The Patchwork Program makes quick work of chain stitching

I’m excited to sew today! In yesterday’s post, I introduced my 2½” square challenge and prepared the PFAFF performance icon to do some sewing. Today I’ll use the Patchwork Program to chain stitch the nine-patch blocks for my first challenge project, a quilted table runner.

The PFAFF performance icon has several built-in programs to help create beautifully stitched projects. To sew the nine-patch blocks, I used the Patchwork Program to speed up the process but still keep the piecing accurate. To get to the Patchwork Program, touch the Stitch Repeat icon located at the bottom of the Multi-Touch screen. On the menu that appears, touch the Patchwork Program. At this point you can touch the question mark in the top right of the screen and then the words Patchwork Program, for detailed instructions to be displayed.

The Patchwork Program lets you stitch a length of stitches, then program them into one stitch by selecting the reverse button at the end of your stitch line. The Single Stitch Program will be engaged, and you can simply press the Start/Stop button to sew your squares together. The machine will sew the length of the squares and then stop, allowing you to place the next pair under the needle. It is an amazingly fast way to sew!

I used the ¼” Right Guide Foot for IDT System to do my chain stitching with the Patchwork Program. This foot is another extra tool to help keep your seam allowances the same and improve your piecing. As its name implies, this presser foot engages with the IDT System.

Let’s do some sewing!

1. Use the Patchwork Program to chain stitch the rows of the 5 nine-patch blocks. Press seams to the background fabrics in each row.

It’s easy to reprogram and change the stitch length of the Patchwork Program for sewing the rows together. Press the Stitch Repeat button, then start the programming process again.

2. Sew the rows of each block together. Press the seams in the first, third and fifth block up and in the second and fourth, to the bottom of the block.

3. Sew the blocks together nesting the seams. Press all seams to the right.

4. Sew the long border strips on first. Pin the block strip to the border so you can see the seams on the block strip as it goes under the needle. Press the seams to the border strips.

5. Sew the short border strips on each end of the runner, again with the strip on the bottom and the assembled block strip on top. Press the seams to the border strips.

The table runner should measure 12½” x 36½”. I didn’t take a picture of the runner before I quilted it, so you get a sneak peek of it now.

Using the Patchwork Program on the PFAFF performance icon made quick work of sewing this table runner top together!

Join me tomorrow and I’ll show you how I quilt this project.

This is part 2 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 1: The PFAFF performance icon and the 2½” square challenge

Go to part 3: See how easy quilting can be with the PFAFF performance icon