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Janome Memory Craft 6300P Sewing Machine

High-end blend of technology and simplicity

Text, photos and video by Tom Hintz
Posted – 3-6-2020

I have been so impressed with the performance of my Janome 4120 sewing machine, when it came time to add a second machine to the shop, I opted for the Janome Memory Craft 6300P. The Janome Memory Craft 6300P sports a group of features that are practical for most users but wrapped in a tough, smooth-running set of mechanics that promise a long, trouble-free life. What it lacks is a bunch of useless bells and whistles some manufacturers use to justify higher price points.

The Basics

The Janome Memory Craft 6300P is 19.4"-long by 11.8"-tall and 8.6"-deep with an under-arm workspace 8.8"-wide and 4.7"-tall. Supporting those dimensions is a tough metal frame that bumps this machine up to a stout 26.5 lb. Dependability is not light.
The Janome Memory Craft 6300P has a maximum stitch length of 5mm and max width of 7mm. It has 66 built-in stitches including 4 one-step buttonholes. The group of stitches seems to have been assembled by people who sew a lot rather than by marketing types that like big stitch numbers over utility.
The Janome Memory Craft 6300P is not trying to pass itself off as an embroidery-capable machine so there are no alphabet stitches that produce frustratingly amateurish lettering. Here again, utility won out over trying to be all things to all people and accomplishing few.
An effective, built-in needle threader makes that chore simple, even for me eyes that have 70 years on them. The push of a front-mounted button lets you choose between the needle stopping in the up or down position. This is a very handy feature if you have never used one.
An even more useful feature I refuse to ever be without again is the automated thread cutter that clips the thread above and below the table with the push of a button. Many of my projects are large which means reeling off long pieces of bobbin thread before I can reach it to clip it. This push-button cutter is fast, economical and just makes life with big projects far more civilized.

Under Arm Space

One of the first things I noticed about the Janome Memory Craft 6300P was the large workspace under the arm to the right of the needle. I suspect quilting was foremost in the designer’s minds, but this expanded area makes life much easier with any larger than normal project we may be doing. When I am making one of my 8-foot-long by 2 ½-foot-wide wing bags this extra space is greatly appreciated.
The Janome Memory Craft 6300P is a “low shank” machine and uses snap on/off presser feet. Included are a ¼” seam foot, 3-way cording foot, automatic buttonhole foot, blind hem foot, open-toe darning foot, open toe foot with quilting guide, open toe satin stitch foot, overedge foot, satin stitch foot, sliding buttonhole foot, zig zag foot, zipper foot and a Janome walking foot.
I was very surprised to find a plastic box designed to hold all those accessories. The surprising part is that it is the right size for all those tools with molded pockets for them and space for a few others that I use on such a machine. I have become jaded by the often too small and too difficult flip out storage so many other machines have.
Other features include a 5-bar feed dog, automatic thread cutter, automated lock stitch button, reverse button, twin needle configuration button, sliding speed control, stitch adjusting buttons, memory button and bobbin winding button. There is a C button that always brings you back to the standard straight stitch from whatever other stitch you had been using. This also is surprisingly handy now that I have used the Janome Memory Craft 6300P a bunch.
The Janome Memory Craft 6300P comes with a plug-in, knee-operated presser foot lift. I must admit that I nearly left this knee lever in the box. I decided to give it a try and discovered I love it. It takes a little getting used to but being able to pop the presser foot up without having to open it with your hand is great. It is quicker and allows keeping your hands on the material and that makes lots of things easier. The knee lever can raise the presser foot through its full up and down range of movement.
The only downside to this presser foot lift mechanism is that I tend to try lifting the presser foot with my knee while still running the needle with my foot. Of course, this is a failure of my coordination, not a design flaw in the Janome Memory Craft 6300P. I am getting better.
The presser foot mechanism creates more space below it than many machines. This is a huge help when dealing with bulky, multi-layer projects, like my FlyingRC.net Protectors. I know raising the presser foot higher may not be a need for many, but when a thick project arrives, this feature can make your day.
The LCD screen shows the stitch number as well as changes made using the length and width buttons. We can combine stitches and commit them to memory. I’m going to leave the memory capability for later as I have a ton of work to get done on the Janome Memory Craft 6300P.

