How Much Difference Does 3″ Make?

In our experience, it makes enough of a difference to warrant a pause, and give serious consideration to all your options when planning for that purchase. A little extra room, a little extra space, and a little extra comfort can elevate your long arming game because you took into account the most important component in long arming – you! With any long arm, size matters, not only in what room you have available to house your new machine, but in what you are planning to tackle with said machine. Bigger quilts can require bigger equipment.

Janome has a variety of long arm sizes, but here is a good simple comparison of their entry level machine versus something with a bit more junk in the trunk. While the Janome QM15 is a perfect, budget friendly machine for the beginner long armer, the Janome QM18 comes with a few extra benefits for the price. The throat space will allow for bigger, thicker quilts. When the material is rolling up, the space from front to back between the rollers narrows, as does the vertical up and down space. So that minky or cuddle fleece backed queen size quilt is no longer on the outsource list. You can easily tackle it in any quilting technique you see fit – free motion, ruler work, or even attaching a universal robot to get that automation.

With a bigger machine, comes a bigger motor, and the ability to grow with your skills. With the Janome QM18, your feathers won’t outrun your stitch regulator at 4 to 22 stitches per inch. The bigger lights will brighten your workspace so you can really match up your ruler work lines. The low bobbin alarm will tell you when you are getting close to a needed refill so you can plan ahead while in the middle of a complex pattern. The electronic touchscreen menu on the Janome QM18 is a comfortable size for you to navigate and select the options that work the best for you.

The Janome QM15 is a fantastic opportunity to begin long arming, because it can do everything its larger counterparts can do where it counts, but size does matter, and the Janome QM18 is worth consideration if you need a few extra inches to get the job done.

Janome Long Arm Machine Comparison: