What Surprised Me Most About the PFAFF creative elevate 680

Sometimes, when you’re sewing, you come across a true hidden gem. Either a new technique or a new tool. In this case, I lucked out and was sent a PFAFF creative elevate 680 sewing machine to play with. Yes, the name is a mouthful to be sure, but does it live up to it? That remains to be seen. “All will be revealed”, at least all that I found anyway.

This lovely sewing machine has what we all expect from a PFAFF machine, the original IDT system, which we quilters all know and love! Stitch width of 9mm, with 37 needle positions, needle stop up/down, all the free motions settings we want, (YES that includes Ruler Mode!) stitch restart, 4 fonts (with Sequencing of course) and taper! Stitch Density for all those satin stitches, as well as balance! The lovely new style Automatic Needle Threader so I can sew at night, and for those of us that need Help (yes, that includes me, I cannot remember everything), there’s a Built-in “Quick Help “and a built-in Learning Center with tutorials. How else do you think I remember how to do some of those specialty stitches, oops, I was going to tell you about that later. “Creativate Connectivity” aka WIFI enabled, so there’s a PFAFF blog to show us what’s new, tips and hints, and so much more!

There are other notable, loveable features that will be revealed over time. Today I’m talking about sewing and showing you snippets of stitches which will be put together into a sampler of sorts, a quilted table center by the end of these posts. So, you’ll have to wait until the end of the week to see how it all comes together. I will also include some specialty feet and techniques. Let’s get started!

Since this machine can create Tapered Decorative stitches, I decided to play with some of them. I took 2 large 10” squares, and I divided them into 2 triangles with a chalk line. I’ll do a 45° taper (think picture-frame corner), start to finish. I plan to start off the fabric stitch, touch reverse to start the 45° taper, then start again using the 45° taper and stitch off the fabric.

Now on to some of the surprises! This Machine CAN DO radiant stitches. Most of the high-end Specialty Stitch Techniques are done using Side – Motion a feature available only on higher machines. However, the makers of this machine figured out that some could be done within the 9mm zigzag opening using forward and backward sewing without needing to move sideways! A radiant stitch works best and shows off the best on CURVES. To show them off, I drew a snaky “S” kind of curve on the bottom of each triangle, and I stitched a couple of radiant stitches.

First, engage the needle down (pivot), set your speed to medium, and use the start/stop button. It’s recommended to do it this way because all decorative stitches perform better. Additionally, make sure to use a stabilizer under your fabric for the same reason!

Start sewing along the line; the machine stops (with the needle down). Then turn 90° to that line, and the machine sews backwards and forwards, back to the line, and stops. Turn again to sew along the line. When you get comfortable, you can turn in either direction, at 90°, at 45° or at whatever angle your heart desires. A couple of my friends and I have decided that the decorative portion of this stitch is bolder (since it’s stitched twice, whereas the “travel” stitch along the line isn’t). To finish a radiant stitch, we either triple stitch along the curvy line or use a small satin stitch. Here, I used the same green thread and triple-stitched over the “travel stitching” between the radiant decorative portion.

Later this week, I’ll show you the trimmed triangles (4) and how I use them, but that would be showing you part of the finished project, so you’ll have to wait. Suffice it to say, I removed the excess stabilizer on the back and pressed them, setting them aside for later.

Now NEW to PFAFF is the PFAFF Decorative Fringe Foot and the PFAFF Decorative Fringe Stitch. The stitch is already preloaded in Menu 9 on this machine. Additionally, there are 400 stitches built into 9 menus (no submenus), and if a stitch can taper, the taper icon appears on the right-hand side of the sewing screen. This icon is available in MANY menus! (Surprise!)

The picture below shows the new PFAFF Decorative Fringe Foot, and on the right is the PFAFF Couching/Braiding Foot for IDT. Why am I showing you this? Well, one of the PFAFF Foot Designers figured out that if you use the Fringe Stitchover a previously couched-down yarn, it looks bolder!

I liked chenille-type yarn best and stitched it in place with a similar-coloured embroidery thread and a simple open zigzag stitch so the yarn remained fluffy.

For my finished piece, I stitched on navy fabric: one piece with yarn only couched down, one with the Fringe Stitch over the yarn, and 2 with the Fringe Stitch only. The way this NEW Fringe Stitch works is it stitches a satin stitch left and right and then sews a triple stitch on either side, yes, backwards and forwards, to anchor the threads. When you have finished stitching, you have a line of loops snug together that you snip with sharp scissors to create the fringe. Fluff up with your fingers. With the old fringe foot, you stitched the “satin” and then had to stitch a triple stitch along the edge to hold the threads for cutting.

TIP To sew the Fringe Stitch, sew at no faster than medium speed; otherwise, your thread breaks. Be careful how wide you set your stitch, or it will not fit through the “tunnel,” and your thread will break again. I used embroidery thread, but you can also use 30-weight decorative cotton. Slow down even more, and be VERY careful when changing your stitch width and using yarn (it fills the tunnel faster). Needle down, use the start-stop button, and, of course, stabilize the basics for a decorative stitch.

Today, I played with the PFAFF creative elevate 680. I talked about some of its features as a sewing machine. And then I got stitching, I sewed out decorative stitches using the Taper Feature. And then I stitched out the Patented Specialty Stitch Technique, Radiant Stitches on the curves and covered the travelling stitch line with a triple stitch in the same thread for a nice, neat finish. Just a quick note, these stitches LOOK AMAZING around a neckline, on a top. I then used the NEW PFAFF Decorative Fringe Foot with the preloaded New Decorative Fringe Stitch. I also talked about how to use it with and without couched yarn. And how I set up my machine to stitch the Fringe Stitch the best!

Note: If you have a different PFAFF machine with a USB port, the New Decorative Fringe Stitch is available for download on the webpage about the new foot. You can save it to a USB stick and load it into your machine’s memory for use.

Join me tomorrow as I continue my journey through some more decorative stitches that surprised me on the PFAFF creative elevate 680.

This is part 1 of 5 in this series