Tension and Pressure Adjustability

While many consumer-grade sewing machines are going to automatic thread and presser foot pressure, the Janome Memory Craft 6300P brings those points of adjustability back. I have had to deal with these adjustments on cheaper machines in the past and that experience shows me how much better Janome made them. Adjustments to thread tension or presser foot pressure produce logical results making it easier to do many types of work.

Speed Control

The foot pedal shipped with the Janome Memory Craft 6300P is wide, and smooth operating, both good things. Regulating speed is easy throughout the movement range of the pedal. The sliding speed control on the machines face increases or reduces the top speed. That enhances the range of control at the pedal, allowing us to be very precise when needed, like running over a zipper.

Bobbin Winding

A handier than expected feature of the Janome Memory Craft 6300P is a dedicated, high-speed bobbin-winding motor. This allows the needle mechanism to remain independent of the bobbin winding which eliminates having to re thread the machine whenever you must wind bobbins.

Spool Holder

I’ve been using large capacity spools of thread on a stand-alone base but have come to appreciate the twin spool holders on the back of the Janome Memory Craft 6300P and the fold up thread guide arm. The tapered slip-on hubs fit the large capacity spools. Remove those hubs and normal-sized spools fit just as well. This on-board spool holder is efficient and frees up surface space around the machine along with making moving the machine aside less of a juggling act. This system also eliminates the lay-down thread spools that I never really warmed up to on my other machines.

Stitch Card

Another feature of the Janome Memory Craft 6300P that I initially considered leaving in the box is the pop-up stitch card. It mounts to the rear of the machine and folds down out of the way until you need to find a stitch or recall the stitch number.
It turns out, being 70 years old makes the stitch card as important as everything else, but it is very easy to flip up when needed and down when it isn’t. The stitch card flips over within its bracket to reveal threading and bobbin winding thread path illustrations.

Worktable

I was more than a little surprised to see the 24”-long by 15 ¾” wide size of the included worktable. It is made from a heavy, clear plastic (acrylic?) that has nearly no flex to it. The table is mounted on 6 adjustable legs that let you fine-tune the height of the table to match it to the surface of the machine itself, even on not-so-level surfaces.
The only issue I have had with this worktable comes from it being very clear. The space under it is great for scissors or other things I am using for that job. More than once I have tried to reach through that very clear table. Again, my bad.

On the Minus Side

Something I did not notice until well after getting the Janome Memory Craft 6300P home and using it extensively was that there is no free arm. The fact that I had used this machine a good bit before discovering this shortfall shows that I am not in need of a free arm very often. I have other machines with free arms so that capability is still in my shop. The Janome Memory Craft 6300P appears to have been designed with quilting and other large projects high on the intended uses list so that might be one reason the free arm was left out. I have done a couple projects that had required the use of the free arm on my Janome 4120. I really had no problem completing the project on my Janome Memory Craft 6300P without the free arm.

Conclusions

The Janome Memory Craft 6300P is certainly a higher end machine than I have ever owned but now with a couple months of heavy use under my belt, I think the $1000 street price I paid for it (2-4-2020) is reasonable for what we get. This is a smooth-running machine that never seems to lack power, even when I am working with my multiple layers of canvas, padding and flannel.
I have literally used my Janome Memory Craft 6300P virtually non-stop sewing my FlyingRC.net Protector Sets and have yet to find an issue with this machine. It is smooth, powerful, has plenty of stitches for whatever I am doing, and the controls are easy to master if you read about them once in the manual. It’s automatic where it needs to be and manual where we want it to be. I like the combination of technology and simplicity. The Janome Memory Craft 6300P deserves a hard look if you need a better sewing machine for virtually any common sewing project.

Resources

Janome 4120 Review

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