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Needle up/down feature and the IDT System | No pin piecing necessary

by Sarah Vanderburgh

Today is the day I’m starting to sew my project on the PFAFF passport 2.0. I’m making a spring table topper with some applique flowers. The passport 2.0 Sewing Machine is ready with even more features for me to share with you.

Passport 2.0 with light on and pieced fabric strips under the needle

Sewing strips on the passport 2.0

In yesterday’s post I shared the three features that help with accurate piecing on this machine. Those features make it easy to sew the strips accurately throughout this project. There are even more features that make it easy to sew and enjoy making a project on the passport 2.0 and I’ll share them as I sew.

Pieced strips

Start by sewing the fat quarter strips in two sets of two fabrics. I’m sewing the light blue and light green strips together, and the white print and striped green strips.

Light blue and light green fabric strips above white print and green stripe fabric strips

Fabrics paired for making strip sets

Sewing strips is the ultimate test of accurate piecing. One more feature that’s available on the passport 2.0 is the start/stop button. It’s located right on the front of the machine near the needle above the reverse button. The start/stop button lets you sew without using the foot pedal. It’s great for sewing long strips. I also use the needle up/down button to keep the needle lowered into the fabric when I stop sewing. It’s like having an extra hand when sewing! I’m thrilled to find this feature on the passport 2.0. Thanks to the needle up/down feature and the IDT System, I didn’t use any pins when sewing my strips.

Front view of sewing machine at the needle area showing the location of the start/stop and reverse buttons

The start/stop button located at eye view above the needle

Not everything is automatic on this machine. I must admit to having strong nostalgia for the manual presser down and up lever. It reminds me of my very first sewing machine and I’m really enjoying it. The well-lit sewing area, thanks to LED lighting, is a nice modern upgrade though!

Cut into units

Before pressing the strips open, cut into 2½” units and then press to the darker fabric.

Units on cutting mat before pressing open

Sewn strip cut into units before pressing

Assemble four patches

I’m sewing all my rows in the same way so that the final top will look like four patches.

Sew four units end to end with alternate fabrics touching.

Repeat to make six rows.

Each row should measure 2½” x 16½” long.

Two-piece units laid out with green striped fabric to the left and white print to the right with 4 of these units side by side

Row units laid out for piecing

Assemble rows

Next, I’m sewing two different rows together to make a unit 4½” x 16½”.

I’m making six of these units.

Green stripe and white print fabric strip above light green and light blue fabric strip on cutting mat

Two rows of different prints to sew together

Remember I’m using the IDT System to feed my strips evenly under the needle. I’m still not pinning here!

To make the quilt top, I’m sewing these units together reversing the direction every other unit to make the four patches appear. I’m making 3 of these units.

2 piles of strip units with bottom pile turned so matching light green and light blue fabric rows are together with fabrics opposite each other

Layout for sewing row units together

Row units under the needle of the passport 2.0 with no pins in rows

Sewing the units without pinning

I keep sewing accurate straight lines with the passport 2.0 to complete the quilt top. Next, I take the three units and line them up on my cutting mat so that the green stripe/white print rows are facing each other.

Three units on a cutting mat with the middle unit reversed for sewing

Three units laid out for the final piecing step of the spring table topper

Then I piece them together to complete the quilt top.  It should measure 16½” x 24½” inches.

All units are sewn together into quilt top on a cutting mat

Spring table topper assembled

I didn’t press as I went except for making the initial rows. At this point, I’m pressing the seams all in one direction before assembling the quilt sandwich.

While I think my fabric colors already speak to the beginning of spring, I’m going to add applique flowers to this top as well. But that’s for tomorrow! Today I put the passport 2.0 to the test piecing accurate seams to make the top for my spring table topper project.

This is part 3 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 2: 3 features on the PFAFF passport 2.0 make piecing a project a breeze

Go to part 4: PFAFF passport 2.0 stitches for quilting and applique

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