I use a long armer all the time, unless it's a table runner or a small wall quilt. Does anyone else use a long armer instead of quilting their own quilts?
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I use a long armer all the time, unless it's a table runner or a small wall quilt. Does anyone else use a long armer instead of quilting their own quilts?
I use my regular machine to quilt everything . I have a Pfaff with a 10 inch opening. just finished a full/queen quilt for my bed and had no real difficulty except for the weight of it.
I use a mid-arm on a grace frame. After I get better with it then I want to purchase a machine that is larger.
I used one twice and I was really happy with her. But it was 2 cents a square inch. The design we planed out (real open and wispy) must of taken her less than 20 min. So for a baby quilts it was $30 and $35. Kind of pricey for such a simple design. I'm taking a FMQ class at the end of feb so I'm hoping to do it myself. :)
I have one I would like to send to a long arm. I just can't bring myself to do it. To me it wouldn't be MY quilt anymore with someone else working on it. Once I get over that hump I may do it. Lol. Although my sons have informed me NOWAY. They want quilts made by me only. I can see their point. I was told once that machine quilted quilts do not go up in value but I'm still doing them on my machine. The last quilt I hand quilted has sat in my living room for four years now half done.
I have always done my own quilting on my Janome but found a large quilt to be a struggle, so I recently bought a Handiquilter Sweet 16 sitdown longarm. I love it. I enjoy the process of picking out the pattern and fabric all the way through finishing it myself. But, sending them out is perfectly fine too.
I have a friend that does long arm quilting and he is fairely reasonable. I also have a local quilt shop that has done some of mine for me, but I haven't used her since she has gone up to 0.02 cents a square inch. It's not because I don't like her work it's because I haven't had anything for her to do. I am going to start doing small things on my own.
I am new to quilting and have only done STD myself. I have purchased a pounce pad and stencil for a quilt I am making right now. I will do all of them myself on my machine except the queen I want to make for my bed. I will then rent the long arm at the LQS and get the free lesson and do that myself. I feel it is cheating because I don't own the machine but since I will be doing it myself I suppose it is still mine.
That's not cheating! I didn't even know you could rent them to take home. The long armer I took mine to goes to someones house to rent. What a racket. lolQuote:
Originally Posted by Lisapc
I SITD my first pieced quilt. The second one I took to a long armer and she did a pantograph on it. I don't think it's cheating at all and I still feel I made the quilt. Some people's talents run deeper than mine and I really don't mind showcasing their talent on something I made. I found a different LAQ to do my latest quilt. She does it all free hand and is cheaper but she's super busy and I won't get my quilt back until the end of March. But for the work she does, I'm willing to wait.
I thought about using one when i first started quilting but just couldnt justify the price if i could do it myself, im too cheap lol. and it seams most of the quilts ive seen that were sent off are more of an open design with quilting being and inch or more apart, does that make since lol. i like my quilts heavily quilted so i just jumped in there and learned myself. i have a mid arm and hoping to get a frame within the next week. just finishes a queen size and had no problems at, it was a breeze. the weight wasnt that hard because the extension table i had really helped.
I have never been able to afford a longarmer, so I do it myself and am happy with the results...but most of my quilts are made to be used...not artworks!
Not yet. But if I ever do anything bigger than twin size - and even that is probably pushing it - you bet I will. My machine is little, it's just not worth the headache.
If I ever get the confidence to do my own quilting I would like a long arm-at this point I rely on the talents of others to finish my projects. You are lucky to have such a great piece of machinery.
No, you can rent them to use in the shop. They give you the lesson right there and stay in the vacinity to help you if you need it while you run the machine. I would go here because they are wonderful and 10 minutes away. The website is horrible but will be getting a make over this year. Anyway, http://www.bnpquilts.com/Quote:
Originally Posted by Hulamoon
I have a long arm and it's been a true Godsend. I design and do commission work, so the cost was justified as I quilt about 3 quilts a week on average. I bought groovy boards to do edge to edge designs but haven't even used them yet, I'm happy doing free motion designs. I have a broken spine so quilting on my domestic machine became an impossibility. Had I not broken my back I would never have bought a long arm, tho it does make life easier. For those sending them out to a longarmer please don't look at it as cheating. Maybe choose a longarmer who does everything free motion instead of computerised to avoid the too perfect mass produced look. I'd never computerise my longarm for that very reason
Cheers, Pami
Never in a million years would I send a quilt I made, out to have it finished. I machine quilt some and also do hand quilting. To each his own though. I just couldn't claim it as my entire creation if someone else quilted it. IMHO
My longarmer lives about a mile from me and I took three projects to her yesterday. I only machine quilt small items like table runners and placemats. I used to hand quilt everything until arthritis moved into my quilting hand. I don't think of sending my quilts out for quilting as cheating...I consider it a treat after all the quilts I've made totally by hand.
When I was a little girl and lived in the country with my grandparents and great grammy, we would go into the cotton fields and pick sacks of cotton and it would be processed and used as batting in many of the old family quilts! I can feel a few cotton seeds in some of the battings. This is pretty common with old quilts that were made in the south.
I only wish I could send mine out! So far the expense exceeded everything I've made - BUT if I ever get around to making my own California King to keep, I'm sending it out! I have a new 10" harp machine so can do most myself (just echo and SID), don't know FMQ yet... and I recently updated my sewing room with a 5' table with another side table for the weight, and fat styrofoam to lift the quilt up to my machines needle.
