Welcome to Week 2 of my PFAFF Tutorial Tuesday. Each week, I'll be showing new features of my PFAFF quilt expression 4.0 sewing machine. The purpose of these tutorials is to familiarize ourselves (self-included!) with the numerous features of this machine. This week, we're reviewing the remaining buttons in the first section of the sewing machine's face plate. I thought I'd have enough time to also cover the various presser feet and how to achieve a perfect 1/4" seam. However, I'm thinking it may be a bit too much information to share with all we're covering today. There are five button options to the left of the graphic display screen that we didn't cover in last week's tutorial. Stitch Restart Button The first of these last five options is the stitch restart button, shown here (2nd button down on left with image of arrow pointing left): If you are working on a project and have to stop in the middle of a stitch, simply press the stitch restart button and you will start sewing at the beginning of the stitch again without having to reset any special settings you've made. This button is a must-have if, for example, you are using a decorative stitch and need to replace your thread in the middle of sewing a motif. The built in stitch restart feature makes it easy to resume right where you left off. Let's say that you are sewing a decorative stitch and see that you only need one more motif for your project. While sewing the last motif, press this same stitch restart button. The stitch will finish and the machine will then stop after your motif is finished! Speed Control The third button down on the left is the speed control button: The speed control button can come in handy for a variety of reasons. Here are a few for you to consider: 1) If you are a beginning sewer, what better way to learn than to take it slow? Simply press this button until you are comfortable with the given speed and you will learn at a pace that is comfortable for you! 2) Another reason to use this great feature is if you are a beginner when it comes to machine quilting. Using this slow-down feature will allow you to build your confidence without worrying you may accidentally "put the pedal-to-the-metal" and mess up a planned quilting motif. 3) How about this . . . you've just discovered how much you love a quilt block with a curve (i.e., New York Beauty, Drunkard's Path, or a simple circle patch you'd like to sew to your quilt top). If you've never sewn an arc or circle before, slowing your machine down to a comfortable pace will take away your fears and allow you to finish your task with finesse. Immediate Tie-off The button on the top right is the immediate tie-off button. When pressed while sewing, the immediate tie-off button will sew a few tie-off stitches, then automatically stop. What a great feature to have, right? Gosh, I sure wish I had this feature when I was making Amy Butler's Alchemy sample quilt for her booth for Fall Market last year. Making all of those triangles would have gone so much smoother! :) Presser Foot Up and Extra Lift Toggle Press the second button down on the right for the presser foot to raise: Once pressed, the presser foot raises up, like so, to a comfortable height . . . (note: needle is down in this image because I had the 'needle down' button engaged from last week's tutorial. This shows you how the presser foot up button still works, whether your needle is up or down!). Press the button a second time, and your presser foot will raise to an extra height . . . This second, higher position will allow you to easily insert and remove bulky projects, such as a sandwiched quilt top. Isn't that fantastic? :) Presser Foot Down and Pivot Toggle The final button we're covering this week is the third button down on the right . . . Since my images on how this button works would simply show the presser foot in the "down" position, I'll share with you that if you press this button a second time, the presser foot will raise to a height where you can pivot your work when needed, then lower automatically when you start sewing again. Thanks so much for learning these buttons right along with me! Next week, we'll be covering the presser feet, as well as how to achieve a perfect quarter-inch seam! Please be sure to ask any questions you may have and I'll address them in an upcoming blog.
Watch video on how to change the sewing feet, plus demo decorative stitches, see how the quarter inch seam foot performs on this machine.
