story:
Once the machine was unboxed, we filled the bobbin, threaded the machine and inserted the bobbin. Since it lives in a fun bobbin case behind the free arm, my daughter made a very-8-year-old-esque unprompted tutorial video on how to install the bobbin for you all. It is not without its technical faults (read, check your manual too!) but it’s a good gauge for how simple it is to use the bobbin case! To test the machine, we decided to sew a simple drawstring backpack to take on our upcoming beach vacation. She chose all of the fabrics and the zipper colour and I sewed it on the Pink Sorbet machine. This included her specific instructions to use yellow thread in the bobbin and blue on the spool – this is her bag! The machine is very simple to use. It did everything I needed and the foot pedal is very responsive with a good speed. I got to use the zipper foot, free arm and (as usual, my fault!) I did get to test that the included seam ripper worked as well. *lol* She used the machine after school to sew a visual of the available stitches and was excited to try the bonus gathering foot as well. It was right before dinner, or we would have spent a lot more time playing with that one! Courtesy of Daylight Savings time – you get fun, darkish photos of her using the machine.
Summary:
Is the Janome Pink Sorbet a good kids’ machine? Yes, this is a great sewing machine for kids! My more detailed product review is above in the Short(er) story… But, as you can probably already tell we really like this machine. It’s cute and colourful and also really robust and ready for any beginner sewist to learn on. It has tons of stitches and accessories to allow for learning without the “stumbling block” of having to buy more feet to accomplish the latest tutorial you wanted to try. Hope that helps you make your decision! Let me know if you have any questions. I’d love to help answer them!
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by Sherri Sylvester | May 11, 2018
Last year my kids and I made Mother’s and Father’s day gifts for my parents. The youngest chose to make this pincushion for my mom and I thought it would be fun to show it to you.
My idea came from the Sewing Rabbit’s Embroidery Hoop Pin Cushion tutorial. There are a few other tutorials out there, but I like this one because it has a cork backing to stab your pins into. Plus it’s a no-sew project!
This one is a less “clean” looking than the original tutorial – and that’s because my daughter decided we HAD to leave the frilly fabric around the edges. I love that she puts her spin on our crafts, even if it’s hard for me to leave it alone and not say anything!
She picked some of my long-hoarded fabric, something my friend Cynthia Frenette designed and sent to me a while ago – appropriate for my mom who loves to sew. We also added a little tag with a tiny grommet. As a bit of an aside – gromments are amazing and look fantastic in many places that I usually don’t think to put them. And they are easy to install.
I love adding special messages, so my daughter prettied up the cardstock cover on the back with a message and we sent it off to Grandma. Grandma happens to live in Texas, so we also like that it was small and lightweight enough to put in the mail!
P.S. It was well received. 🙂
by Sherri Sylvester | Dec 9, 2016
My youngest really likes to sew, but I’ve had a hard time teaching her the basics. I’ve hand-sewn and machine sewn projects with her and let her do her own thing, but neither option seemed to work well. We even bought her a small machine for her birthday last summer (which she loves) but it didn’t help us with the basics.
Turns out it’s not exciting to have Mommy tell you to finish your seams, or tell you how to put your project together. But it is exciting to learn them from a video series designed especially for kids!
A few months ago I was fortunate to run across a Facebook ad for a beta run through Kids Sewing. We had access to 35 sewing project videos for 6 weeks and at the end of the run were to provide photos of 5 completed projects and a testimonial about our experience. It seemed like (hopefully) the thing to get us going, so I made sure my daughter would commit to the projects and signed up.
My daughter chose to finish the Pixie Sandy series, because she wanted to make sewing related projects. We worked our way through a Sewing Bag, Pin Cushion, Fabric Tote, Scissors Pouch and Sewing Apron.
I was so impressed with how great her projects looked when they were finished.
We have created a few things together, but now she was sewing almost on her own – just by following the videos! We’d choose the next project together, use the cute shopping list printout to shop from our stash, then find the video and let her sew. She’d sit and watch them, rewinding or fast forwarding, and then pin and sew through the projects – asking me for help when she needed it. The videos really kept her engaged and interested in the process – we finished most of the items in a couple of hours or less!
