Which Janome presser foot category is mine?

You'll leave with your Janome's three identifying facts: where the bobbin sits, the maximum stitch width, and, if you need it, the shank height. You'll also know exactly which Janome document to check for each one, and how to read a specific foot's own part number and compatibility list once you have them.

The short answer

If you've been shopping for a Janome presser foot, you've probably run into listings sorted by category, or by 7mm and 9mm. Janome itself doesn't publish a lettered category system. What it publishes instead is a one-page guide for identifying your own machine, which sorts machines on three separate facts: where the bobbin sits, the machine's maximum stitch width, and, only if you need it, the shank height. Work out your own three answers before you shop. Janome's presser-feet catalog page doesn't show stitch width, shank height or model fit in its listings either, so you need those facts in hand to tell one foot from another once you're there.

Once you have your three facts, checking whether one specific foot fits is a separate question — see will this presser foot fit for that step.

Your three facts, and where to find each one

1. Where your bobbin sits

Janome asks this first: open the bobbin area and look. You'll see either a horizontal rotary hook bobbin or a front-loading vertical oscillating hook — Janome's guide shows a photo of each so you can match your own machine by eye. This is about the hook mechanism, not the bobbin class; for which bobbin class your machine takes, see which bobbin does my machine take.

2. Maximum stitch width — 9mm, 7mm or 5mm

Janome groups machines into three stitch-width classes: 9mm, 7mm or 5mm. Many machines print the maximum width on the machine itself or list it on their janome.com product page. If yours doesn't say, Janome's guide gives a manual check: set the machine to its widest zigzag, sew a line of it, then measure the width, or hold a same-width household object against the stitch as a rough gauge.

3. Shank height — only if the foot bolts to the bar

Janome is clear that this third fact is conditional: you only need it for a foot that bolts straight to the presser foot bar, not one that snaps on. If you do need it, Janome's guide gives one exception worth knowing before you guess from price or age: every machine with AcuFeed is high shank, and so are three specific models that don't have AcuFeed at all — the MC6650, the MC9850 and the Skyline S5.

Why Janome doesn't use the word "category"

The single letters you'll see in Janome foot names — Foot A, Foot M, Foot F, Foot G, Foot E, Foot R, Foot D and so on — identify one specific product each, not a group of compatible machines. The Skyline S7's own manual lists the zigzag foot, marked A, as already mounted on the machine in its Standard Accessories section, and Janome's general feet listing separately describes that same zigzag foot as the standard foot across its whole sewing machine range. Both are naming one individual foot, not a category that other feet also belong to.

Will a 9mm foot work on a 7mm machine?

It depends on the specific foot, and Janome's quick reference guide doesn't cover this part — it only tells you which group your own machine is in. What Janome's own product pages show is that width can change the part number entirely, not just a label on the packaging.

Treat that as the model to follow generally. Don't assume a foot marked for one width works on a machine built for another just because the shank type matches. Check the specific foot's own product page or packaging for the part number and the compatibility list that names your model, the way Janome lists separate 7mm and 9mm part numbers for the Bi-Level Foot above.

Reading your own machine's manual

Janome's manuals sit at janome.com's manuals hub, organized by machine category — professional, computer, serger and cover-hem, embroidery, mechanical, compact, and longarm models, plus a general "other" grouping — with no search box, so you browse to your own model. If it isn't listed, the page points to a separate retired-machines section. Once you're in your own manual, look near the front for a Standard Accessories page — it's page 4 in the Skyline S7's manual — to see which foot came fitted, and check the specifications pages for your stated maximum stitch width.

Before you buy

One machine family sits outside this whole scheme: Janome's HD9 Professional, HD9BE, 1600P-QC, HD9QC Professional and SewSwitch 30 machines are straight-stitch industrial equipment with no zigzag at all, so they don't have a maximum stitch width in the 9mm/7mm/5mm sense. Janome's page for their presser foot lists these five model names instead of a stitch-width figure.

1. Confirm your hook type by opening the bobbin cover and comparing it to Janome's guide photos, not by guessing from your machine's age.
2. Confirm your maximum stitch width from the machine or its manual, or run the zigzag-and-measure check, before you shop by width.
3. Only chase down shank height if the foot you want bolts to the bar rather than snapping on.
4. Match a candidate foot's own part number and compatibility list to your model — a width label or a retailer's category letter alone isn't enough.
5. If you've just fitted a straight-stitch needle plate and now break needles at a wide zigzag, that's a plate mismatch, not a foot mismatch — see which needle plate should be fitted.

Check it on your own equipment

These take you to the manufacturers and standards bodies the page draws on, so you can look up your exact model.

• Manufacturer specification
  Janome's presser foot quick reference guide (PDF) (opens in a new tab)Janome's own one-page guide with photos for the bobbin/hook question, the three stitch-width options with a simple way to measure yours, and the shank-height question with its stated exceptions. — www.janome.com
• Official support page
  Janome's manuals hub (opens in a new tab)Manuals grouped by machine category, browsable to your own model; a footer note points to a separate retired-machines section if yours isn't listed. — www.janome.com
• Manufacturer specification
  Janome's Bi-Level Foot listing (opens in a new tab)One foot design sold as four separate parts by side and stitch width, each with its own part number and machine compatibility list — a working example of checking a specific foot rather than a width label alone. — www.janome.com
• Merchant listing
  Janome's presser feet catalog (opens in a new tab)Feet by name and photo; open an individual foot's own page for its compatibility list, since the catalog grid itself doesn't show width, shank or model fit. — www.janome.com