My post a few months ago about my broken sewing machine garnered questions and requests for updates from many.  The big question seemed to be centered around what my Pfaff solution would be.  To recap, when I unpacked my sewing machine, it was lopsided.  To make it workable, I had my son find a paperback to stick underneath to keep it from wobbling.  Dr. Dolittle has done a great job. 

     Tuesday I drove to the nearest Pfaff dealer. The saleslady told me that the repairman actually works in the sister store closer to DC, inside the beltway. She was shocked to see my pathetically lopsided machine.  Pictures do not do it justice.  She called the repairman for me and for $25 he'll give me an official estimate for the repair.  Screws from the bottom are missing and he's predicting the entire base will need to be replaced, costing hundreds of dollars. 

     Obviously, my next question was what Pfaff model would be comparable to my lopsided one and how much would it cost.  She showed me two models.  The one closest to my Tiptronic 2020, which was closed out when I purchased it in 2000, is the Expression 2.0.  She had me play with it. Then she moved me over to a fancy upgrade, the Quilt Expression 4.0.  

      I told her how I sewed clothing (she adored my daughter's outfit), quilts, window treatments and costumes. She taught me lots of tips and I was furiously writing them down. She told me to come anytime and she would help me with anything. She put my kids and myself to playing with these two machines while she waited orn other customers.  She liked my kids a lot and said she would like to homechool.  (I think her kids are grown up now.)  She was impressed with my son for helping her figure things out. She has a Pfaff, but uses an embroidery machine and forgets the specifics of the other ones.  We ran into occasional snags, literally, and she walked me through troubleshooting and I learned a lot. 

     She also sells Vikings, which she says have better instructions. However, she said, Pfaff makes the better machine.  Being German made, it's more difficult to figure a few things out since the American mind set is different from the German one. Nevertheless they make a great product.  My family has always known that, since my mom has her mom's old Pfaff machine. 

     Some issues I had with my Tiptronic, before the move, was the buttonholer.  Last summer when I took my Tiptronic in for the yearly cleaning, I told the owner of the store I couldn't make button holes with my machine. She said there was a defect in that model and she showed me how to override the issues. I started hunting for paper to take notes but she told me the directions were in the book. I used that book several times since but to no avail. These new machines use a snazzy gadget to create button holes and I sat and sewed button hole after button hole after button hole with success.  This gadget uses brand new technology for Pfaff, who borrowed ideas from the successful Viking button hole maker.

     Last summer I also told the saleslady in Texas that I can free motion quilt up to 90% of the quilt, then the threads gunk up on me and I have to give up, as my trouble shooting techniques do not work. The lady was surprised but did not know what the problem was. I tried for years to take a free motion class but I was never able to make it for one reason or another. I told the Virginia saleslady this and she said that in the older models, that can happen. The newer models have less of a problem of the lint accumulation, which cause the threads to gunk up.  

      I called my husband to give him the details. He told me to bring the old machine back home.  He wanted me to help him explain the details to the moving company in the on-going e-mail we have about handling the claim for reimbursement. Since they liked the pictures we had previously sent of the damages, they did not feel a need to send an appraiser out to see the damages themselves.  They said we could agree on a price for repairs. We heard back tonight and they want us to file a claim for the repairs, and now that we know the sewing machine repairs will cost more than we thought, they want a precise estimate. I convinced my husband I really needed to take the machine into the DC area store the next day to get that estimate set up.

     So that is what I did on Wednesday, driving into Alexandria and leaving the machine for an official estimate. The lady there said it looked like my machine had been dropped and whacked out of alignment.  Of course the movers probably thought it was merely a $100 machine. They and the claims company have no idea of the sophistification of my machine.

     Nor has my husband understood the problem.  For the last few months, he thought all the machine needed were screws, since he discovered some were missing from the base. I kept telling him that more screws were not going to fix the wonkiness of the body of the machine, but he was not understanding me. When I mentioned this to the saleslady she had the perfect word picture, which I shared with my husband that evening, and he finally got it!  My sewing machine is like a car.  If the tire is flat, you fix only the flat tire. If my machine gets a broken needle, too much lint, or a burnt out lightbulb those individual items can easily be fixed.  However if you are in a car accident, and the frame (at this point my husband interjected, "knocked out of alignment"...By George I think he's got it!) is knocked out of alignment, the interior electronics are also going to be busted and expensive repairs are required. You start with a base repair, check that and see if there is anything else out of whack, and go through an entire layering process to restore the car to it's original condition. Except for one thing, it is rarely economically feasible to do all of that.   Since cars depreciate, the repair can cost more than the current value of the vehicle, the car is totaled, and a new car is purchased, which often has upgrades due to technology.   Guys and insurance companies get that, but never do they equate that with sewing machines. They assume all sewing machines are $100 versions from the local WalMart.  My machine was an entry level electronics with Integrated Duel Feed, which kept layers of fabric in alignment. Along with this technology, came other bells and whistles, many of which have been compromised by the damage in the move. The alignment is off in my machine, requiring the base to be replaced, costing more than the current value of the machine  (the saleslady even checked the sewing machine bluebook...cars have an official bluebook which gives the current depreciated value of particular makes and models), which has depreciated over time. A comparable machine today has far more bells and whistles due to improved technology. After replacing the base, the repairman could find more damages that will need a layering effect of repair to restore the machine to it's original condition. It's economically more practical to purchase a new machine.  

     The repairman will be including all of that plus repair estimates, the current depreciated value of the machine and replacement costs into the paperwork for the claims.  I'll have to wait a week for the estimate.  In the meantime, I felt like I left part of me behind at the sewing center. My husband really wanted me to make window treatments and this was my time to do that, before school starts again. The bare windows usually drive him nuts, since he likes me to decorate a magazine cover house.  We'll see how long he can stand the wait. =) In the meantime, I'll just putter with other projects, while I design our Year 4 Unit 1 costumes in the back of my mind.