Creative Pfaff 4 Manual

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Preparations
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For sewing any fabric precisely PFAFF® creative™ 
4.5 sewing and embroidery machine provides 
the ideal solution: the integrated dual feed, IDT™ 
system. As on industrial machines, the IDT™ system 
feeds the fabric from the top and bottom at the 
same time. The material is fed precisely, eliminating 
puckering on seams in light weight fabrics such as 
silk and rayon. The dual feed action of the IDT™ 
system prevents layers from shifting while sewing, 
keeping quilt layers aligned and ensuring a more 
perfect match when sewing plaid or striped fabrics.
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Important: For all work with the IDT™ system use 
presser feet with the center back cut-out.
Raise the presser foot. Press the IDT™ system down 
until it engages.
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Raise the presser foot. Hold the IDT™ system with 
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system down, then pull it away from you to release 
the IDT™ system slowly upward.
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1. Disengage the IDT™ system (A). Remove the 
standard presser foot (B). Carefully loosen the 
screw (C) until the cross-hole (D) is accessible.
2.  Hold the foot in front of the needle. Turn the 
hand wheel to lower the needle into the hole of 
the foot and through the needle plate. 
3.  Turn the foot behind the needle screw (E) and 
squeeze the foot to insert the pin of the foot into 
the cross-hole (D) of the presser foot holder.
4.  Push the foot into the hole as far as it will go 
while tightening the screw (C).
To remove the embroidery foot loosen the screw 
(C), squeeze the embroidery foot together and pull 
it out to the right. Tighten the screw. 
						

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Preparations
&KDQJLQJWKHpresser foot
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Press the presser foot downwards until it disengages 
from the presser foot holder. 
Attach presser foot
Line up the pins on the foot with the gap underneath 
the presser foot holder. Press upwards until the foot 
snaps into place.
You can also use the presser foot up/down buttons to 
raise or lower the presser foot holder. Place the presser 
foot under the presser foot holder, so that the pins 
of the foot snap onto the presser foot holder when 
lowered.
Needles
The sewing machine needle plays an important role 
in successful sewing. Use only quality needles. We 
recommend needles of system 130/705H. The needle 
package included with your machine contains needles 
of the most frequently used sizes.
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Universal needles have a slightly rounded point and 
come in a variety of sizes. For general sewing in a 
variety of fabric types and weights.
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Stretch needles have a special scarf to eliminate 


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Embroidery needles have a special scarf, a slightly 
rounded point and a slightly larger eye to avoid 
damage to thread and materials. Use with metallic and 
other specailty threads for embroidery and decorative 
sewing
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Denim needles have a sharp point to penetrate tightly 
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The Wing needle has wide wings on the side of 
the needle to poke holes in the fabric when sewing 
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fabrics.Note: Change the needle often. Always use a straight 
needle with a sharp point (F).
A damaged needle (G) can cause skipped stitches, 
breakage or snapping of thread. A damaged needle can 
also damage the needle plate.
Do not use asymmetrical twin needles (H), since it 
may damage your sewing machine. 
						

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Preparations
Changing the needle
1.  Use the hole in the multi-purpose tool to hold 
the needle.
2.  Loosen the needle screw.
3.  Remove the needle. 
4.  Insert the new needle, using the multi-purpose 
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side away from you until it will go no further.
5.  Tighten the needle screw as tight as it will go.
USB ports
Your machine has two USB ports – one to connect 
the sewing machine to your computer, and one to 
connect either your USB embroidery stick, optional 
USB hub or optional mouse.
Note: Make sure that the USB stick you use has the 
format FAT32.
USB embroidery stick
Delivered with your machine is a USB embroidery 

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machine. 
Connect to and remove from USB port
Insert the USB embroidery stick or other devices in 
the upper port. The USB plugs can only be inserted 
one way – do not force them into the ports!
The USB PC cable packed with your machine 
(P/N:412 62 59-04) plugs in to the lower port. No 
other cable should be used in this port. Connect the 
other end of the cable to your PC.
Note: Install the complimentary software before 
connecting the machine to your PC (see next page).
To remove, carefully pull the USB embroidery stick 
or the plug of the USB cable out straight.
Using the USB embroidery stick
When loading from or saving to the USB 
embroidery stick an hourglass appears on the 
screen. 
Note: Do not remove the USB embroidery stick when the 
hourglass is shown on the screen or while Files & Folders 
is open. Removing the stick at that time can damage the 
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Note: The USB embroidery stick provided 
with the machine can be left in the machine 
when putting on the hard cover. Make sure 
that the cover of the USB stick is turned 
downwards. 
						