A new toy was delivered to me the other day and I couldn’t wait to get the Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.2 – out of the box & into the studio. I was just like a kid at Christmas, all wide eyed and excited. Only a sewing machine could make me…
Finally getting around to write about tapering on the Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.2 Tapering lets you decrease or increase the width of a stitch at a particular angle to create symmetrical or asymmetrical tapers. This is a fun program that I also had on my previous machine... see the little bag that I made some years ago. It is a fun thing to play with but takes some time to get used to and get the hang of it. For my next pillow for the 2015 FMQ challenge over at Quiltshopgal I decided to use my Heather Feather Accuquilt die (design by Sarah Vedeler) that I purchased a good year ago. As Sarah Vedeler is this months' expert this seemed like the perfect opportunity. When I made the bag above, I had instructions from the Pfaff site...must admit that I have not used this function since then as I hardly do any applique work. So out came the manual... This is what the screen looks like when you hit the F1 button and then long press on one of the angles which brings up the whole program Now I remembered that I had some difficulty last time with working out the different directions of the angles and this time was no different. I decided to spent some time on this to get my head around it once and for all. The way this made sense to me is as follows - the top row provides for asymmetrical angles to the right - the middle line is for symmetrical tapers at various degree, i.e. your sewing comes to a point - the bottom row provides for asymmetrical angles to the left Playtime If you look at my sample (top left) and take the first taper at 45degrees that is marked 'top' for the top row, you would go into the program and press 45 degrees once only for the taper at the end. As you can see you would be stitching along and then press the reverse button to activate the taper and the machine will taper the stitch at a 45 degree angle. If you then set your beginning taper at 45 degrees and turn your piece at a 45 degree angle and start again you will get a perfectly aligned corner to the right. Very neat! You can see I then did a 60degree symmetrical taper, another 45degree taper to the left and so on...also tried the 30 degree taper on the right side of my sample but that takes some practice to align properly. The other thing I wanted to show you is the versatility of the program...it can be used on many of the decorative stitches and create quite spectacular designs, i.e. the Greek Key stitch that also featured on the bag above (now some of those tapers do not line up because of pure sloppiness on my part). Some people have commented on the net re the tapering and how hard it is to judge distances, i.e. when you should start your taper. Agree with that...it certainly takes some practice and knowing how this works. For example, the Greek Key design in the middle. I started with the beginning taper at 45 degrees, then the machine moves on to the next stitch and that is when you have to press the reverse button, i.e. you need to be clear about when you are on the stitch before the taper. For some of the stitches this will be easy to see however like for the Honeycomb or the stippling stitch it will not be as obvious. Just discovered that I can get the machine to help me with that by using the Sequence function. If you look at the far right side I stitched out the Honeycomb stitch with tapers at each side. I went into the Sequence program and decided that my stitch would consist out of 6 units of honey comb. I then put a Stop behind each of the six units (I had 3 of them). When stitching this sequence, I started with the beginning taper and when the stitch reached my 6 units, it stopped. Then did the next 6 units and activated the taper, as I was in the stitch before the taper, stopped again and did the last tapered down version of the Honeycomb...while a bit labour intensive, this certainly helped in working out exactly where I was and when I had to press the button...will play a bit more with this. Anyway after all this, I managed to stitch down my plume shape with the 60 degree symmetrical taper Not totally lined up but it worked very well, just needs a bit of practice. With the satin stitch you do get a feel for when you need to start activating the taper. And here is what I am working on Hope this helps Karin
Watch video on how to change the sewing feet, plus demo decorative stitches, see how the quarter inch seam foot performs on this machine.
I often get comments on FMQ on the Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.2 and previously also on the 4.0. Unfortuantely some quilters are No-reply blogg...
