November 5, 2009

     My husband is elated with the progress of the windows getting dressed!  Last weekend I finished the living room window treatments.  I got this Colonial Williamsburg print from G Street Fabrics on the clearance table. At $8 a yard, then with a coupon, I had considerable savings for this elegant fabric. I purchased all they had on the clearance table and then altered the pattern of the window treatment to work with what I had. I had a challenge getting the thickness of the drape to work on my new sewing machine.  I had to get my old sewing machine out to do the job, with alterations, so that it could be sewn. This took me hours to figure out.  I tried hand stitching but I bent my needle...a first!  Although altered slightly in appearance from the original design, I eventually conquered! I selected the backing contrast color to coordinate somewhat with the new chair we had purchased.  I'm still trying to figure out precisely what to do with the other windows. They are bay windows, like I've always dreamed of having. From the outside, the architectural feature formed is a nice cantilevered bay window extension, with a French Country style copper roof.  

     October 4, 2009

     My husband saw how limited I was with my poor sewing machine, not to mention how discouraged I was when I learned I'd have to wait up to 60 days for the moving company to decide if they'd pay for a new machine.  Therefore, he told me to get my new Pfaff Expressions 2.0!

   Since my husband really, really, really wants window treatments in the new house, I've been trying to plan out what I'd hang at each window. I felt a bit limited with options at JoAnn and Hancock. Then someone at Colonial Williamsburg told me about G Street Fabrics in the Washington DC area. Wow!  What a selection! First I nearly fainted when I saw the prices of some of the fabrics, up to $100 a yard. Second I was revived when I found the clearance table where I found gorgeous remnants for $8 or less a  yard.  On top of that, I had a coupon.  So far I have completed two treatments.  

     Here is a Williamsburg print with a toile back for the french door.  This is a copy of a store bought set I had in San Antonio. I got the fabrics with 40% off coupons at JoAnn.

This valence is for the kitchen.  I got the fabric off the clearance rack at JoAnn and think I got to use a coupon on top of that.  The backing is a silk dupioni I got on clearance and with a coupon too. This is the most ambitious window treatment I have ever made.

      In the meantime, I am working on other projects, while the moving company is teetering on the brink of sending a check. They called my husband the other day to ask more questions about the sewing machine (even though they have the write up from the sewing machine repairman).  They asked permission to call the repairman themselves.  Sure! They're on my side!  They said that machine was dropped and impossible to repair.

    I'll update with more photos as more window treatments are completed. Stay tuned! 

     Enduring afternoon traffic, I just got home from the Pfaff dealer in Alexandria with my poor, hopeless sewing machine.  The repairman's final verdict is that this helpless machine is beyond repair. This is worse than we had suspected. He wrote up an estimate for us to report to the moving company. To replace my Pfaff Tiptronic 2020 (era of 10+ years ago) would be $449.  To replace my Pfaff Tiptronic 2020 with a brand new state of the art equivalent Pfaff Expression 2.0 would be at a sales price of just under $1200. 

     I have a  headache thinking through all this.  I paid $1000 for the Tiptronic machine, off the table, which was the last the Pfaff dealer in San Antonio had in 2000, as this model was phased out.  The general consensus of everyone who looked at my machine is that the movers dropped it. That is the only way this damage could have occurred. I do not want to replace my Tiptronic with someone else's used Tiptronic. I just don't know what wear and tear would be on that used machine. Besides, it was a nice little machine that I paid $1000 for and I want another as close to it as possible, at that value.

     I told the gentlemen at the store, the owner and the repairman, that I do a lot of sewing! I sew clothes, either because I don't like a lot of things I find in the store, or when I do they don't fit or I can't afford them. I sew window treatments because I think the nice ones are too expensive and still rather boring compared to what I can do with fabric and pattern selections. I sew costumes because my kids like to relive history for their unit celebrations!  I quilt because it's therapeutic and I love the look. That is my favorite use of the sewing machine and the one I get to do the least, even though that's what I have the most fabric for.  At one time, I sewed many a costume for the children's choir in which my kids sang.  That was a lot of fun! This Christmas I owe a soft, snuggly quilt to nephew #2. I made one for nephew #1 a few years ago and he won't go to bed without it.   

     I live on my machine. I always have a project going. Even in this bigger house, I did not gain a separate sewing room. My husband decided the extra rooms in the basement should be for school and his office.  He has designated the dining room to be my sewing room, which really used to bug him, since he prefers a pristine space like the cover of a magazine. But now he's content with the idea, given the choices, as he likes what I produce from my machine and he is envisioning window treatments for our new house someday.  Having my sewing set up in the dining room is okay with me, because it is right next door to the kitchen, where I can bake and watch pots boil, multi-tasking to my heart's content. It is the hub of the home and speaks volumes as to who I am and what I do for my family.

