Review: Juki TL-2010Q For Doll Dress Sewing

Three years ago, my husband gave me my first sewing and embroidery machine, the Brother NV980K. Since then, I have used it for various sewing and craft projects. When I decided to set up Applelulu Crafts, it was a natural decision to get another similar machine, the Brother NV950, to conduct my home-based workshops. 

Recently, I got a chance to interact with my first semi-industrial sewing machine, the Juki TL-2010Q, at the Momoko X Applelulu Crafts Denim Overall Workshop in November 2017. Together with Ban Soon, we hosted Momoko Komori, the famous Japanese doll dress designer and sewing teacher, at the MOX sewing room. She only uses the Juki TL-2010Q and it got us asking why it was better for miniature doll dress sewing. I was really impressed after the workshop and weeks later, I decided to own one for my personal doll dress sewing projects. 

Don't get me wrong, I still love my Brother machines very much. They will continue to be my staples in my workshops (as they are so user friendly) and they can make miniature doll clothes too. Getting the semi-industrial Juki TL-2010Q was to increase my "horse power" for more complex doll and heavy-duty bag projects. 

One thing led to another and a chat with a fellow craft friend got me thinking about writing machine reviews, starting with the Juki TL-2010Q. As I gain insights into different sewing machines through more friends and workshops, these reviews will allow me to share them with fellow sewists and crafters. To put up a disclaimer, these reviews are purely my personal opinions based on my types of sewing and crafting projects (bag-making and doll dress sewing). 

So here we go: Applelulu Craft's first humble machine review of the Juki TL-2010Q, the straight stitch sewing and quilting machine, for doll dress sewing. (Sorry quilters, I don't quilt 😅)

When I first saw the Juki TL-2010Q, my first impression was that it looked pretty simple and basic. Probably I am used to having designs on my Brother machines. It's way heavier, very sturdy and comes with an detachable, huge flatbed. Walking footers are usually an additional accessory, but it came with the Juki TL-2010Q (and a whole lot of other stuff).

Speed-wise, it is definitely much faster and more powerful. I was a little nervous when I first stepped on the foot pedal! Thank God for speed control LOL. And on the Juki TL-2010Q, it has very cute icons to depict fast and slow speeds. Do you want to sew at speed of a rabbit or a tortoise? I don't really want to be thought of as a tortoise, so I went for the middle ground (sewing pride at work).

The Juki TL-2010Q has two very distinctive features--the knee lift and its foot pedal. With my knee, I can raise and lower the presser foot so that my hands do not need to leave the mini doll outfits that I am sewing on. The presser foot can still be raised by a hand lever, but the knee lift is able to push it higher for thicker sewing projects. 

As for the foot pedal, you will sew forward as you press down on it. But when you press backwards with your heel, it activates the thread cutter. This is quite challenging for less experienced sewists as you might accidentally cut the thread when you just want to stop the sewing machine. Imagine if you had to sew a curve of less than 2cm around a doll pocket. We usually need to stop every 2-3 stitches to turn the curve and that can lead to a lot of accidental thread cutting. My fellow sewists at the Momoko workshop remarked that their foot had to be in a pointed ballerina position. What I do is to put the pedal sideways so that my heel can still rest on the floor. I just press down on the right (front for sewing) or the left side (back for cutting).

The lighting on the Juki TL-2010Q is also a small minus point. If you look carefully at the next photo, it seems to illuminate the area on the left side of the footer more than on the area that you are sewing. It seems that other Juki TL-2010Q reviews mentions the same thing. So if you are going to get this machine, do accompany it with a table lamp for sufficient lighting. 

It also took me a while to learn to thread the machine. It was only after three rounds of coaching and demonstration before I knew where exactly to hook my thread. This is where I definitely prefer my Brother machines with its stickered-on instructions and super easy threading mechanism. 

Now on to more plus points. The sewing on this machine is superb. Powerful. Sturdy. Neat, even stitches. The sewing footer allows my awl to go super close to the needle and my stitches, giving me better control when I work on small parts like doll collars, sleeves and gathers.

If you noticed, the needle hole on the needle plate is really small. This is very helpful when sewing doll clothes as tiny parts of softer fabrics can get caught and stuck on the feed dogs. On normal sewing machines, I would have to manage and overcome this issue in other ways. 

And that's not all. It actually has a secret backstitch function shared by Momoko-san. In doll sewing, every stitch counts. Sometimes when we are approaching the end of e.g. a doll collar and one more stitch would exceed the desired seam allowance. But if we stop at the current stitch, it would be too far away from the intended end point. This is when we raise the needle, and hit the backstitch button repeatedly. The feed dogs will move the fabric slowly backwards and allowing us to achieve a half stitch to end our sewing. Cool isn't it?

All in all, I am loving my new Juki TL-2010Q as it has helped me achieve greater complexity and accuracy in my doll sewing projects. In fact, I just completed a new doll sewing project on it which I will share on Applelulu Crafts Facebook page soon. Stay tuned for it!

I definitely wouldn't recommend Juki TL-2010Q to a beginner sewist, but I think it's a great machine for people like me who have been using home sewing machines and are thinking about upgrading to one closer to industrial standards. It is described as semi-industrial as it is portable, unlike the bulky industrial sewing machine which you must have space for. Other than that, I heard that it has many qualities of industrial sewing machines. 

Hope my review of the Juki TL-2010Q from the perspective of doll clothes sewing has helped you. Thank you for reading and feel free to send me your thoughts or even questions. And I hope to bring you another machine review soon! Tata~ 

Juki TL-2010Q Applelulu Rating: 

🍎🍎🍎🍎 (4 out of 5 Apples)

#JukiTL2010Q #applelulucrafts #blythedoll #dollsewing #sgcrafter #workshops #sewingmachinereview