Ca y est, c’est la fin des vacances pour moi, et un peu la rentrée sur le blog, que j’ai laissé de côté pour prendre l’air quelques jours en Espagne, pour me ressourcer en famille…
I have had the new Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.2 for about two month. I have posted before about the major differences and my first impression of the machine (see HERE) I must say, I am quite impressed with the finer detail of this machine in comparison to the Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.0 I did a fair bit of work on the machine since January starting with a workout in FMQ...I microstippled the centre of my Whole Cloth quilt which took about a week of constant running in the evening. As previously mentioned I used the new Dynamic Spring foot and was impressed with the visibility that I had and also the new 3 LED lights. Had absolutely no problem with seeing where I was going and this was with a blend in thread that would have normally caused me some grief in terms of seeing where I am heading. I had no thread breakages, no snags on the back or indeed any other problem...just smooth and consistent running...very much like the Pfaff 4.0, except this time with much better visibility. After this I started the Dresden Plate...this was a bit of an ad hoc idea and I just went with it. While doing this, I tested the thread snip. On my Pfaff 4.0 I had stopped using this a lot because it usually caused a bit of thread nest when starting to sew the next piece (even though I have a straight stitch plate)...sometimes it did this and sometimes it did not, so it became a bit annoying as I often had to re-do bits and pieces. The Dresden wedge was the perfect opportunity to test this out again, because when you start sewing the wedges together you start 1/4in down the seam and then go backwards to the edge of the wedge and down again (this is to secure the thread and to avoid the thread sticking out on top). I nearly did not use the thread snip as this was finicky enough to do in the first place and I did not feel like re-doing my seams every five minutes. Nevertheless, I stuck to my guns and used the thread snip. To my big surprise, it did this perfectly and very neatly without any major issues and I saved myself a bit of time cutting all the threads off. Also noticed the different feed system and definitely felt the improvement as the seams of the wedges are cut on the bias, so sewing them together well depends really on how well your machine is able the feed the fabric through. As I said before these are some of the finer detail and both machines obviously will give you a straight seam, but I did feel that the Pfaff 4.2 managed this task with a tad more ease. The next thing I am going to test out on a finished quilt is the tie off. The Pfaff 4.0 and 4.2 have two different tie off options, one for Stitch 1 and one for Stitch 52 which is specifically designed for quilting. The quilting tie off is on the left (Stitch 52) and as you can see gives a very neat and tidy beginning and end and best of all on the Pfaff 4.2, it is completely secure, i.e. it does not come out when you tug on it. Again, this is something I had stopped using on the Pfaff 4.0 because it just was too inconsistent...sometimes it worked and sometimes it did not. This has been very interesting actually as I am re-acquainting myself with some of the functions that I had stopped using on the Pfaff 4.0. Until next time Karin
Watch video on how to change the sewing feet, plus demo decorative stitches, see how the quarter inch seam foot performs on this machine.
I have been exploring the 3 FMQ modes (Spring freemotion, Sensormatic freemotion and Dynamic spring foot 6D) of the machine. As you may have...
Full review of the awesome features and functions when Quilting with the Quilt Expression 4.2 including video on engaging feed dogs and IDT
Finally getting around to write about tapering on the Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.2 Tapering lets you decrease or increase the width of a s...
Watch video on how to change the sewing feet, plus demo decorative stitches, see how the quarter inch seam foot performs on this machine.
A new toy was delivered to me the other day and I couldn’t wait to get the Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.2 – out of the box & into the studio. I was just like a kid at Christmas, all wide eyed and excited. Only a sewing machine could make me…
Watch video on how to change the sewing feet, plus demo decorative stitches, see how the quarter inch seam foot performs on this machine.
Full review of the awesome features and functions when Quilting with the Quilt Expression 4.2 including video on engaging feed dogs and IDT
Watch video on how to change the sewing feet, plus demo decorative stitches, see how the quarter inch seam foot performs on this machine.
Full review - Getting the Quilt Expression 4.2 Ready for Quilting: video on IDT system, bobbin winding gear, threading needle, etc
Full review of the awesome features and functions when Quilting with the Quilt Expression 4.2 including video on engaging feed dogs and IDT
Full review of the awesome features and functions when Quilting with the Quilt Expression 4.2 including video on engaging feed dogs and IDT
Full review of the awesome features and functions when Quilting with the Quilt Expression 4.2 including video on engaging feed dogs and IDT
Watch video on how to change the sewing feet, plus demo decorative stitches, see how the quarter inch seam foot performs on this machine.
While stitching my Wholecloth I realised that I am not following my own good advice...a bit like Alice in Wonderland. I was starting to stitch some more lines, this time curved ones, in the Twisted Cl
The Sensormatic free-motion foot is used for stippling and free-motion embroidery. The foot allows for greater visibility for both stippling and free-motion embroidery. Guaranteed to fit Pfaff Sewing Machine Models: Group J: creative sensation, creative sensation pro, creative sensation pro II, creative performance, creative vision, creative 2.0, creative 3.0, creative 4.0, creative 4.5, performance 5.0, quilt expression 4.0 and quilt expression 4.2. Also fits Pfaff sewing machine models: Performance Icon, Performance 5.2
