Tag: Longarm

Longarm Day of My Own

So, yesterday was the big day. I went to Always Quilting and quilted a quilt on my own. The short version: it was good, it was hard and I needed help.

During this foray into the world of longarm quilting I was able to complete the quilting for a quilt and a practice piece. I am thrilled to haven gotten this far on a quilt on my own! It has been awhile since I quilted anything larger than a journal sized quilt.

One experience/feeling I wasn’t expecting was that I felt like I learned a ton! I always feel that it is a good day when I learn something new and this was an even better feeling, because I learned something related to quiltmaking. Neither of these pieces will win any prizes, but I really feel like the experience was successful.


Above are the two finished pieces. They were sewn together to make it easier to get them on to the longarm machine. I cut them apart before I came home. I sewed the top patchwork piece to the quilt (bottom) in order to have a practice piece to work on before I got into the quilt itself. I always warm up when I machine quilt at home and I didn’t think this longarm adventure should be any different.

For the practice piece, I pulled out some old blues and sewed them together. I do like that Nancy Crow leaf fabric, but was never very successful at using it in a quilt.



Two details of the Crazy Test quilt. The line of stitching you see at the bottom (upper photo) is basting and I will need to pull it out. I think the flower stitching on the bottom photo looks ok. It is an all over pattern, but I don’t think it competes with the sashing or the blocks. In the blocks, it is nearly invisible.

Above is a detail of the first bit of quilting that I did. I quickly learned that this kind of fabric has two problems:

  1. I couldn’t see the stitching as I sewed
  2. I still can’t see the stitching


When I have someone else quilt a quilt, I focus on the piecing. I want the quilting to blend in and not take away from the piecing. Thus, I was surprised to find that I wanted to see the stitching. It makes sense to be able to see the stitching as you actually stitch! I found that when I was done with a section, I wanted to be able to see what I had done. Above, I don’t think the stitched flowers, as a design element, look that good on top of the leaves. The two design elements compete with each other.


The stitching in the leaves is the stitching that I also did in the blue and white striped fabric at the top. It shows up a lot better on the black and was a lot easier to see as I stitched over the Nancy Crow fabric. I had planned to use that pattern (from a 1999 Melody Johnson class) in the sashing. I like the way it came out, but if you examine it closely, you will find that the lines are not parallel and the ‘legs’ are different sizes. I think I will have to practice more before I can use that one on a real quilt.

Contrary to the flowers over the leaves that I mentioned above, I don’t mind the parallel lines over the leaves in the photo above.

My general preference when viewing quilts is to see the quilting compliment the elements of the quilt. For example, I usually like to see different quilting in the sashing than I do in the blocks. What I found after yesterday’s session was that those differences in the quilting pattern require lots of practice. Longarming in general requires a lot of practice. If you think you can go and buy a longarm and start quilting for other people, more power to you. After doing some of the math, I fiure that I can quilt 10-12 quilts for less than $500. This means it would take me years to pay off even a Handiquilter, which runs about $8,000.

After realizing that my planned designs were not going to work, Kit suggested a flower pattern. The bottom section is the all over flower pattern that I decided would be fine for my first longarm project. The section in the blue RJR Christopher Columbus fabric (bottom left, above) is the right size. As you can tell from other photos, I stitched smaller and smaller motifs as I moved through the quilt. As a result, the quilting took a lot longer than I anticipated. I think the flowers show up pretty well in the photo above. This was my first attempt at them. Somethings I had to think about while learning this process and trying out a new pattern:

  1. Consistent stitching speed – the more variable your stitching speed the more inconsistent your stitch size would be
  2. Don’t get caught in a place you can’t get out of
  3. Try to stitch within an imaginary triangle

I like the above photo, because it shows the quilt rolled up on the machine. You can also see the flowers pretty well.

Longarm Class 1/9/2009

I want this to be a year of creativity. I can’t say that this is on my to do list, but it is in the back of my mind. One way to do that is to sew as much as possible.

To that end, I took the longarm certification course at Always Quilting on January 9, 2009. As a result, I am now a certified longarmer at Always Quilting. Don’t be too impressed as this certification only gives me the privilege of renting their longarm to quilt my quilts. Still: YAY!

After seeing the demo in November with the CQFA team, I signed up for the class. I was curious about the whole longarm process and because I wanted to see how I could incorporate the longarm as a tool into my repertoire.

