I've really only wanted fairly basic sewing machines before in my life, just good sturdy machines to sew with, the usual simple stitches. I started out with a treadle, then I had an incredibly sturdy early Singer electric with a bentwood case that in retrospect I wish I hadn't parted with, then I had a Sears Kenmore that I used for years, till I beat it to death. After that I bought a lemon model of a Bernina that never worked right, which I gather is not typical for Bernina and they soon took it off the market, but it's turned me off Berninas ever since. Within a month I traded it in for the Viking I have now.
I like my current Viking, it's a good machine with the usual array of basic stitches, and really I mostly use the straight stitch. It still works great. It's just that I love embroidery, and I don't have time to hand embroider and still do everything else in life. I downloaded some materials on both the Viking Designer SE and the new Pfaff Creative Vision. They both look extremely tempting. They both have an incredible array of features. The proprietary software for both seems identical (probably third-party product licensed to both manufacturers), so that's not a consideration. The Pfaff Creative Vision does seem to have the largest field, but I'm biased in favor of the Viking because I already have a more basic Viking and I like it. So one thing I want to know is, suppose I want to embroider a large design that is not composed of repeating patterns/identical units. A design larger than the field, whatever that field is. Can either machine tile a pattern stored in memory? Can I embroider a huge parrot by dividing the design into sections and telling the machine, now I'll do section 1A, then 1B, then 2A, and so on? The other thing I'm trying to figure out is how to use designs scanned from antique magazines. I see that the proprietary software allows the use of a digitizing tablet, but I've always found scanning to be easier. I already have a large-format flatbed scanner. So can I scan an antique public-domain design on the scanner, program stitches for the bitmap using the proprietary software, and then embroider that? Another thing I really want and have not so far found, is the kind of list computer manufacturers give you for parts. That is, a list of every single kind of foot, hoop, and other accessory not included with the machine but which can be used with the machine if you need that accessory, complete with prices. Thanks, Fran Lavolta Press http://www.lavoltapress.com Paula Praxis wrote: > I got the new Pfaff Creative Vision for Christmas last and I am loving it. <snip> _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
