So a year ago I made a big kid purchase for my sewing room.

After 10 years of consistent quilting, I decided that I spent enough time sewing that I could finally justify upgrading my sewing machine to a sewing machine for quilting that has more features that’ll make my life easier and the process more fun.

I am one of those people who goes through hobbies often.  I don’t usually like buying a whole bunch of fancy stuff right off the bat because I don’t know if I’m going to stick with it. I’ll get the bare minimum I need, at the cheapest option, to get started so I’m not constantly spending money on fleeting hobbies every couple months.

 if I prove to myself that I’m going to stick with this new thing, I’ll allow myself to upgrade later. But immediately investing in a high end machine before even finishing quilt number 1 didn’t make sense in my head.

10 years and over three times as many quilts in, I was now a big kid with a big kid career, I finally convinced myself this hobby wasn’t a fleeting thing and an investment in a nicer machine was warranted.

And then the research started.

For a bit of context, I am a very targeted sewer, I am very comfortable in my quilting world and don’t have much interest in travelling outside that bubble. I don’t typically dabble in clothing, smaller sized projects, or embroidery except for very rare once-in-a-while occasions. I wasn’t looking for a machine with quantity when it came to bells and whistles, I was looking for quality in the ones I actually cared about.

After what seemed like endless research, last fall I committed to a purchase and landed on the Juki TL-2010Q.

Now that it’s been a bit over a year, and 5 quilts in, I think I’ve put it through its courses well enough to let you in on my thoughts and whether I would buy this sewing machine again.

Why Juki Is a Popular Choice for Quilters?

In all of the Brothers, Beninas, and Singers in the world, where did the world did the dark horse Juki option come from?

The Juki TL-2010Q is marketed not as a sewing machine, but as a mid-arm quilting machine which is what caught my attention.

The other major models have great reputations as good sewing machines but it seems like most of the companies have slowly switched over to the world of embroidery, incorporating computers and LED monitors into the sewing machine, and keeping things pretty compact.

But I have no need for embroidery, and I find that full blown computers on machines that haven’t historically needed them usually cause more problems than solve.

The Juki is a traditional sewing machine, no computers to break or screens to go black, and just goes straight. Really really well.

I don’t want to pay $3000 extra for features I will never use. What I needed was a bigger throat space to fit more quilt so I don’t have to struggle as much, and a machine that can stitch a straight line fast without skipping stitches.

The Juki TL-2010Q is so popular among quilters because it was designed for quilting, not sewing, not embroidery, instead, its stripped down to just the things you’ll need as a quilter and puts the quality into the parts and the mechanics where you want it.

Check out the Juki TL-2010Q on Amazon here.

Key Features of the Juki Sewing Machine

There is a pretty solid list of features that the Juki TL-2010Q has that just make sense in a sewing machine designed for quilting:

8″ Throat space

Doubling the size I had available on my starter Singer.

High Stitching Speed

that boasts 1500 stitches a minute. This thing can go fast and do it well without skipping stitches. The design was put into making sure the machine timing is on point to make a flawless line of stitching.

High Stitch Quality

You’ll notice in the pictures it threads a little differently from typical sewing machines. The industrial tension setting on this machine controls the tension of the thread so well that its actually visible in the line of stitching. Its just a prettier line of stitching that you’ll immediately notice day 1.

Needle Down

This feature is uniquely useful for quilters when you are machine quilting, if you are zooming along stitching and something requires you to get up, if you forget to put your needle down, the weight of the quilt can often pull it from the machine pulling out thread and forcing you to break thread and restart. Needle down forces the machine to automatically end stitching with the needle down so you never forget.

Thread Cutter

You’ve finished a line of stitching, you’re ready to pull the quilt out for the day, instead of wasting thread by feeding out the thread, the machine has a needle cutter that will cut the thread right up next to the stitches for you. No need to waste thread. And an even nicer feature is that there’s two ways to activate it, from the front of he sewing machine, and in the pedal. Rock your foot forward on the pedal to run the machine like normal, rock your foot backward toward you to activate the thread cutter.

Feed Dog Disengage on the Front

I didn’t realize how nice this feature was until the first quilt I made, the switch to disengage the feed dogs is on the front of the machine with the rest of your stitch settings. When you’re ready for free motion quilting, there’s no need to pull the machine apart to get to the back or the bobbin area to disengage your feed dogs.

Speed Regulator

Please note, this is not a stitch regulator, but a speed regulator. You can limit the maximum speed the machine can run based on what you’re working on. Whether its for children learning to sew, or you’re doing straight line machine quilting where you just want to put the pedal to the floor for a consistent reasonable speed without losing control of the stitching.

All of the sewing machine upgrades you want as a quilter without any added fluff to inflate the price.

Pros of the Juki Sewing Machine

While the list of features is a great place to start in terms of researching what you want in a sewing machine, I wanted to make sure I touched on a few of the things that the articles and amazon listings don’t necessarily tell you.

These pros and cons, although not marketed features, can very easily make or break a purchase.

