Hello, this is my first post. I just had to try blogging!
While I am usually slow to warm up to accessories, the new Janome CoverPro transparent binding foot, instantly piqued my curiosity. It has several characteristics that promise to bring real improvement.
The new transparent foot is shorter at the back, just like the shorter metal foot this promotes movement and helps preventing skipped stitches.
It also is shorter than the standard foot in the front and compared to the metal binding foot it is a tad longer so that the tape is guided optimally.
Best of all, it has a ridge at the right along the entire length of the foot and this keeps the tape riding steadily on the feed dogs.
The transparent foot is wider, ie the width of the metal binding foot plus the width of the ridge and it is smooth and does not have a separate hinged part at the back. And here is also a quick overview of some of the Janome feet.
My first two onesies with the new foot and a single fold binder, cut width 28mm, went effortlessly.
Here I am showing how the transparent foot is a little longer at the front and hugging the binder
As we were discussing this in the Facebook Coverstitch/Coverlock group, some members expressed concern about limitations to the width of the binding strip. I inserted the needles in the left and center positions and I measured the distance from the ridge to the left needle to be 12mm. So I guess that a finished tape width of 14 to 15mm could be handled with this foot.
This is not an all or nothing solution. The transparent foot is not exclusively compatible with Janome binders, I have only generic ones and they work well with it. At the same time it is not making every needle position on every tape width option possible either.
Last but not least, this little gem is going to be useful for binding without a binder too. It is always possible to attach the tape with an overlocker or even with the chain stitch, manually, turn it over and top stitch using the binding foot as a guide.