The pattern pieces for each project we chose were generally rectangular – and there is a video with each lesson so you (or your child) can draw the pattern pieces. I pre-made a lot of these since my 6-year-old wasn’t as used to measuring with a ruler. I did find one of the project pattern pieces was a bit different than the video – it just included an extra step – but in the end, it didn’t matter to the process.
The instructional videos are so cute and kid-friendly, my daughter was really excited to be taught by a Pixie! Each one has a different colour theme and Pixie name. There are 7 series’ to choose from, each with a different theme. Pixie Zandy will show you 5 “Artsy” projects, Pixie Andy will show you 5 “Cool” projects and so on!
If I did have to choose one thing I had a hard time with it would be that two of the projects we did don’t have finished seams inside. Though I know why Katrina Marie has done it this way – Kids don’t like finishing seams! I’m so used to it, ‘tho I found it difficult to skip, so my daughter got an impromptu mini-lesson on serger use!
This probably corresponds back to why I didn’t get very far with teaching my daughter on my own – I was too adamant about her doing all the “boring” things – and she didn’t get to just play and enjoy sewing.
I’m really thankful I got to try these videos. I didn’t know my daughter could sew this well, or even understand the process of a project until we used them.
I was blown away by how well she did, and how much she could accomplish on her own and I’m so proud of her! It wasn’t just her either, there was a Facebook group for beta testers and all of the kids were doing this well! Plus, the videos are really reasonably priced at $10 or less for most of the projects – and that includes the pattern! Might I suggest a unique Christmas gift?
There are lots of different options for lessons. You can choose the “Yearlong Sewing Adventure” with access to 35 projects. Or one of 7 Pixie Series’ with 5 themed beginner projects in each. This is the one we tried.
You can access the FREE “Ready, Set, Sew” lesson anytime to get your kids used to a sewing machine.
The smile on my daughter’s face was enough to get me excited about these lessons. I hope you consider using them as well. Please let me know your experience, I’d love to see what your kids (or grandkids) are making!
This is a sponsored post, and all ideas, words, and opinions are my own.
by Sherri Sylvester | Sep 17, 2016
Whew – time flies when you are turning your house upside down and moving everyone around! I want to make sure I squeeze a post into this week though, and I’m excited to share a throw quilt with you today.
Waaaaay back at the Creativ Festival in April, Rita from Fabric Please gave my youngest the cutest bundle of Kate and Birdie fabric. Four fat quarters to use for her very own sewing project! We decided that it should be a quilt and off we went one weekend, her and I sharing the task of piecing it together on her Janome New Home 3/4 size machine.
I have to admit, when we got the bundle I was not sure how we could create something large enough to cuddle under. But with some thought and a brilliant 4-at-a-time-HST sewing tutorial, we succeeded! I added a bit of fabric from my stash to the ends,some stripey red for the binding and we were good to go.
What about the backing you say? Ummm yes – the un-matchy backing fabric… (insert blushing embarrassed emoji here) She chose the blue ice cream flannel on her last trip to the fabric store. I almost couldn’t go through with it… I mean it DOESN’T MATCH! And it’s permanent… argh – in a quilt no less! But she was five and it was “perfect” to her – so that’s what it needed to be. Don’t argue with the child that wants to learn to sew! (She was also adamant that the middle striped block should be vertical – and not horizontal…. *sigh*)
In the end, I did quite a bit of the sewing, we worked together on the fat quarter HST’s and she decided on the final layout. We sewed them together and then it was up to me to finish the borders, binding and quilting. Which, I LOVE! It is a simple diamond pattern and it turned out great! I made them as large as I could and used the HST diagonals as a guide for the stitching. I’m definitely going to do more diagonal quilting like this in the future.
By the way there’s a #momfail video of her opening her “surprise” (finished quilt) and not giving me quite the reaction I was expecting. Ooops! She’s a good sport about it anyhow 🙂
Do your kids like to sew? What do they like to make best?
Oh – and she sewed wearing my second most favorite dress make – ever! That she just outgrew…. argh. I may never, ever get rid of this one!
by Sherri Sylvester | Sep 15, 2015
Looking though some of my photos today, I stumbled on these I took of my youngest in May. She had decided it was important to sew some clothes for the tiny teddy bear we picked up at the grocery store. I couldn’t resist posting them today. (While I’m getting over my head-cold-turned-chest-cold, argh!)
