When Helen Tubbs attended the Pfaff Convention 2007 in Dallas earlier this month, she wasn't expecting to pack her bags for New York City so soon after she got back. But when she won an all-expense-paid trip to appear on Martha Stewart Living, she almost sold it on eBay.
"I had people offering to buy that ticket, they were wanting to give me sewing machines," she said, adding that those machines were worth a couple thousand dollars. "I was just so excited about just being able to go to New York. Now, of course, I'm a big Martha fan, I wasn't before."
Helen said she was just getting ready to leave when they announced the winner of the prize. She admitted to being more interested in winning a $10,000 gift certificate than her chance in the spotlight.
"(The convention) said this person is from a really far away place and they're going to be really tired once they get to New York," Helen said, adding there was another dealer from Fairbanks and one from Ketchikan.
Helen and her husband, Jesse Tubbs, of J & H Sewing and Vacuum, leave for the Big Apple on Saturday, arrive on Sunday and appear on TV live at 10 a.m. In addition to round-trip airfare and hotel accommodations, the couple will also take in a Broadway play.
Helen and Jesse, and another sewing machine dealer from Ohio, will unveil Pfaff's new sewing machine priced at $8,499, on Martha Stewart Live.
"Martha's actually (the spokesperson) for SVP, which is Singer, Viking and Pfaff," Helen said. "They're unveiling the latest and greatest in sewing machines. It's a pretty big deal to actually be there and as she does that. I'm pretty excited."
Even though this weekend will be the first time they've been to Manhattan, the Tubbses are no strangers to television. Jesse, who has grown up in the sewing machine business since he was a kid, said he made it on TV when he was 5 and then later when Girdwood had a problem with avalanches. Helen said she once found herself on the Price is Right show in California and was also interviewed for Pfaff's Web site.
"In our industry that's pretty big," she said. "They actually did a really good interview with me. Jess wasn't even watching it, he was at the Anchorage store."
What's so great about this sewing machine? In addition to having a Window's-type operating system on the computer screen, Jesse said you could do an entire jacket back without rehooping the fabric. The machine is USB-compatible and includes features you would find on a new computer.
"You virtually don't have to step on a foot control anymore," Helen said, adding that new models will be available at the store during the first week of October. "Nowadays it goes by itself."
After 26 years selling sewing machines herself, Helen's watched as the new machines have become increasingly high-tech. Not only are the newer machines priced higher than most computers, they're capable of creating more decorative stitches than before.
"What we did in the old days when we sewed, we sewed to make clothing to do your basic things," Helen said. "Nowadays we don't sew to do that. We sew more as a hobby."
Sewing also is reaching a wider audience than it used to. Helen said as many as 80 percent of her customers are professionals, such as doctors or lawyers, who use sewing as a creative outlet.
"It relaxes them," she said. "Instead of watching TV, some people would rather create something. At that price, who can afford them? It's more of the professional people."
Helen and Jesse will be on Martha Stewart Living Monday at 10 a.m. on ABC.
"I hope I'm bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (so) I can wave to everybody in Alaska," Helen said.
Jessica Cejnar can be reached at jessica.cejnar@peninsulaclarion.com.
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