|
The Longarm Quilting Machine Is Every Quilter’s Dream
Longarm quilting is considered the pinnacle of machine quilting, decreasing the time that it takes to complete a quilt even further than even a regular sewing machine that is setup for quilting.
The machine can be 10-14 feet in length, consisting of an industrial sewing machine head, a table that is 10-14 feet long, and rollers that hold the fabric layers.
Another plus for this type of machine and one of the primary reasons that many quilters purchase the machine is that the actual quilting design can be done using the machine. Quilting a design is much easier with these machines than either by hand or by sewing machine using free motion quilting.
Many sewers who don’t have this type of machine actually take their finished quilts to a professional quilter that has this type of machine and that may run a business, to have the quilting portion completed for a fee. Some popular brands of machines are Gammill and APQS (American Professional Quilting Systems) Nolting and Handi Quilter longarm machines Styles
There are two styles of this type of quilting. These are pantograph designs and custom work.
The pantograph is actually a quilting design that spans the entire length of the quilt. The design is actually traced onto the quilt with the machine’s laser head, and the machine operator then moves the machine over the quilt as the design is quilted.
Custom work is of course more costly and is done when the sewer wants the quilt blocks to contain individual designs rather than one pattern over the entire quilt. This type of work can also be more time consuming for the machine operator due to the need to pay more attention to details and alignment, thus the higher cost of the finished product. For books on the subject there are some excellent offerings at amazon.com. Some of the titles are:
• ABCs of Longarm Quilting by Patricia C. Barry
• The Ultimate Guide to Longarm Machine Quilting by Linda V. Taylor
• Longarm Machine Quilting by Carol A. Thelen
QBOT
Innovative! The QBOT is an innovative technology that attaches to the sewing machine of a quilt frame to create an automated machine. The QBOT alleviates the need for the quilter to move the machine over the quilt using the handle assembly during quilting. Once the QBOT is attached and programmed, it will automatically stitch the design on the quilt. The machine operator no longer has to move the sewing machine portion manually.
Information on the marvelous QBOT longarm quilting aid can be found at myqbot.com Quilting has come a long way since the days of the pioneers, what once could take as long a year to make by hand, can now take only a few days. Quilting has indeed experienced a creative explosion.
To Hawaiian Quilting Page
|