That afternoon in May was the day I decided she needed a sewing machine. Her attention to detail and dedication to hand sewing everything was so fun to see. Who knew a 4 year old could sit still for so long with fabric and a needle and thread! She seems to know how a flat piece of fabric will fit on a 3-dimensional object. And, while I “drafted” the skirt and serged the raw edges to make her life simpler, the sewing was all her. And she loves it!
Hand sewing has always seemed “the slow way” to me, because of that I have always shown my kids how to use a machine, since that’s what I would do! Turns out, maybe they are showing me that the slow way is better. I did relax and enjoy doing some visible mending on my jeans recently. I’m learning (slowly) as my kids grow up and are more self sufficient, that faster is not always better – and to take it easy when you can, not to stress about the little things so much.
I do have to stress, though – that I am NOT good at not stressing. That lesson is going to take me a long, long time! We ended up making a “dress” for teddy as well, a bit later on. And the task was met with the same dedication. Now, even though she has her own machine, she will still ask me if she can hand sew some things, a good reminder for me to let go and slow down!
What do you think? Do you enjoy hand sewing, or machine sewing better?
P.S. I would highly recommend seeing the Imagination Movers in concert if you are able. They were really well put together and so personable. (Not sponsored, we just love them!)
by Sherri Sylvester | Jul 30, 2015
We’re headed on a long weekend vacation in about an hour. The last week has been filled with birthday party planning, partying and packing for said vacation! We now have an (almost) newly-minted 5 year old. Amazing how fast time flies. We definitely don’t have babies anymore over here!
She got her birthday gift from us a little early, and I was so excited when she wanted to have her own sewing machine. I did a bit of research and took a recommendation from Amy of Peek-A-Boo Pattern Shop and bought a Janome New Home 1/2 size machine for her, in “Turbo Teal” no less! It’s smaller which is nice, it’s a lot slower than my Janome and it has a really great shaped presser foot that is built so it is really hard to get your fingers under the needle. (Sorry for the quick phone pictures – we were in the middle of packing when she got it!)
She is so excited to play with it and loves that it has “up to J” different stitches! Including her favorite, a scalloped zig-zag. It’s really simple to use and she’s been sewing lots of lines to test out the stitches. Of course I am over the moon that she loves sewing. And she seems to be intuitive about keeping her fingers safe, thank goodness! I was a bit worried since this machine does not have a speed control – but she got the hang of the foot pedal really quickly.
I will be able to give you a better review after we’ve got a few projects to show off. I love my Janome machines – so I’m sure it won’t disappoint. Now we are a 4-Janome family – lucky us!
It’s been so nice to spend the last few days with my kids, and we are looking forward to getting away for some friends and family time. Away from wifi and electricity even – though the cottage does have some solar power. We need a break, some swimming, sitting by the dock, fishing, canoeing… ahhh…. good thing we leave soon! I can’t wait!
I’ll be back late next week. Have a wonderful weekend!
First off – Unboxing this machine with my daughter was so much fun. She is so EXTRA *lol* – and was thrilled to open every package of accessories and see all the parts of the machine. Opening the bobbin case and removing the free arm. Peeking into every part of it, figuring out where the light above the needle came from. (Making sure to get out her handmade the sewing supplies and apron first!)
To test the machine, we decided to sew a simple drawstring backpack to take on our upcoming beach vacation. She chose all of the fabrics and the zipper colour and I sewed it on the Pink Sorbet machine. This included her specific instructions to use yellow thread in the bobbin and blue on the spool – this is her bag! The machine is very simple to use. It did everything I needed and the foot pedal is very responsive with a good speed. I got to use the zipper foot, free arm and (as usual, my fault!) I did get to test that the included seam ripper worked as well. *lol* 
She used the machine after school to sew a visual of the available stitches and was excited to try the bonus gathering foot as well. It was right before dinner, or we would have spent a lot more time playing with that one! Courtesy of Daylight Savings time – you get fun, darkish photos of her using the machine. 
