Sewing With The Pfaff Passport 2.0

After checking out some of the great features on this compact and portable sewing machine yesterday I was very eager to get sewing with the Pfaff Passport 2.0 today. I have a couple of projects I’m going test out the sewing abilities of this little machine on over the rest of the week.

Straight Stitch

My sister is visiting and she ripped apart a comforter that I had washed and it had become very lumpy. When she got it opened up we discovered it had a polyester lining that had melted to the top of it making it kind of lumpy, hard and uncomfortable. She figured it could be re-purposed into a duvet cover and purchase another comforter to go inside of it. Not a bad idea.

Once ripped apart I sewed it together again using a straight stitch and the 0A foot. The machine performed very well with all the added bulk to one side. When there’s this much fabric to deal with it’s always a good idea to pin the edges together to prevent slipping.

The Duvet Cover

The Bobbin

The stitching was straight, even and had great tension once I had the bobbin thread threaded properly. The bobbin thread when pulled up through to the top sits over-top of the bobbin. Initially I didn’t have the thread where it should be and the tension was very loose. I also noted that the bobbin can be placed in the drop in bobbin holder with either side up.

The manual has great pictures and directions for threading the bobbin.

When there’s a tension issue the first thing to do is always re-thread the machine top and bobbin because most often that’s where the problem is.

Thread coming over top of bobbin

Overlock Stitch

The edges of the fabric from this comforter turn duvet cover were fraying badly and required some edge stitching to prevent them from fraying especially when washed. I used stitch number 13 which is the overlock stitch. It looks like a slanted blanket stitch on the stitch map but if you have an overlocker then you would recognize it as an overlocking stitch.

And it did a great job securing the two edges of the fabric. 

Overlocking stitch used to secure edge of fabric

Changing Stitch Width And Length

The above stitches can be changed with the push of a button in width and/or length. These buttons are found to the left of the display screen. The top set of plus and minus sign buttons are for changing the width of the stitch and the ones below these are for the stitch length.

Buttons to change stitch width & length

The All Important Quarter Inch Seam Allowance

In quilting the quarter inch seam allowance is the gold standard for piecing pieces together to create quilt blocks. Most of us use a quarter inch foot to sew accurate quarter inch seams. The Pfaff Passport 2.0 does not come with a quarter inch foot but rather has a red line on the top of the bobbin cover marking where to place the edge of the fabric to sew a quarter inch seam.

Quarter inch line on bobbin case

I was so impressed I even started sewing some blocks together on a UFO from last year that I started as an autumn project and never finished. Today felt like autumn so probably a good project to work on next as I’m pretty sure it’ll be here before we know it.

This block had a few starts over seams which often can cause a problem due to the bump at the start. These bumps often cause the presser foot to stop and thread to become a knot in the back but this the Passport 2.0 sewed over these with no effort at all.

If this does occur then often times a leader piece is helpful for getting the machine to sew over the bump of fabric.

The IDT System

The Passport 2.0 has the dual feed system that Pfaff machines are known for called the IDT system. This system feeds the fabric under the presser foot and over the feed dogs smoothly and evenly creating a nice even stitch an helps to prevent any puckering, rippling and waves in the fabric. This is especially great when working with stretchy fabrics, slippery fabrics, bulky fabrics and layers of fabric.

Below is a short little video on how to engage the IDT system. The demonstration is shown on the Quilt Expression 4.2 which has the exact same steps as the Pfaff Passport 2.0 to engage the system.

Along with the IDT system the pressure under the presser foot can be changed to help with feeding the fabric through and improve the stitching quality. Often times when the fabric is very light or heavy this needs to be adjusted or when using special techniques such as couching over several layers. This adjusting dial is found on the top of the machine to the right of the threading area and is set at normal. It is always best to consult the sewing machine manual when using for the first time.

Join me tomorrow when I make a back to school project for my great-niece – an agenda bag – nothing big just 10 x 12 with a bit of applique and funky fabric. Today was so much fun checking out the machine and sewing with the Pfaff Passport 2.0 that I can’t wait to get started on my little project.

Happy Quilting