Why I think the Janome DKS100SE is the best mid range sewing machine ever!
- The Sewistry
- Apr 24
- 5 min read
To start, I didn’t learn to sew on this machine. I learned on a Frister & Rossman that is the same age as me. I know this because it was a gift to my Mum when I was born, which is some years ago now, long enough that it is a mechanical machine not a computerised one.
I made so many stupid errors and jammed that machine up with a fair regularity, but I loved sewing and carried on regardless of the air turning VERY, blue very often.
That’s because I made the same mistake all beginner sewists do, and tackled projects that were well beyond my capability. Many of them, if not abject failures, are not suitable for your viewing, not on the inside at least!
Anyway Christmas 2014 rolled around and as I always do I headed to my parents to spend a pleasant day with them.
What I didn’t know was that they had spent a small fortune on the love of my life, my beloved DKS100SE. Dear reader, I cried when I opened it. Sobbed like a baby!
Well there was no stopping me then. I sewed as often as I could, I tempered my ambitions slightly, as fabric waste is neither affordable or sustainable and made easier projects that I could actually wear without fear of them suddenly dropping off my body with shoddy workmanship.
Jump forward to today and here we are, I still love this machine as much as I did then.
Contrary to popular belief I don’t spend all day in the shop sewing. I do most of my sewing at home in my pyjamas!
So what makes me think it’s the ideal machine?
To begin with, it's a feat of engineering in a very pretty body, look at it!
If you feel like you recognise this machine, I’m willing to bet you’re a bit of a Tilly and the Buttons fan as this was her original machine, it has and still does, feature in her photos quite often. And why wouldn’t it, I mean… look at it!
Janome’s current bestseller is the 5060QDC, a delightful machine that is used on a primetime sewing based television program shown in Spring on the BBC, hence why no one is allowed to advertise it as such. It’s also quite pretty, but it doesn’t have the wonderful retro stylings of the DKS, so it’s not quite as appealing in my eyes.
Another big advantage of the DKS are the fantastically chunky, satisfyingly clicky, bouncy, oversized buttons.
Sewing on the 5060 is a delight, but having to use the same 4 arrow selections for everything feels a little long winded in comparison to being able to select stitch 47 by pressing 4 and then 7 in quick succession. Also having dedicated length and width buttons is a bonus.
They both feature a thread cutter button, which was the most mindblowing thing about this machine when I first started using it.
If you’ve never had one, you don’t know you need one, but once you have, there’s no going back I’m afraid.
If you don’t know what I’m on about then you’ve never used one of these magic, life altering buttons. Computerised machines stop sewing with the needle down, into the fabric. Pressing the little scissor icon cuts the threads and lifts the needle up so all that's left for you to do is lift the presser foot and remove your fabric. If you’re thinking that’s no big deal, you’re clearly a unicorn… the kind of sewist who always knows where your scissors are!
It comes with the quilting kit (actually they both do) so that’s the wide extension table, walking foot, ¼ inch seam foot, stitch in the ditch foot, free motion embroidery foot, and the open applique foot. This is a real advantage if you intend to even try quilting as the cost of adding these things one by one soon adds up, the current price of the kit on its own is £14, whilst the walking foot is £54 alone.
The DKS also has a knee lifter, which the 5060 doesn’t. I never use it, but it has one and I have experimented with it in the past.
What else makes it an amazing daily driver?
Erm… have you actually looked at it?!
The speed slider is the second most mind-blowing feature of modern sewing machines. The ability to slow the machine right down no matter how hard you put your foot on the pedal is fabulous. Sure you might not want to sew that slow all the time, but for doing curves and finicky things it’s a gamechanger.
I can hear you mumbling about the price difference and you’re correct, the DKS is £659, whereas the 5060 is £549, which is why it’s Janome’s bestseller I’d imagine, that and the fact it is used on said primetime, well known sewing program.
Even so, I’d go for the DKS every time, there’s just such an advantage to having separate, wonderfully tactile, buttons for things, you’re much less likely to change something by accident for example. It also has more stitches.
I, like all sewists, use the same handful of stitches on heavy rotation, but if you’re paying for the needle threader, speed slider and thread-cutter why not take advantage of the extra stitches from time to time.
Need to overedge? You can. Put in a zip? Yep, like a dream. Blind hem? Sure, if you can remember how to fold the bloody fabric. Want to try your hand at free-motion embroidery, guess what??
What about buttonholes I hear you ask? We all remember watching sewists struggle to get their buttonholes done in time on the TV and cheering them on only for the machine to jam at the exact wrong moment.
Buttonhole feet are a bit like printers, they can smell your fear and anxiety. If you approach them in a hurry they are much less likely to do as you ask.
I always test a buttonhole on my fabric before committing to it on the real garment and can’t remember the last time I had a problem. Of course that doesn’t mean I’ve never had a problem; there is a reason I always do a test first now.
What else?
HAVE YOU LOOKED AT IT?
I mean just look at it.
It tells you which foot to use for which stitch
It comes with a reassuringly good, paper manual that’s easy to follow
It’s got a hard cover
It only weighs 7kg so it’s not a bugger to move
It has a lockstitch button - neater than having to reverse up…
Did I mention it’s currently on sale?
At £599 for all that and more it’s a great Spring bargain for anyone looking for an easy to use, loveable, Insta swoon-worthy sewing machine that you’re unlikely to grow out of (unless you start quilting quite seriously, but that’s a whole different game).
The now, quite understandably, second rate 5060 😉 is also on sale at £499 (a disgracefully shallow attempt to overshadow my beloved).
Seriously though, come and try out the DKS100SE if you want a new machine, I promise it’s amazing! Book some time with me to try out this or any other machines I have in stock below.
P.s I also have the 5060 available to try if you really must 😝
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