Come Stitch With Me

Atlanta is blessed with an abundance of quilt and fabric shops.  Even online retailers like fabric.com and sewingmachine.com call the ATL home.  The sewing/quilting landscape has certainly changed over the past 15 years we’ve lived here.

I’ve seen several shops open, close or reinvent themselves. Two of my favorites closed within the past two years. It is a little strange to run into former shop owners now turned customers at my LQS, but that’s the nature of business.  As a customer, it can sometimes be mildly annoying when a shop known for a certain type of fabric and vibe, decides to shift its focus.

Lately, the two shops in the greater metro area that are known to carry “modern” fabric have taken very different paths to reinvent themselves to remain competitive.  One shop still carries a well curated selection of “modern” fabrics, but has also added yarn and other needle crafts to the mix. The other shop has shifted to a more traditional focus and carries a lot more Moda products now. It has scaled back the amount of retail square footage and stopped being a Bernina dealer.  I totally understand the store size and machine dealership changes, but moving to a more traditional focus means this shop is no longer a destination quilt shop for me. I’ll still pop in if I’m in the area or for Shop Hop, but after today’s visit, there’s no need for me to make a special trip as the fabric lines carried no longer meet my needs.

Fortunately, a yarn shop about 45 minutes north decided to add a fabric store across the parking lot from the yarn shop. It carries modern fabric, plus dressmaker fabrics and a great selection of Liberty prints. The shop owner also has classroom space that can be had for $6.00 a day to sit and sew. If I need a sewing mini-retreat day to get away from it all, here’s an option. Inexpensive and I’m not likely to run into anyone I know. There’s also another really cute shop about 90 minutes away near the Alabama state line. When you play hooky, it’s just nice to be anonymous sometimes.

The takeaway is that you need to support your LQS and sewing machine dealers if you want them to stay open. 

I have an original black Singer Featherweight from 1951. Still have all of the original accessories (plus some Fashion Aids), but opted for a new case, foot controller and an LED bulb. Love to sew on this machine.

Several of the ladies who meet weekly to make quilts for QOV sew on Pfaff Passport 2.0/3.0 machines. This must be the the new trend in the group as everyone was sporting  Janome 3160QDCs some 5 years ago.

The modern Featherweight C240 is a Pfaff Passport 2.0 in disguise.

I am currently testing out a C240.

As a prior Pfaff owner, I do appreciate the built-in walking foot (IDT/IEF system), stitch quality/selection and overall feel of the Singer branded version. We use the modern curvy Fashionmate sewing machines in our weekly sewing club at school and they perform well.  It looks like the C240 might be built at the same factory.

What I do not like:
* Design is such that machine tilts at an odd angle when carrying it by the handle.
* Default stitch width and stitch length is not automatically displayed in LED window. You must press another button 1-2x to see all the info.
* Prefer a slider versus the touch pad to adjust sewing speed.
* 1/4″ foot and open toe feet do not come with the machine.

I also wonder how well the touch pad control is going hold up over the long term.  Our laminators at school have a similar control and it seems we replace sensors under the touch pad on an annual basis. Wonder how much this costs to repair?

I’m intrigued by the machine because it does have a built-in walking foot that comes in so handy with piecing and garment sewing. Pfaffs generally sew beautiful decorative stitches and this one is no exception. The work area is well lit – much better than my Janome M7200 WITH the Bendable Bright Lite.

Will it become a permanent member of my sewing machine collection?  Don’t know. I have until May 1st to figure that out.

Update:  6/25/18
This machine is GREAT for piecing blocks, garment sewing and basic walking-foot quilting, including a gorgeous long, curvy line stitch.  It is not so wonderful at FMQ. It could just be me, but I really prefer the adjustable FMQ foot that fits my Janome.  The Pfaff FMQ foot that fits this machine puts too much pressure on the work, requiring more effort to move the quilt. Yes, I used a Supreme Slider and loosened the foot pressure dial until it was a loose as it could go.  Leah Day mentioned something about modifying the free motion foot.  I’ll take a look at that.