The Pfaff sewing machine company was started out in 1862 in the German city of Kaiserslautern. George Michael Pfaff developed his enterprise based on earlier work he had constructed for the London World Exhibitions in the early 1850s. His very first sewing machine can be found at a Munich museum of technology.

By the early 1900s, Pfaff had already produced over one million home sewers, and the company continued to grow throughout the 20th century. In the early 1960s, the main production HQ for Pfaff moved to the German city of Karlsruhe-Durlach. Pfaff became a major international powerhouse during the 1980s, and the company continues to innovate both in terms of design and engineering, even after nearly a century and a half of operation.

Popular modern Pfaff sewing machines include those in the Expression line, such as the 2038 and 2028 and the Quilt Expression 2048. The Select 1538 comes with some useful mechanical advantages, including the IDT system--a trade marked proprietary Pfaff engineering idea. The Performance 2056, a programmable sewing machine with a superior high-res touch screen for better stitching, has become one of the top selling machines in the industry. You can create exquisite large stitch productions, and the machine comes with nine millimeter stitching capability as well. The Performance 2056 also boasts an IDT fabric feed for smooth, worry-free design.

Mint condition Pfaff sewing machines from the turn of the 20th century or before can retail at auctions for hundreds of dollars. That said, modern sales of top-notch equipment can also do quite nicely.