It’s Not Going To Move On You

The first thing you’re going to notice is that this machine is heavier than your standard off the shelf big box special.

1500 stitches a minute. It’s really just a number until you see it in person. Have you ever floored your sewing machine pedal and seen a sewing machine handle it? My standard Singer was marketed around 1000 per minute and would quite literally vibrate itself right off the table.

The increased weight of the Juki sewing machine, not to mention the rubber feet, not only keep the sewing machine in place at 1500 stitches a minute, but it doesn’t even look like it’s struggling. Just a smooth controlled stitching.

Built to Last

The components are all high quality machined metal parts which means this machine will not break on you any time soon.

By choosing to focus on the quality of the parts over the versatility of the machine, you end up with a machine that does one job really well and will never give out on you.

Surprisingly Quiet

So while I’ve played with the novelty of stitching at top speeds, its not where I typically live when I’m just going about my business with a project. So while I can’t necessarily speak for the speed at 1500 stitches a minute, at my normal speed, this machine is surprisingly quiet compared to my Heavy Duty Singer.

I doubt it was intentional, but from the first time I used it, it stands out, the quality of the internal parts is so high that they just fit together smoother making the machine run quieter. The parts aren’t clanging together because of choppy machining of the gears.

Is it silent, no. But it has a quieter smooth hum than the ka-chunk ka-chunk sounds we’re used to in a running sewing machine.

Compatible with quilting frames

Because it’s a mid-arm, the extra space in the throat makes it compatible with small quilting frames and hoops for an easy entrance to long arm quilting.

I personally haven’t yet dove into this realm of quilting, however I’ve certainly been eyeing it knowing my machine is capable of it.

If you’ve ever considered long arming but can’t justify the price of entry of a long arm machine, the Juki machine mixed with a Grace Cutie quilting frame might be a perfect option.

See a full list of the features of the Juki TL-2010Q here.

Cons of the Juki Sewing Machine

Because I want to be perfectly transparent here, there are a few downsides worth noting.

It’s heavy

Both a pro and a con, the machine is heavy compared to standard sewing machines, and heavy for all good reasons, but still something to consider.

Personally the extra weight doesn’t bother me, but I’m in my 30s and not moving my sewing machine long distances super regularly. It’s not so heavy that I can’t pick it up using one hand, and its a compromise I genuinely think is worth making for the added quality and efficiency of the machine.

I am someone who is constantly moving my sewing machine around the sewing room room though because I only have one table to cut and sew with. Over a year later, the extra weight still doesn’t bother me, however, if you have bad joints or injuries that are exacerbated by weight, this might be something to consider.

If you are travelling with your sewing machine regularly, this might also be a factor you take into consideration. I have travelled with mine in the last year and didn’t find the weight a problem, but I don’t travel with mine regularly.

Tension nobs aren’t straight forward

The Juki uses an industrial style tension system which lends to the consistent gorgeousness of the stitching.

That being said, there are now more guides and multiple nobs to adjust. Its no longer one nob and one number. If you’re different nobs get out of sync for whatever reason, maybe you were teaching a family member and they played with it for example, it takes a little bit of time to retune the nobs to get it back.

A bit of a learning curve to understand and fix it when it happens, but if you aren’t regularly adjusting tension, you won’t find this con affecting you very often.

Oiling is now a thing

The high end materials used in the design of this machine require occasional oiling to keep them moving smoothly and quietly.

Oil and an oil applicator are provided as part of the standard sewing machine accessories and clear instructions are included for where and how often to oil the sewing machine, however its one more thing to remember to do.

You’ll also want to be careful you don’t drip oil on your projects and clean up any drips left on the surface of the machine before starting your project.

Loud Walking Foot

I did a search of reviews to see what others found as cons with this machine and found that many quilters have indicated that the Juki walking foot specifically was noisy.

I do remember noticing it the first time I used it, but more as a passing observation, not a complaint, so I debated not even including it in this list as I can’t personally speak to observing this one.

Its very possible my Singer one was also noisy so I didn’t have as stark a contrast as others did and am now desensitized to it. However, I found enough people mentioning it in Amazon and Reddit threads that I felt like I should mention it here.

My walking foot often lives on my machine, and a year later still don’t find an issue with it, but if you have small children that you try to sew during nap times for example, this might be something to consider. If not, I wouldn’t find this to be a concern at all.

See more reviews of the the Juki TL-2010Q on Amazon here.

Would I Buy It Again?

After all this, would I buy this sewing machine again?

Absolutely.

No hesitation. If mine broke today, I’d have another in my Amazon cart by the evening.

For being under $1000, the quality of this sewing machine for quilting is just unmatched.

You’ll immediately fall in love with the added room in the throat space of the machine, making machine quilting ten times easier, and giving you the room to make those bigger bed sized quilts with half the struggle.

If quilting is all you do, the Juki TL-2010Q is the sewing machine you’re looking for. It does everything you want without up-charging you for features you won’t use and after using it consistently for over a year, I can’t recommend it highly enough.

To take your quilting to the next level, check out the Juki TL-2010Q here for your next sewing machine upgrade.