That being said, I learned a few things about longarming:

  1. Using the machine takes practice and people who machine quilt well should be admired greatly
  2. There is much more to learn
  3. I will never be Colleen. I also don’t want to be her and will still use her fabulous services for some of my quilts
  4. I am not going to quilt all of my quilts myself
  5. Using a pantograph is hard
  6. Taking the class will improve the quilts I prepare for someone else to quilt

I really enjoyed the class. It was an expanded version of what we learned at the demo. It was great to hear some of the same information again as it helps to cement it into my mind. Some of the information she gave about preparing quilts, especially, applies to the computerized machine they use to quilt quilts for customers. It is a large computerized machine.

One thing I learned was that the longarm professionals vary, but if you understand some of the background and the way the process works, you can work with your longarm professional of choice much more effectively.

Always Quilting wants you to have square corners. No lopped off edges or strangely shaped corners, because you use the corners to pin the quilt to the machine. Oh! Now I get it. Better fix that I Spy quilt.

Kit also suggested practicing good pressing habits in order to reduce bulk where seams meet. The centers of pinwheels and 8 pointed stars can be a challenge for the machine. I was surprised to learn that the machines have a hard time going through selvedges! I’ll have to look at some of the quilts that Colleen has quilted for me to see what she does in this circumstance.

  • The Always Quilting staff wants the backs 6″ wider than the quilt and had several suggestions for the back. The back needs to be longer than the top, but they don’t care how long.
  • It is ok to piece the back, but they don’t encourage it and the same rules about bulk and bulky seams apply.
  • Kit suggested using large pieces of fabric rather than piecing a second top for the back.
  • She also said to consider pressing seams open on the back and using a larger seam allowance to help reduce bulk.
  • Both top and back should be square and FLAT. Kit reiterated that quilting does not cure all evils. She gave some tips about measuring the top before one cuts and attaches borders that were really interesting, especially to make sure that there isn’t more fabric in your border than in the quilt top.

Always Quilting prefers batting such as Hobbs Natural and Warm & Natural, both of which they carry. A quiltmaker can bring her own batting but they reserve the right to not allow you to use it. Apparently, batting with scrim works best. As you know, Colleen has quilted my quilts using Hobbs Organic for awhile with no problem, so I am not sure what I am going to do about that.

Kit said that they want a quiltmaker to use the shop thread, because of the way it interacts with the machine. Again, you can bring your own, but they reserve the right to not let you use it. They use Signature, King Tut by Superior and Permacore, which is their preference. The Permacore is polyester wrapped in cotton. Bad thread can incapacitate the machine, which is why they encourage quiltmakers to use the shop thread. They have hundreds of colors.

To put the quilt on the machine:

  1. Put the back on first, right side DOWN. You could put a quilt on the machine sideways. This orientation works well for row quilts because it is easier to quilt different things in rows.
  2. Find the center of the back by folding it in half.
  3. Pin the back to the leader about 1/4″ down from the edge of the leader. There are notes in Sharpie on what attaches to what leader. There is a black mark in the center. Pin from the center out.
  4. Ask your helper if the machine has been oiled
  5. Brush the lint out of the bobbin area. There is a very important disk in the bobbin. Hold on to it when changing or cleaning the bobbin.
  6. Line up batting on backing right below the pins on the leader.
  7. Use a single stitch to baste the batting to the backing.
  8. Baste top to batting, lining it up just under the batting.


I have found it important to doodle a bit before going to class. It seems to train your brain to sew a continuous line. It helps with practicing for achieving a smooth, continuous line. I assume this would be rule for going to quilt as well. It gears up your muscles for the quilting motion. Above are doodles I made during class. They are my own variations inspired by designs from the various books the shop had. I wasn’t able to try them all out on the machine.

One of the books we were able to look at was one by Trillium House Designs. They have a set of three books called Pocket Guides to Freehanding containing a multitude of quilting designs. Kit said Always Quilting didn’t carry them, because books 2&3 were too advanced and the company did not sell book 1 separately. The price for the set is also $55, which is a bit steep.

I think that there are a lot of continuous quilting designs out there you can use as a guide for your own quilting. It would pay off to start collecting some of those designs and practicing them with pencil and paper before renting the longarm.


My section of free motion quilting loops. This is the pattern they encourage their students to use for most quilting project. They also encourage people to use this size of pattern when quilting.


