Janome DC5100 Review – The Creative Catalyst

Upgrade your Visions and Amplify your Creativity

When you choose to sew, no matter if it’s out of love and dedication to the call, or as a career or a hobby choice, you choose to commit.

You commit to a certain brand of needles; you commit to favorite threads; you commit to a certain style of creating. You unravel a particular part of your personality and you get to know yourself a bit better.

This unique way of expression enables you to express yourself creatively, to envision and develop yourself into an artist; but it is, to its core, a communal activity.

You are bound to meet new people that are, in a way, connected to you by an invisible thread. And that is how I met my best friend Julia – through our shared love and commitment to sewing.

It was Julia who noticed me struggling with myself when I was sewing. Once she took note of my troubles, she recognized it as my need to step up in my creative process.

I needed something more; a push, maybe greater freedom? Whatever it was that I needed, she deemed the following necessary: I needed a change. And that necessary change was a new machine.

So, if you also feel that you are ready for a change, and you feel the need to step up, I have you covered with my Janome DC5100 review. This machine is a viable solution for any beginner ready to elope onto a new highway, right to progress.

Janome is a company leading with the idea to inspire both creativity and innovation when it comes to sewing. Their long-standing devotion to providing their customers with the best, most durable and reliable machines is evident in all of their products.

If you are ready to follow your innermost intuition and your creative gut feeling, then Janome DC5100 is the most suitable option for you. For a more thorough analysis of this product, continue reading!

The Score-board for Janome DC5100’s Abilities

If you are foremost interested in the most concise form of Janome DC5100’s abilities, take a peek at the score-board below, before leaping into a more detailed analysis.

The final grades are shaped by an air-tight investigation provided to you by yours truly, so stay tuned for more details.

Keep scrolling!

Under The Microscope: Testing The Janome DC5100

As always, I have scrutinized every single detail of the Janome DC5100.

In here, you will read about the most interesting specificities of this machine, as well as learn a few useful tricks that will come in handy in the future.

Noteworthy Physical Elements and Attributes

Appearance-wise, here is what I noticed about this machine’s exterior design.

When it comes to the most rudimentary characteristic of this machine, namely its dimensions, they are as follows: 12 x 20 x 17 inches. This translates nicely into 30.5 x 50.8 x 43 centimeters.

The entire machine weighs 24.4 pounds (roughly 11 kilograms), which is quite decent considering the fact that it is a computerized machine.

So, based solely on its size, Janome DC5100 can be considered a medium-sized machine; but rest assured, there is nothing medium about it – it’s one of the best from their selection.

The extension table which allows the free-arm mode for your delicate projects is situated at the front side of the machine. I love how this part can be used as a storage for all of your accessories, too. It’s a handy little detail that makes your experience enjoyable.

The rest of the front side area is mostly dedicated to accessing this machine’s numerable features, and this can be done in a number of ways – from a push of the lever to the press of a button.

It’s always important to be able to adjust the features of the sewing machine according to your personal needs, and Janome made sure to implement that possibility in Janome DC5100 completely.

For instance, there is a speed control lever that you slide left or right to adjust the sewing speed. It’s quite sensitive and you’ll easily get accustomed to it.

The foot pressure and the thread tension are both controlled via the rotary dials.

There are 3 main operating buttons:

• The button for adjusting the needle position
• The auto-lock button, for the locking stitches
• A shortcut button for the reverse-stitch option, when you want to strengthen your stitches

As for the needle position, see how exactly it is positioned by watching the following video:

Next to them, there is a dial that adjusts the screen sharpness.

There is no start/stop button for sewing without the foot pedal, but this did not present a problem to me, as my preferred method is using it, and the machine comes fully equipped with it.

Additional operating buttons are under the screen. From there, you can select and edit patterns via the cursor buttons (left and right), and shift between 3 modes of selection (black for the patterns, blue for the decorative stitches and red for numbers and letters).

Beneath are the buttons for adjusting your preferred stitch width and length (I love when both can be customized, and this is always a plus). The maximum width is 7, and length 5 mm.

You can also use them to adjust the language settings. English, French, or Spanish are available. Although I don’t use this feature as the machines are pre-set to English, I always check which languages are supported for my readers’ sake (it may or may not have something to do with my compulsive need to check ALL the features).

At the bottom of the front part – more buttons! However, these are organized in a touchpad, so that they somewhat resemble a dial pad of a phone – there are numbers from 0 to 9 and two buttons on the sides.

These are quite convenient – the memory and clear buttons. The press on the former allows you to automatically memorize your pattern preference and the latter will clear the selection if you made a mistake.

For example, you can memorize a pattern of letters and sew the exact same word without the need to select all the letters all over again.