I say go with whatever works for you! I love piecing, the batting and the backing and the quilting - but I also know my limitations so anything bigger than a Queen is going out :-)
Just my nickle's worth
:-Debbie
I s end all my quilts out to be quilted. I enjoy making the tops but not sandwiching them together, I don't have a large enough space to lay them out. I have machine quilted smaller pieces such as table runners though.
I never thought about sending my "babys" away to be quilted, so I do everything by handquilting as good as I can
I've only ever sent one quilt out to be quilted. Recently I invested in a Handiquilter Sweet 16 sit-down machine and we are getting acquainted so I can be more creative and more productive.
I quilt my own either long arm or hand quilt. I just can't afford to send mine out, there are some really talented quilters out there.
I have to admit it: I'm too cheap to pay anyone else to quilt my sandwiches. For a long time, I was a stitch-in-the-ditch girl. Then my LQS started renting time on their Handiquilter, and I jumped on that opportunity. It was great, no eMail distractions, no phone calls, and a 5pm-I-gotta-finish-it deadline. I was in heaven.
Then the LQS realized that the noise of the Handiquilter was too disruptive for their classes -- which is their bread and butter -- so they quit renting time on their machine. Now I was hooked. I hated basting, and this was a no-baste methodology!
So I searched craigslist for a used Little Gracie and a used Juki, and every quilt I've since completed has been on that combo. However, I have one 8-year-old UFO that is basted and partially hand-quilted. Its number popped up for February in the 2013 UFO group. I just don't have the patience for hand quilting, so I'm going to FMQ with my Juki. Wish me luck!
I took a class so that I could use a LA with the computerized quilting to do a quilt for my sister for the birth of my new niece - Cat in the Hat - decided on before I knew it was a girl. That quilt is on big brother's bed, so now in the process of making another quilt for my niece. I have to admit, I am just addicted and it gave me an excuse to buy more fabric and a different template. I would love to get some sort of system, but can't afford the computerized systems that are out there. I have played with fmq with the LA at some shows and it seems much easier for me to move the machine than to move the fabric - I think they are just 2 different skills.
I'm new to quilting, having done 2 lap quilt tops & 1 king size quilt top. I've taken all 3 to a local LAQ. As a newbie, I didn't want to take the chance of messing up the quilts after all of the hard work I'd done on the tops. It is expensive, but worth every penny IMHO. I love the process of cutting/ironing/sewing/watching the pattern grow. But wrestling a king size quilt attaching the binding to the front was enough for me. No way can I manage all of that material/batting/weight to FMQ on my sewing machine. I wish I could do it all myself, but I consider it 2 separate sets of skills. Sort of like painting a room vs painting a picture. Both are painting, but completely different.
Just to let you know, it takes longer than you would think to LAQ. It can take just as much time to load the quilt as it takes to quilt it. Also, the person you send it to has to work around a lot of small problems, like if the quilt is not square or there a puckers and other issues that need to be quilted out to make it look good. Anyone can buy a LAQ machine, but it takes experience and time to make the quilts you do on the quilter look good, just like FMQ on your machine. That is part of what you are paying for when you send you quilt out.
My best friend and I just started to LA quilt for others. What have been working on her Tin Lizzie 18" for 3 years. We just now feel we are good enough to do justice to other peoples quilt. When we started to do other peoples quilts, we found that their expectations were extremely high. Quilt not square, we were supposed to fix it. Problems with seams or puckers, they were supposed to disappear when we finished. That is where the real work and talent comes in. If you ever saw the YouTube video of "You could quilt that out", it is really true. Some people (not all or most) send out their beginner quilts and expect them to come back looking like a professional pieced the quilt. A talented LAQer is worth the expense and can make your quilt look great (but we are not miracle workers).
No room for a long-arm but I sure would love to have one! I've taken two quilts to long-armers to be quilted but didn't do my homework first. The first one ripped me off price-wise, then not knowing any different, I took a second one there again and the second quilt was much larger but she charged almost the same and the first was a baby quilt. Come to find out there was a minimum charge that equaled the cost of a twin. When I took the second one to her I waited over six weeks and she still hadn't touched it. Picked it up and took it elsewhere and had it back in my hands in one week, at half of what I was quoted by the other person. Live and learn!
Ellen
I don't think that anyone here is against a LAQ. There is a cost to it that some of us can't afford. There is the option of learning to do your own quilting by hand or with your home machine. Some of us own the sweet 16 and some of us rent a LA. I think that like every other field there are some LAQ that are wonderful and others are horrible.Quote:
Originally Posted by lawork1211
It is only worth the expense if the person spending the money feels that way. For my own bedroom I want the quilt done on the LA. I also want it to be done totally by my own hand. That has a lot to do with why I quilt. I want to give of myself to others. When I can no longer do that then I will rethink my position.
There is nothing wrong with sending it out and there is nothing wrong with keeping it at home.
I had a grace frame and janome that I used for a couple years. quilted several quilts on it and loved it but got so busy with other things that I wasn't using it so I sold it. Kind of wish I hadn't done that but alas I did....I quilt small things on my machine at home but send other quilts to my LQS to have quilted. They are very reasonable and good. I just can't handle the weight of doing a large quilt on my home machine.
GayK, would you mind explaining the Janome/grace set-up? I know next to nothing about LAQ.Quote:
Originally Posted by gayk
Thanks so much,
Ellen