I have a new baby (you were very briefly introduced to her here). I bought her for me, by me, lots of love and kisses, merry christmas, Katy. Saved up my squirreled away secret pennies and then went for the splurge.
She's a grand quilter, which I'm hoping will rub off onto me. We'll see. For now I've managed to figure out the tension, I can thread it (with the help of the handbook - lots of new and different holes and bits to wind round) and sew (on the slow speed - and it's still super fast). I've attached the binding on 2...or is it 3...quilts, which was amazingly fast, and easy peasy.
Because I'm getting a quilting frame for quilts bigger than tiny ones (again, trying to become a grander quilter), I needed a second machine, a straight stitch with a bigger throat. This was what I chose, because of the three I was looking at it was the middle one price wise. And it's German, I've been brainwashed into believing the Germans know how to engineer things - well, cars at least. There's not much difference between a car and a sewing machine, is there?
So, me and the good lady pfaff are going to be great friends, but she has a serious dislike for gutermann - which is all I have right at this precise minute. It snaps, it's too thin. Possibly. I am assuming it's too thin, I'm blaming the thread and not the good lady pfaff. She's German, I don't want to mess with her - she might shout at me.
So, the question I have is this - do you have a pfaff? What thread do you use? Apparently (according to a flickr friend) she likes king tut. So do I, it's a beautiful thread. Anything else I should try?
21 comments:
Guttermann is German too!
I swear by Rasant thread, I use it for all my stitching...machine, hand and needleturn applique. Comes in hundreds of colours too. I blogged about it here http://cabbagequilts.blogspot.com/2009/07/how-do-you-do-it-part-1-tools.html
I have a Pfaff, too - but nothing so grand as yours. I use Gutterman thread with no problem. Generally I use that for piecing and King Tut for quilting, but I've noticed no difference in how the machine handles them. I only recently learned about the weights of threads - 30 and 40 weight are for piecing and 50 weight is for quilting. You probably already know that, but if not, could that be the problem?
I have a Pfaff & was advised to try Rasant . It is excellent.
I love it.
I also had problems with the Guttermann breaking.
Your new baby looks fab !
could you not just glare at her when the thread snaps and mutter something Fawltyesque about it being her fault because she started it?
what a great gift!!!
Well, isn't that grand?! I'm very happy for you and your new BFF. She looks like she'll always do a good job. Just be sure you're the one in charge of her and not vice versa! The Swiss are slightly less bossy than the Germans but nonetheless precise. :-)) Have fun!
You're too funny: Gütermann, Sulky and Pfaff are all Germans, just like me ;-)
And do you know what "rasant" means? Swift, fast.
I've used Aurifil, Mettler and King Tut on my GrandQuilter 1600. I've never tried the Sulky. I'll be interested to see your experiences with a frame.
Congrats!
Yay! Good for you Katy! I have the Husqvarna Mega Quilter which here in Australia at least, is the same machine just a different badge. I had to use the handbook to thread it for weeks - and even then discovered I was doing one bit wrong, six months later. What a dolt! I haven't come across the guterman issue - I usually use rasant for piecing which is thinner than guterman and is fine. I have had trouble with Prescenia - constantly breaks - I wouldn't recommend it. I ADORE King Tut thread - it's so beautiful and the machine stitches it like a dream. The only thing I've had dodgy about mine is that the walking foot is prone to leaving grease on the fabric every now an then, probably my fault but it is a bit of a pain. Can't wait to see how you go with the frame! I don't have one - but would looooooooove one. Have fun!
Congratulations on your new addition ! Will you name her? As for thread..I'm just following along, I've posted a few times about my thread gnarls and need to buy online some cones of really good stuff.
I too just decided Christmas will be this week, and my machine is arriving this week (I got a 2nd hand Juki) and all for the same reasons as you.
Did you get the frame yet? What kind?
How exciting...I hope this helps improve and progress your quilting skills!
Best wishes,
Andrea
I love your "about me" section. Too cute. Congrats on the new machine.
My pfaff is very happy with my thread of choice, coats cotton - I just use white for everything and buy the 1000m/100%cotton ones from John Lewis. I've never had a prob. The thread my machine likes least are those cath kidston ones that come in a tin with 'threads' written on it, very pretty but oh so cluelessly useless!
Congratulations on your new machine! It's a beaut.
I have a MegaQuilter -- same machine, different label -- and I use it on a frame. Looooove it. I used to have trouble with shredding and thread breakage, but now I find it's not very picky about thread if I use a topstitch needle. The Inspira brand needles are very good; you can get them through a Viking dealer.
There's a great Yahoo group for owners of that machine. Lots of tips and inspiration there with a great searchable archive:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PfaffHobbyGrandQuilter/
Enjoy your new partner in quilting!
Congrats, she is just lovely...
My favorite thread is Aurifil, pricey but worth it's weight in gold (or at least lack of frustration while sewing with it!)
I also use Mettler, and Superior. I have a Pfaff, a few years old and it can be picky with threads...
I love my Pfaff!!! I usually use Star thread (a light taupe-y neutral for lighter colors and a deeper taupe-y neutral for darker colors, although if doing a quilt that is primarily one color, e.g., red or blue, I'll buy thread to match). I haven't changed my thread in YEARS -- so maybe I'll play around with something new, just to see. If Cathy swears by Rasant, it's worth a try.
Oh Katy - such a good choice. I could go on about how much I love Pfaff's all day long. However, I completely agree about the Gutterman - my Babylock and my Pfaff have both detested it and it snaps constantly and causes much cursing.
I use a brand called Coats, which is widely available in all my local sewing shops, so I'm guessing they have it in the north too. I don't think there's a difference in price particularly. I also have the odd spool of Drima too, which isn't snappy, but I've no idea where I bought those from.
Happy Christmas Grand, Enormous, Hugest Quilter. x
I have a pfaff, and she hates anything that isn't guttermann. She's old though, so I don't mess with her, what she wants is what she gets.
Nice present, good choice! I am quite happy with mine, even if I still have lots to learn 1,5 years after it came home with me. I would love a quilting frame but haven't got room for one : (
So happy to find Julie's link to a user forum!
Happy sewing, Katy!
And please share some more about the machine and quilt frame.
Lady Pfaff is a bit of a looker and I look forward to seeing the products of your working together. x
I just found your blog and it looks so pretty and interesting! I just had to comment even I am not a quilter (just sewing like crazy otherwise) and mine´s a Pfaff too (select 4.0) and I love it, plain and simply. Yours look a bit scary ;) in a good way but so wonderful at the same time!
I am now off to read your earlier posts with a cup of coffee!
Many greetings from Finland!
Yours,
Mia
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