Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Onward and Upward

Remember how I overpowered my poor $500 Kenmore sewing machine a couple of months ago? Well, it sadly turned out to be unfixable, and I was forced to replace it.

With this.


It's the Pfaff quilt expression 2048, and this is a lot of sewing machine. I don't do much quilting (yet....) but I wanted to get a machine that I wouldn't grow out of in the foreseeable future. I sew a lot, although it doesn't come up often on the blog, and I was finding that my old machine had frustrating limits. I think it'll take me a good long time to reach the edges of the Pfaff's capabilities.

I haven't had a lot of time to work with it yet, but yesterday, after burning my hand for the umpteenth time on the handle of my cast iron skillet, I cut up an old towel, wrapped it in scrap quilting cotton, and made this.



These are all quilting stitches - there are a hundred and fifty or so other decorative stitches - and I like 'em. I think my favourite is the zig-zaggy one.

This machine has free-motion quilting, where you attach a special foot and drop the feed dogs so you use your hands to control the back/forth, side-side motion of the fabric under the foot. I tried it out on the other side of my little potholder.


So altogether I'm glad I spent the money on this machine. It carved out a huge hole from my settlement - to the tune of about $2500 - but it's undoubtedly worth it. I'll have this thing for the next 40 years, if it lives up to the manufacturer's reputation.....and now that I know to be gentle.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow. That is some machine .... it scares me a little.

Anonymous said...

Mmmmm....pancake pr0n. And the potholder looks good, too.

Dave Hingsburger said...

I know there was something in the picture you wanted us to see, but all I could see was PANCAKE. Not just a pancake, but a perfectly browned pancake, a pancake with just the right amount of crisp ... oh oh oh ... and don't forget the light softy fluffy center. Can you imagine, just imagine, the pat of hard butter yielding to the hot of the surface of that pancake. Then little by little the butter runs towards the edge.

Um, oh yeah, Shannon ... nice potholder. Yeah, real nice. Gotta go.

Shan said...

Wait'll you see next week's post - I'm thinking a homemade trivet with a bunch of Belgian waffles on it.

Ames said...

That is the best darn skillet handle cover, I have ever seen.

And, why do I get visions of mosquitos when I see a pancake you made?

Gwen said...

hoo-ey, thet be good sewin'.

Stace' said...

SWEET!

Anonymous said...

What cute idea and a great way to play with fancy stitches. I may just have to copy you.

knititch said...

congratulations on your sewing machine. it looks lovely. i am sure you will have a lot of fun creating in front of it.

Tabatha said...

My Mom has a Pfaff and has had it for about 30+ years. She has used it to make so many different things over the years.

Those stitches on the pot holder are fabulous! WOW!!