A new addition

As I hinted in the last post, I have a new addition to the collection. Yes, I bought a new sewing machine. Well not new, but new to me. I have always been a big Pfaff fan. I originally had a 1471, updated to a 1473 about 18 years ago and I absolutely loved that machine. Way ahead of its time - built in dual feed/walking foot, bobbin thread monitor, needle threader, hundreds of stitches 9mm wide and various types of alphabets. You could even design your own stitches and enter them into the computer of the machine and store them. I was so happy with this machine I was beginning to worry that should anything happen to the computer board it may be getting to the age that parts are no longer available.

I had been keeping an eye out on ebay and other places for a spare when I saw an ad for a more recent model, the 7570 including the embroidery unit and digitizing software for what I considered a very reasonable price. The 7570 was the last German made Pfaff. Pfaff merged with Viking/Husqvana and the machines were made somewhere else in Europe after that. So I have spent the last few weeks trying to learn all the ins and outs of the 3D software. Its like trying to learn another language. I must admit I have never really desired to have an embroidery machine and I would have happily bought this machine even if it wasn't included but seeing I've got it I thought I'd better learn how it all works. Even without the frame embroidery stuff, the machine is fantastic. All the great stuff the 1473 does plus as well as 9mm wide pattern stitches it even does 60mm wide pattern stitches because the feed dogs don't just move backwards and forwards but sideways as well. Its the strangest thing to watch but you can tell it to stitch in 16 different directions. So if you want to stitch in the ditch with the foot on and you stitch down one side of the block you can just stop at the corner and tell it to stitch sideways instead of turning the quilt. This model has been superceded a few times since it was released and if I wanted to pay 6 or 7 times what this one cost I could have gone for the latest and greatest but I really don't think they're worth the cost.