By using the number buttons, you can directly select the patterns from 00 to 09, or enter a double-digit number for other patterns.

Once you use them, your selection will be displayed on the screen, along with all the information (mode, stitch length and width, which foot is attached).

See the quick overview of this machine and the parts that I mentioned:

My Brief Directions for The Use

Moving on to some tips and tricks I can give you; I’ll make sure not to ramble too much here.

The manual that you get with the purchase is detailed and will be enough for you to learn all the basics considering this machine.

Once you get used to sewing with any of the Janome “DC” machine series, you’ll be a pro for all of them.

With that in mind, I advise you to watch the Janome DC series instructional video:

The bobbin winding is easy as the bobbin is horizontal and see-through; no need for additional tips regarding this process.

There is also the bobbin winder stopper that can be adjusted with a screwdriver. I do have a tip here: do not remove the screw fully. As always, I had to experiment a bit, and putting it back on was nerve-wracking.

If you want to skip reading the manual for the threading part of the process, here is a useful tutorial:

What I also want to mention here is the magic fabric-thread-needle combination, which is the key to the success of your projects.

Generally, I used 11/75 needle size with this machine, but here’s a complete chart so that you obtain the crucial combination right:

Another thing I wanted to achieve with the picture of this chart is to present the supported materials of this machine to you.

I can assure you it works without any flaws with any of them, and I must admit that they were modest and did not include all the materials in this chart. I’ve also tried it out with some other fabrics (silk, velvet, even canvas), and it performed outstandingly.

Janome DC5100 Qualities that Will Lead You to Sewing Success

At first, you may be intimidated by the number of features that Janome DC5100 has to offer and feel as if you’ll never be able to explore and master all of them.

Soon enough (after you indulge in all the creative possibilities it offers), you’ll find yourself rather excited for you purchased this computerized master-tool.

In this section, you can find some of the highlight features I tested out and liked.

First of all, this machine comes with 167 built-in stitches, which positions it at the top when it comes to versatility and possibilities of creation for you. There are zig-zag and flowery patterns, along with playing card suits, scallop stitches and alphabetical and numeric patterns. You can also add spaces between the letters.

Additionally, this machine allows you to memorize up to 50 patterns.

This diversity of stitches makes everything you can imagine possible: smocking, fagoting, patchwork, sand stitches for the outer embroidery design, apliqué work… You name it.

Here you can check out how to do a serger stitch by using an overlock stitch with this machine:

The LCD screen that I mentioned is simple yet very functional, and the interface is neat and intuitive.

The SFS feature stands for the Superior Feed System, another favorable attribute of this machine. Behind this mysterious (and a bit boastful) name is the feature that all the feed teeth (7 of them) move simultaneously up and down, which means the better control of the feed.

The automatic buttonhole feature is another benefit worth mentioning, and you can choose among round-end, keyhole, stretch, corded and knit buttonholes.

Last but not least, it is of the utmost importance that you maintain your machine regularly if you want to make quality projects over a long period of time.

To learn how to properly do that, check out this video:

A Contribution to The Purchase: Accessories Included in The Box

Apart from the usual add-ons (bobbin, spool pin, small and large spool holders, spool stand, etc.) that don’t require further explanation, with Janome DC5100, you will get an admirable amount of additional attachments.

Namely, there is a needle set to get you started, as well as a screwdriver for the bobbin adjustment that I always like to get (saves me the time I would spend searching for the appropriate one), and a lint brush that is tiny yet effective.

What amazed me is the number of the foot-controllers that you get, each for the more effective use of a certain feature.

To mention a few of my favorite ones, although this is not a complete list, you get:

• The standard zig-zag foot, which will be set on the machine
• The overedge foot thanks to which the thread wraps around the edge of the material
• The darning foot, for more precise positioning of the needle
• The satin stitch foot, specialized for this type of textile

I didn’t count all of the additional foot attachments, but there are at least five, as well as a quilter for your beautiful decorative work.

Take a look at the circular sewing attachment here:

To Sew Up The Whole Matter…

Closing The Case: Should You Buy Janome DC5100?

With several key changes compared to the previous versions of DC5100, including a wide variety of software and hardware features, such as a diverse set of 167 built-stitches, strong and sturdy build and quality projects I made with it, I can conclude this is a purchase worth your attention.

The performance itself is mostly unchanged since Janome machines always provided successful results and projects. What is peculiar about this one is that it enables almost everything you can imagine thanks to its computerized features.

In addition, it is fully accessorized, so that your sewing journey is even more enjoyable.

Don’t hesitate about this purchase; I guarantee you’ll be satisfied!