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Preparations
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A PC software package is available for your PFAFF® 
creative™ 4.5 sewing and embroidery machine. It 
adds the following features:
•  Communication module allows you to connect 
the machine to your computer. Required to 
use the Send To features in any Embroidery 
software system module.
•  QuickFont program to create unlimited number 
of embroidery fonts from most TrueType® and 
OpenType® fonts on your computer.
•  Plug-in for your Windows Explorer to handle 
embroidery designs: viewing designs as 
thumbnail images, reading different embroidery 
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This software should be installed before the 
machine is connected to your computer for the 
ÀUVWWLPHGo to PFAFF
® website at www.pfaff.com 
and look for support and download the software. 
During installation you will be asked for an 
Installation Code. Enter number:
8200
More information and detailed installation 
instructions are available on the download page.
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Be sure to consult the web site at www.pfaff.
com and/or your local authorized PFAFF® dealer 
for updates and upgrades for your machine and 
Owner’s manual.
You can update your machine using the USB 
embroidery stick or the USB cable packed with your 
machine (P/N:412 62 59-04).
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•  Go to the PFAFF
® web site at www.pfaff.com to 
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•  Follow the update wizard to prepare your USB 
embroidery stick for the update.
•  To start your machine in update mode, press 
and hold the reverse button (A) while turning 
on your machine. Keep the reverse button 
pressed until update mode is visible on the 
PFAFF
® creative™ Color Touch Screen. Follow 
the instructions to update. 
						

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Buttons and indicators
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For permanent reverse, press the button once before 
starting to sew. The reverse indicator (B) will be lit 
and the machine sews in reverse until you press 
the button again to cancel. If you press the reverse 
button while sewing, the machine sews in reverse 
for as long as you keep the button pressed. The 
reverse indicator is lit when the reverse button is 
pressed.
Reverse is also used when sewing buttonholes, 
programmed tie-off end, darning stitches and 
tapering stitches to step between the parts of the 
stitch. 
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The reverse indicator will be lit when pressing the 
reverse button to sew in reverse. It is also lit while 
sewing permanent reverse.
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The action indicator is lit to indicate that an action 
is to be done, for example performing tapering. The 
icon stays lit until the action is done.
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Raises the presser foot and needle to the up 
position. 
Press the button once more and the presser foot will 
raise to extra lift. The feed dogs will be lowered to 
make it easier to get thick fabric under the presser 
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Lower the presser foot completely. Press the button 
once more to raise the presser foot to pivot height. 
The presser foot is lowered automatically when you 
start sewing.
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Press this button to start or stop the machine 
without using the foot control. Press the button once 
to start and press it again to stop.
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Press to cut both needle and bobbin thread 
immediately.
If pressing this button while sewing, the threads 
will be cut before the needle moves to the start 
position of the next stitch. Your machine ties off 
the thread, cuts the needle and bobbin threads and 
raises the presser foot and the needle.
The thread snips function can be programmed, see 
chapter 4. 
Note: Threads are cut automatically when buttonholes 
are sewn with the Sensormatic buttonhole foot.
The presser foot will not raise after thread snips if 
Automatic presser foot lift has been deactivated in the 
Settings menu.
Thread snips performed by the machine can be cancelled 
in the Settings menu.
In embroidery mode the threads are cut and the presser 
foot raised. The upper thread is only cut automatically at 

and bobbin threads are cut automatically. 
						