My attempts at using the pantograph (above). It was very hard to get the shapes smooth and I thought I would have an easier time posting the design on the wall and following it with my eyes, rather than trying to trace it using the laser.

I am scheduled to quilt one of my own quilts on February 6. I am planning to quilt the Crazy Test. I was planning to quilt the hexagon/I Spy quilt, but decided to do something I didn’t care about much before quilting something I did care about. I do have to make the back before I can quilt it. The longarm doesn’t work very well without a back!

I was really pleased with this class. I thought it was well run and thorough.

Thinking about Longarming: Lava Beach


Lava Beach
Originally uploaded by cjb_roe

I saw this quilt in the Denyse Schmidt ‘Pool’ (DSP) on Flickr. The DSP is a group of photos of projects made from DS patterns or fabrics. It is interesting to look through and see the different projects people have made. I saw a couple of things, as I mentioned earlier in the week, that were inspiring.

TFQ asked for more information about the longarm demo I attended last week. As a result, I have been writing about in a letter to her, thus it is on my mind. As I was going through the photos on the pool, I saw this quilt and thought that the quilting design was interesting enough to note. One thing that Kit, from Always Quilting, said was that one needed to doodle designs to be prepared to draw them with the longarm.

Mom confirmed this when she went to try out her friend’s longarm. She said she thought it was about muscle memory.

This picture serves two purposes: the one above, obviously, but also to move me along in a task for my quilt class. I have been putting off creating the machine quilting design sheet for my beginning quilt class because they have totally lost interest and have not basted their quilts. I would like to teach more people to quilt, so it is worthwhile for me to create the worksheet for the future. Seeing this great design gives me a little incentive.

Longarm Demo


I went to the CQFA Meeting yesterday, which was held at Always Quilting in San Mateo. One of the reasons we went there was to get a demo of their longarm quilting machine and find out about learning to use it. I took the above video at the demo.

I tried out the machine as well and found it very easy to drive. Kit, one of the shop owners, had already loaded the machine with fabric for us to work on. She gave us a lecture on preparing the quilt for the machine and how their program of learning to load and use the machine worked. I thought she was a good lecturer and gave many good hints for preparing a quilt to be longarm quilted.

I have worked with a longarm quilter for awhile and know how she wants things prepared. I was surprised to hear that Always Quilting likes things a little differently done.

After the demo, we went to the back room, had lunch, worked on projects (see later post for pics of my work) and had our regular meeting.

I ended up signing up to take their their longarm quilting training in January. Their policy is to take the training and then you are allowed to rent the machine. I don’t expect that I will quilt all of my quilts myself, but I think it will be good to quilt some of them myself, and perhaps, less expensive. In any case, education is always a good thing.

All in all it was a fun day.

Quilts will be Quilted

Finally, the indecision is over and I will be taking the quilts, Feelin’ Blue, Too and The Eye of God to be quilted tomorrow.

Eye of God Top
Eye of God Top

I need to figure out how to quilt them as well. I have some ideas, which I have not drawn out, but should. I also can’t decide whether or not to have them heavily quilted. They are the squarest quilts I’ve made, but are still a bit off. Having them heavily quilted will make them hang better. Still, I am not sure the design requires it.

I was promised that they would be back by August 15th. Assuming that date, I looked at the calendar and that gives me two full weeks to get them bound and sleeved. Though enough time, I will be a lot better off if I get the sleeves and binding ready in advance. I’ll find out the timing for sure tomorrow. And for better or for worse, that is the plan.

I took the measurements today and found the last bits of purple fabric for The Eye of God, so, theoretically, I should have no problem making the sleeves and the binding before the quilts come back. I MUST work on this project every night so I am not ripping my hair out at the last second. I probably will be, though, as I always do. I swear not to, but it never works and it is something I need to work on. I have lots of other issues to work through, however, but I’ll put this one on my list.

I was reading in Robbi Joy’s new book, Free Expression: the art and confessions of a contemporary quilter (BTW, the website is a little unwieldy, but you can find the book on page 5 of the book area), and she has a different technique for creating sleeves. She makes the sleeve doubled and then does some kind of folding trick which prevents the hanging rod from bulging out. I do that, too, but not in such a sophisticated manner. I like the idea of making a doublesided sleeve. Even if I can’t figure out her technique, I can use the doublesided sleeve regardless.

I will have to review before I try it. IF I try it. We will see.