Loading A Quilt On A Grace Frame

[janbee]

Okay peeps--tell me the dirt. How tough is it to get it loaded on the frame? How long does it take? How hard is it to get it tight/loose enough? I am considering getting a Majestic Grace Frame and will not have any training in using it. The thing that concerns me most is getting it loaded properly so that it gives my machine a chance to do a good job.

[a1angiem]

I found it a little confusing at first but I had taken a class with a longarm and having those tips and seeing someone do it 'live' was very helpful. I follow the YouTube video from Grace on loading the quilt and it perfectly explains how to do it. I stopped the video along the way and took detailed notes and also printed off photos taken off the video. I laminated them and keep them by the frame. I don't use it often so I pretty much have to start from scratch each time and it's very easy to forget how! I use pins and it doesn't take very long. I just smooth everything out and have no problems with puckers or tension. You don't want it drum tight (like you could bounce a quarter off it) - you want it loose enough to be able to pinch the fabric. I have a couple posts about it and a video showing the quilt loaded and I'll link the Grace video too in case you haven't seen it.

Over the Kitchen Counter: Angie's Place for Cooking and Crafts: Grace Frame with a Janome 1600P Domestic Sewing Machine

Over the Kitchen Counter: Angie's Place for Cooking and Crafts: Laminated Grace Frame Photos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_pQ4Qs6uoo

[Sandy Navas]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wka0fhjpXKY

Attaching Fabric to a Grace Frame

[Jean Sewing Machine]

I thought loading a quilt would be a daunting task, but now it takes me maybe 15-20 minutes to load all the pieces. It depends on the position of your bars as to how you do it. I have a a Grace Inspira frame. The backing rollers are on top and the quilt top roller beneath. I have a batting roller which I never use.

I pin the bottom of the backing first. That is pinned on to what I guess you would call the belly bar. I use flower head pins because they are sharp and flexible. I throw my backing piece over the take up roller, and smooth it out. Then I roll the backing on to the belly bar until the top end of the backing is hanging down the same amount ( about 8") as my short leader on the take up reel. Then I make sure they are even , and pin the top of the backing to the short leader, then I roll the slack up on the take up reel til there is about 2" of leader showing. I'm softening my batting in the dryer while I do this. Then I take my top, center it over the rolled up backing , pin the bottom to the lower leader, and roll it on to that bar until the top of it is about 2" below where the backing is pinned. I float this end, but let it drop back down while I position my batting.. Then I take my fluffed up batting out of the dryer, fold it into large accordion folds along the width, place one end of it over the backing straighten, smooth and let the accordion folds fall to the floor behind the reel that the quilt top is on. Then I pull my quilt top into position baste and away I go.

That's the down and dirty story of how I do it!

One thing I found is how important it is to have your backing square on each end. The ends that you are pinning need to be perfectly parallel to each other or the backing will not be tight on one side of the width. A lot of people will mount their backing so they are pinning the selvedge edges to the leaders. You have the best chance of getting the ends perfectly parallel to each other if you do this. Otherwise you have to do some magic with the rotary cutter to make sure the ends are perfectly parallel, or your backing will not roll up tight on one side. If this happens to me, I just take tucks in the baggy part and pin the tucks till the backing is equally tight across the width of the backing. This is why they tell you to allow at least 4" extra, I always allow way more than that in case you have to make allowances for things.

Good luck!

[Jean Sewing Machine]

Or you could ask Sandy Navas, that's what I did! She and Denis and GrandmaBabs were my go to folks when I was learning!

[Carlie Wolf]

I have a Grace Queen and didn't have a problem the first time. They have tutorials on their site and I just followed along with their instruction booklet. I think the main thing is making sure you are pinning your fabrics on straight and taking care to center the pieces. I also take care smoothing the layers as I go. I think it helps with keeping the tension even. I did and still do a double check on the height of the adjustable top bar to make sure both sides are the same distance and also that you do leave a small space between the plate/needle/quilt. If you don't leave that small space I find the machine acts like it's having a tension problem and also sometimes makes a mild clanking noise. It doesn't take me long and I find it easy. Watch your posture when you're doing it though too :-)

[Squeaky]

I have a Queen Start Right and the first few times made me almost want to give up. So many pin pricks, I thought I was low on blood! LOL

Now it's not as hard - it gets easier every time. Mine came with leaders too.