My Pfaff and Me

In the online sewing community of late there has been a high degree of finger pointing and nastiness. Sadly, I clicked on a link to a blog post that had dozens and dozens of comments about what people DIDN'T like. In between all of those nasty comments there were a few positive ones, and a few of them said they would like to know what kinds of machines people sew on, if they liked them, and why.

As I always do, I'm trying to stick to the positive only, so I decided to take a few pics, and share my baby with you all.

A little over three years ago I got back into sewing. About a year after I started, I realized that my machine simply could not do a zigzag. It was a 1950's Kenmore that was a handmedown. I had it serviced and it still didn't work, so I decided to buy a new machine. It was spring, and I had tax refund money burning a hole in my purse. I read everything I could find on the various brands and styles of machines. Then I stumbled across Pattern Review.com. It's an amazing resource, with an active community of posters. I read reviews like crazy. A LOT of reviews. And then I stumbled across a review by someone I KNEW (sort of). Ann from Gorgeous Fabrics.com online fabric store and Gorgeous Fabrics blog. She sewed on a Pfaff, and that was all I needed to hear.

I searched for all of the Pfaff dealers in Connecticut, but ended up finding one just over the border in Massachusetts. When I called, they said, lucky me, they were having a sale because the new models were coming out (music to my ears!). I chose a Pfaff Expression 3.0. It was the middle of that line, and it had ALL of the features I was looking for. I paid $1999 for it, and I had a coupon from the Pfaff website for a free Fab-u-motion attachment. GREAT DEAL.

Going from my old machine to this was like going from a bike to a Ferrari in one shot.




I got free lessons from the store, and took only one. I brought the machine home and just dove in. As you can see from the panel, there are a lot of stitches.



THE selling point to me on this line was the IDT technology. If you look you can see a black arm that comes down right behind the needle. It feeds the fabric evenly through the machine, and makes all the difference in the world to me in making the quality of my sewing more even and precise.



This is a picture with the front piece taken off. Inside this piece are the holders for the feet, bobbins, and mechanical stuff at the back (screwdriver, brush, and buttonhole attachment). When it's off, you can maneuver around sleeves or small cylindrical pieces, like for a purse or bag.

The opening to the right is really big compared to other machines. I have only quilted three things on this machine, but they fit very easily and nicely into this space without bunching.



I still don't know 1/2 of what this machine does. But I love sewing on it, and it's easy to use. It has all of the features I wanted, including the ability to program in favorite stitches. I expect to sew on this for a very, very long time.