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Preparations
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Press immediate tie-off while sewing and your 
machine sews a few tie-off stitches and stops 
automatically. 
By touching the tie-off button once more while the 
action indicator is lit, the function can be turned off. 
The tie-off function can be programmed, see chapter 4.
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When having stopped sewing in the middle of a 
stitch, press restart to start sewing at the beginning 
of the stitch again without having to reset any 
special settings you have made.
If pressing the stitch restart button while sewing, 

stop.
You can also use stitch restart to go back to the 
beginning of an embroidery.
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Press this button to move the needle up or down. 
The setting of the needle stop position is changed at 
the same time. When needle down is activated, the 
icon is lit, the needle will stop in the down position 
and the presser foot will raise to pivot height.
You can also tap the foot control to raise or lower 
the needle. 
						

							PFAFF® creative™  
Color Touch Screen
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PFAFF
® creative
™ Color Touch Screen
PFAFF® creative™ Color Touch Screen
Your machine features the PFAFF® creative™ Color Touch Screen. This technology provides great resolution and 
color.
VW\OXVRU\RXUÀQJHUWLSWRPDNH\RXUFKRLFHVThe task 
bar at the bottom of the screen includes the main functions and help.
Every mode has its own color scheme, to make it easier to navigate and use the machine.
Start view
When your machine is turned on, a welcome screen is shown and then the machine opens sewing mode. If 
the embroidery unit is attached the machine automatically opens embroidery mode.
Main functions in task bar
Task bar in Embroidery edit mode
Task bar in Embroidery stitch-out mode
Main parts
The task bar (A) is used for selecting and activating 
the main functions. 
The colored vertical bar on the right side of the 
screen is called the option bar (B). It has different 
options depending on which mode is active.
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The look of the task bar will change depending 
on whether sewing mode or embroidery mode is 
active. Change mode by touching the corresponding 
icon (1 or 2). The icon for the active mode is 
highlighted. The task bar is always located at the 
bottom of the screen.
1.  Embroidery mode icon
2.  Sewing mode icon
3. Selection menu
4. Settings menu
5. Info menu
6. Quick help
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7.  Embroidery stitch-out icon
The task bar in embroidery mode has an additional 
icon (7) above the embroidery icon. This is the 
Embroidery stitch-out icon. Touch it to toggle to 
Embroidery stitch-out mode.
Return to Embroidery edit by touching the 
embroidery mode icon (1). 
						

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PFAFF
® creative
™ Color Touch Screen
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The option bar contains different options in sewing 
mode, Embroidery edit and Embroidery stitch-
out. Read more about the options for each mode in 
chapters 4, 7 and 8.
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There are some icons and functions that are 
frequently used on the screen. The most common 
are described below. 
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Touch the arrows to scroll between available 
stitches.
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your settings and selections. They are also used to 
close full screen windows.
To abort an actual process, touch cancel. To 
continue, touch OK.
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Some icons have increased functions, marked 
with an arrow at the lower right corner. To access 
these functions, touch and hold the icon for a few 
seconds. 
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The touch functions will be used to make 
adjustments. There are up to four functions to use; 
move (H), rotate (I), scale (J) and pan (K).
When a function is selected, you can make 
adjustments by touching the arrows in the wheel, or 
by touching and dragging your stylus on the screen. 
The appearance of the wheel will change depending 
on which function is selected.Option bar in 
sewing mode
Option bar in 
embroidery edit
Touch functions in 
embroidery edit 
						

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PFAFF
® creative
™ Color Touch Screen
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The selection menu contains a selection bar at the 
bottom with icons for stitches, fonts, designs and 
Files & Folders. Read more about Files & Folders in 
chapter 10.
Select one of the icons in the selection bar to access 
the menus. When a stitch, font or design is selected, 
the selection menu will close automatically. To 
return to previous view, close by touching cancel.
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1. Selection bar
 a) Stitches
 b) Fonts
 c) Designs
  d) Files & Folders
2. Stitch categories
 a) Utility stitches
  b) Quilt stitches 
  c) Needle art stitches
  d) Decorative stitches
  e) Maxi stitches
  f) Sewing techniques
  g) Personal menu
3. Stitch subcategories
4. Stitches
5. Scroll arrows
6.  Clear personal menu (only visible if personal 
menu is selected) 
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top (2). For each category, there are one or more 
subcategories (3). For each subcategory a list of 
stitches is shown (4). Use the scroll arrows (5) to go 
to the next page in the subcategory. Select a stitch 
by touching it.