Test Drive a Long Arm Machine

[Margo]

Hi Everyone, I did something cool today. I rented time on a long-arm machine and it was great. It was an LQ 16 on a very large table, but I was only doing about a twin.

I was told to bring 2 yards of fabric and 1 of batting to practice. I was shown how to pin it and roll the layers and how to baste the edges. I was pretty comfortable right off, since I've done alot of free-motion on my home machine. It was so nice to just glide along and not struggle with the quilt.

I spent about 1 hour getting set up and practicing and then it only took 1 1/2 hours to do my twin sized stack N whack. It turned out lovely and was so quick!

I have TOTAL RESPECT for you professional long-arm quilters!!! I didn't have much trouble doing it well enough for myself and my family, but I can see that it takes ALOT of practice to do it well enough for someone else.

Also, this shop, Jackie Lynn's, in Rochester, NY, has a great helper, Cindy, who instructed me and assisted me until I was comfortable. She wound the bobbins and adjusted the tension and made sure it was all pinned and rolled smooth and even.

If you get the chance, do this! :P It was alot of fun and it only cost me $40, which is $15 per hour and 2 spools of thread!! I won't be struggling with another large quilt at home! NA in sunny, thawing western NY

[Mailmanldy]

That sounds like a lot of fun. I have been trying to decide what to do with some quilts I will be getting ready to quilt soon. Do I want to struggle with them in my home machine, or send them out? I don't do much free motion quilting, so even doing a long arm would be something new for me. But it might just be well worth the epxense to try this out, and see how I would do on just some leftover fabric, before I actually wanted to do it on a quilt.
I will definatly look into if any LQS around here offer this. My problem would be having the time off work to be able to schedule the time to do this.

Diane in Colorado Springs

[eileenkny]

I hope this will be taken the right way---

Diane,
If you'd like to send your quilts out, email me privately and we'll talk.
eileenkny 8)