     If this were a machine that got used once or twice a year, I think I'd be content to phase sewing out of my life.  I'm not the best seamstress in the world.  My husband says I will eventually get my new machine and then the lady who worked with me last week will give me private lessons, etc to help me refine what I feebly accomplish now.  In the meantime, there is hope. The men at the store were saying that the money I paid today for the repair could be applied towards my new machine, if I purchase it within the next 30 days.  My husband liked that!  Hmmmm, my husband wants the money from the movers first, before I make the purchase. I wonder how long this will take.  I will be on a new learning curve with a new machine, and school is about to start.  For those of you who have asked, primarily other Pfaff users, that is the status of my poor, poor machine.

     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.     

     I purchased a Pfaff Tiptronic 2020 nine years ago. Over the years things have been going out but I they did not significantly impede my sewing. The machine has been professionally cleaned on a yearly basis. Alas, the needle threader and reverse button only work a couple of weeks after cleaning. The power supply is intermittent.  I've been told that would be next to impossible to fix. I've always had trouble with button holes and discovered that this is a problem with the model.  I can never remember exactly how the ladies at the store are able to override this problem. All of these things I've been able to deal with, until now.

     Sadly, the machine did not survive the move from Texas to Virginia.  It is now lopsided.  When I attempt to sew on it,  the arm of the machine bobs up and down. I am spending more time fixing the machine's numerous issues than I am sewing on it. I cannot take it anymore!  My husband agrees, I may have worn out the mileage of this particular machine and I need a new one. I'd like to get a dependable workhorse, so I am asking for advice. 

    I use my sewing machine for various purposes.  I sew contemporary garments and other miscellaneous items. However, whenever I have sewn skirts or pants, the seams are puckered.  I have been careful to use an appropriate sized, fresh needle.  Also the Pfaff has dual integrated feed, which is supposed to feed the fabric evenly.  Yet seams still get puckers. 

    I sew lots of costumes.  Currently I sew costumes for our own use in school. Previously I have sewn costumes for children's choir.  I'd like the machine to handle various types of fabrics well...tapestry, denim, cotton, silk, polar fleece, etc.  Ability to handle thickness of fabric is essential. I had to sew part of my Elizabethan costumes by hand because the fabrics were too thick. I'd also like to have a great button holer.  At this point I am tempted to do them by hand. I have promised my kids, now that we are in Virginia, that I'd get real colonial patterns at Colonial Williamsburg for real costumes.  My son, in particular, is looking forward to real breeches.  Do you realize how many button holes are on those things? And on the vests? And the coats?      

     I especially enjoy quilting.  Piecing fabrics on this machine has been a dream.  However free motion quilting has been troublesome.  I am not looking for a long arm.  I used to be able to start some free motion quilting on past pieces, but towards the end the threads would get jumbled up no matter what I did.  I had to finish the wandering look by hand.

     We have recently moved into a new house and I have several things to sew for the house like window treatments, cushions, pillows, etc.

    I am not looking for a machine that does embroidery. If I ever want to do embroidery, I prefer to do that by hand.

     Thank you for any ideas! I admit to being overwhelmed with purchasing for a new sewing machine in an unfamiliar area.  I don't know any of the sewing stores' reputation around here in Virginia, since we recently moved here.  

 I had seen terrific, easy to make duffel bags on the Carol Duvall show many months ago. I bought some fabric, tried to sew based on directions I printed on line...but couldn't figure it out! I finally waited for the show to re-air and videotaped it and then it made sense! Alas, it was not what I really wanted for ease of use for my children. Theirs only opened at one skinny end and used a drawstring at that end. That would be difficult and more stressful (especially while vacationing in new situations) with my Sensory Integration challenged children. So I reinvented the wheel...I mean duffel bag. We used these for the first time on our trip to Colorado (you didn't think I could get away from the Colorado topic that easily did you?;) and they were wonderful. They are colorful, durable, roomy, easy to haul around, and most fabulous, they are easy to squish into nooks and crannies of the van!

The next photo shows how I made this.  I think it looks straightforward. I'm not very good at describing, since I don't remember all the dimensions; I trust that a picture is worth a thousand words!  =) I bought 54" wide decorator fabric (because it's wide and easy to find durable fabric) on sale, in a pattern each of my kids like.  DD was easy, but taking an idea from the Carol Duvall show, I could have stamped purple butterflies throughout the fabric, but I was running out of time.  For my son, there was nothing boyish to be found.  So I bought a solid navy blue and painted the baseballs on.  I sewed it so that the wide part opens.  And it hooks up with velcro that I sewed on.  Done!

Time for another trip...