(1).png){kind=small}
.png){kind=small}
.png){kind=small}
The Footbook App and DVD for Janome presser feet
Hi all…. a review for you of a DVD and/or app for you i-Device (iPhone, iPad or iPod touch): the Footbook by Jim and Diane Stutsman available at their website Online Sewing. Jim is the buy behind the online group/learning mecca Club J, for Janome owners.
This DVD/App is for Janome feet, but many of the tips on the app will apply to ANY brand of pintuck foot, zipper foot, whatever. For those of us who don’t have iPhones or iPads or an iPodTouch, they also have the info on a CD to use on a computer. I noticed that they didn’t have the price on the description (for the CD at least), and wrote the Contact Us person to mention it would be a helpful addition. Turned out it was none other that Jim Stutsman of Club J with his wife Diane writing the text and narrating the videos. Jim wrote back, said good point and thanks, and offered to send a free CD to me for alerting them and the suggestion. Nice!
I will note that this is a DVD / app that covers the uses of all the presser feet. If all you do is straight seams and free-motion quilting, it may have a lot more information about esoteric feet, like pintuck, beading, buttonhole, rolled edge, ultraglide, overcast and whatnot, that won’t apply to your sewing. If, however, you want to use those feet, do sewing other than straight seams and make garments and home dec items, there is a lot of great knowledge in this small package. The photos are really sharp and clear, like this one:
I figured I’d look up a foot I knew how to use and one I didn’t. I learned from the videos for BOTH feet! The one I (thought) I knew how to use is the pintuck foot. I do, but they had an added suggestion of taping a machine needle to help form the channel and guide the fabric. Great suggestion! I haven’t looked at all the feet/videos, but I’ve probably done about half, and have learned something with most all of the videos. That’s pretty amazing! (please note that, according to Jim, this video is smaller and lower quality from those on the DVD. The iPhone app uses 3 different quality videos depending on the type of data connection, with WiFi being the best.) Here’s the YouTube-quality sample of one of the videos:
The only negatives: when I pop the DVD into my laptop, a MacBook Pro, there isn’t something that opens automatically or that suggests which browsers to use. You don’t need a live internet connection, just the browser (don’t ask why…don’t know, something with how the DVD player reads the disc). According to the website, the DVD is compatible with Windows Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari. On my laptop I usually use Firefox. I remembered the first time I opened the DVD it had nice videos. When I tried to play it today, no videos. Weird, I thought, where did they go? So I opened the DVD in Safari, and there they were.
The second time I put the DVD in the slot, I noticed the disk itself on the label tells you to click on the folder that says “Start.” (DUH Sarah…I shoulda read that to begin with!) Operator error (as in my goof). Anyway, I clicked on Start; since I had Firefox open, but not Safari, it told me I didn’t have Safari or Google Chrome which would play advanced features of the DVD. I opened Safari and pasted the browser address into the Safari window and it played like a dream. There is, apparently, a Plug-In that I could install on Firefox on my laptop to enable the necessary Whatever to play the videos. Since I had the work-around of using Safari, I declined to download the plugin and will just remember (I hope) to play it in Safari. (Note: for those of you not on Macs, Safari is an internet browser designed by Apple, similar to the way Microsoft created Explorer.)
In sum, I thought the information was well very written, the little video clips (which run 2 minutes or less) very helpful….Thanks to Jim and Diane for the DVD to review and try out. With 40 years of sewing in my checkered past I’ve learned a lot, but I learned a number of new things from this DVD. To me, that means it does quite a fine job! Cost is US$6.99 for the app or $24.95 for the DVD. You can order it from them here:
http://onlinesewing.squarespace.com/
Cheers, Sarah
October 5th, 2011 at 5:35 pm
Hi Sarah!
I was surprised when I saw in your post that Jim & Diane Stutsman were the folks behind the Janome feet app! I bought my 6600 from them. I hadn’t been to the store in at least six months, and I went by a couple of weeks ago, and it was closed down for good. I wondered what happened to them and now I know. Thanks for providing this info. I will be downloading the app! I looks helpful and I can always use some help!
D~~~~
(I’m the Donna that used to have the Nic Nac Quiltiac site. I’m phasing it out, and switching over to the new one provided with this comment.)
October 8th, 2011 at 8:26 am
Saw your post on the 6600 Janome site…Thanks for your review! I have most of the Janome feet, but it’s been 2 years since I got my machine…I’ve probably forgotten how to use some of the feet! I ordered the DVD – can’t wait to get it!
Happy Quilting!
Mary
October 10th, 2011 at 8:15 am
Thanks for the heads up about FootBook! I now have it downloaded on my iTouch!