I follow CL and GW pretty closely and I view the same ads repeatedly. I see items sell, I seem them not sell and their prices fall (and sometimes rise). This particular machine was $75, then $40: machine, cabinet, and accessories galore. I pounced, although the seller was rude (unusually, as they're almost always very cool) and seemed annoyed he had to lower the price. He made a number of seller errors and I will probably do a blog post on CL etiquette in the future.
Here is the machine:
These 1960s Pfaffs are incredibly competent machines. Tough, strong, and the automatic Dial-a-Stitch works well and produces excellent stitch quality. The textured, glossy paint resists dings and chips, the matte steel resists scratches, and all the moving controls have a smoothness and solidity that says Quality.
The bed extension pulls out and a further extension plate can be attached for an even longer flat bed (see pictures for this plate). I like that the extension hinges and is stored below the free arm making it always available and the arm itself is a good size, meaning narrow enough for really small items. A thread cutter and built-in needle threader are included as well as all the typical controls you'd expect in a full-featured zig-zag machine. The pedal includes a lower lip for the user's heel and the mechanism itself is a marvel.
It's not without flaws. The stitch selection is wide but doesn't include several basic stitches that had become standard by this time such as blind stitch. The selection mechanism is complicated and the levers and dials have to be actuated in the correct order for the stitches to be produced. At .95 amp, power is somewhat limited and the machine is fairly slow (although I have not serviced the motor and this may effect speed).
Aesthetically, I find these machines very attractive in a VW bus style. This one's in very good condition although the light switch's collar is missing and the white paint has yellowed somewhat with age. Still, with so many original attachments (and it's great that of all the Pfaffs of this era that I now own, I finally have an original Pfaff Stitch Wheel) and the lift-style cabinet, this is quite a machine.
I'll be conducting a 1960s-1970s Free Arm Smackdown in the future comparing such machines from Pfaff, Elna, Bernina, and Kenmore. This one's a strong entry.
Oh, those Germans... :)
ReplyDeleteI do love the way the bed extension is engineered on this machine. It's very clever. Big style points for this whole design. I will keep my eye out for a 362 for you.
Will look forward with anticipation to the Smackdown. I really don't miss the freearm capabilities on any of my machines (and I made a shirt for a baby without a freearm), but perhaps I just don't do enough garment sewing to appreciate one properly.
I made a shirt collar as an exercise using a Kenmore convertible machine (the 158.1913) and it was great. It's probably one of those fine line items: something you're glad you have when you're using it but something you don't really miss when you don't. I personally really like having the option (and I hardly sew at all) but I'm not overly fond of a plate-style flat bed where I have to reach up to sew and the piece is falling from the bed, front and back. I like a large, flat work area except in some cases where gravity can help feed a large piece off the back of a table.
DeleteThis Pfaff is a wonderful machine and does so many things well. It's a shame that they didn't include a two-thread overedge or a blind stitch in the Dial-a-Stitch vocabulary. The 362 is a sort of personal goal for me. :)
Also, did you see the Pfaff 339 on the Goodwill site (it's the Goodwill of the Olympics-Ranier region, too). WHAT A GORGEOUS MACHINE. I hope the Italians don't hear me saying that. I don't think you have one of those, do you?
ReplyDeleteYep, saw that one. :) It looks like a G-K (Gritzner-Kayser) machine either badged for Pfaff or made about the time Pfaff purchased the G-K firm. I don't have one but I'm hoping I will when that auction ends. :)
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