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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Assemble rows

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

I’m making six of these units.

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.

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.

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

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