While walking out of a building where we had chased down financial paperwork to buy our first house, I saw a sign: Gromes Sewing Machine Co.
I NEEDED A NEW SEWING MACHINE
How convenient because I was in the market for a new sewing machine.
Walking in we found a small family run business, where Cindy assisted me.
Mostly, I sewed dresses, blouses, and shorts for myself, but the year before I sewed my first two quilts for my kids.
And now that we were buying a house, I would be sewing window treatments.
There’s lots of windows to keep me busy!
Since my hand-me-down Kenmore caused me agony in threading needles, maintaining tension, and making buttonholes, I also wanted a machine better adept at handling the sewing of quilts.
INTRODUCED TO PFAFF
Cindy said she had just the type of machine for me, an entry-level computerized Pfaff sewing machine from Germany!
In fact, a separate dual-feed foot for quilting is not necessary with Pfaffs, because they have that built in with technology called IDF.
Wow!
While Cindy addressed different questions regarding tension, she showed me how easy it was to thread, how easy it was to wind thread, and the buttonholes looked great.
She said if I bought a machine from her, I could join a free class on how to use its various stitches.
Except the cheapest of the fresh out of the box Pfaffs was over my budget, a gift of $1000.
Therefore, Cindy offered me one of the 2020 models that had gained mileage from its as a demonstration model, just under $1000.
With the tax, I only went a tad over budget.
MY FAMILY HISTORY WITH PFAFF
Returning to my parents’ house where we were staying while buying our house, I told Mom about my purchase.
Smiling, she pointed to her sewing machine that was once her mom’s…a Pfaff from the 1950s.
Mom said her aunt’s sister sold Pfaffs, and had sold it to her mom.
When my grandma came to live with my parents, my mom wanted that Pfaff, so it came down with grandma.
That’s when I inherited the old Kenmore.
Mom told me how amazing her machine is, how her aunt’s sister could create beautiful embroidery on it in the 1950s.
I was elated to be carrying on a family tradition.
GROMES FAMILY HISTORY WITH PFAFF
Keeping San Antonio in stitches since 1950. -Gromes Sewing Machine motto
Gromes Sewing Machine began in 1950 when Cindy’s grandfather read an article about a sewing machine that sewed sideways.
That’s when Necchi sewing machine company brought the first zig-zag sewing machine to San Antonio.
Getting involved in the family business in 1982 at the age of 17 as a date entry clerk (and bathroom cleaner), she became interested in how to creatively use the machine.
Before long she wanted to teach others the tips and tricks she had learned.
Cindy transformed the store from the male dominated practical design to more fashionable esthetics, including color.
One of our main priorities here is that we bring joy to you. Joy when you walk into the store, and joy when you walk out of the store. -Cindy Gromes
EPILOGUE 2009
Wish I had taken one of her many classes, but I kept putting that off because I was so busy homeschooling, gardening, and sewing and then boom! I was suddenly moving to Virginia!
That meant I had to sell my house.
On the offer, the buyer wanted to keep all the window treatments in the house. 😉
Many thanks to Gromes, who sold me the machine and serviced it for nine years while I lived in San Antonio.
While unpacking at my new Virginia house, I was shocked to find my Pfaff was a bit lopsided.
When I tried sewing with it, the arm wobbled rapidly up and down.
In order to get any functionality out of the machine with all the homeschool history costumes I sewed for our upcoming Becoming History presentation, I stuck a paperback book under the arm.
Although that helped stop the major wobbles, it still wiggled a bit.
Also, lesson learned, keep the original box the sewing machine comes in, because it has better packing than what the movers used.
I think the moving box containing my Pfaff sat underneath piles of other boxes for 8 weeks while journeying 1500 miles and then while in storage until I finally opened it.
Stay tuned for that saga…because I’m trying to convince the moving company to cover the cost of a new machine.
After all, I have more window treatments to sew for this new Virginia house.
EPILOGUE 2024
While moving old blog posts to my new self-hosted blog location, I stumbled upon all these Pfaff blog posts which brought back many memories.
One of my sadnesses of moving to Virginia is that I’m too far away to have Gromes Sewing Machine company service my Pfaff.
I’ve never found the same quality of service, but at least I did find one service center 30 minutes away…that recently closed.
All I can bring up for a service center now is in Maryland, so we’ll see how that goes.
Meanwhile it looks like Gromes expanded by opening a new and bigger location further north of the original location in University City.
In the background of the history video linked above, I saw her new upgrade to the store, fabric!
Seeing several fabrics in the video that I’ve never seen in Virginia, I hope to shop there on my next visit to San Antonio.
