How do I choose which longarm machine is right for me?
How to choose a longarm quilting machine
We are frequently asked lots of questions about choosing a longarm machine when potential customers visit our showroom. At the start of 2021, a customer emailed and asked such excellent questions that I immediately started writing this blog post in order to try and answer them so if you have similar questions we hope you find the answers here.
Let's assume that you're a quilt maker. You may have been quilting for many years so feel quite experienced. It could be that you've started really recently - many of our longarm customers have.
Whatever your experience level, in reality you might love piecing more than the quilting. That's probably because the free arm space is not big enough for some of the bigger quilts that you're making. After a session quilting you find that your shoulders and neck ache. You may have a machine that is bigger than the traditional machines with a 9" or even an 11" throat space such as the one below but the combination of height and space is still not big enough unless it's quite a small quilt.
You rationalise that it's only a hobby and that longarm machines that could make things easier for your quilting are those big machines that people have in industrial units or their garage and that are used professionally to quilt for others. Some of you may even have used the services of a professional quilter and not related what they do to your own hobby. Many of our customers are surprised to hear that 80% of our machine sales are to hobby quilters.
On your domestic machine you can do straight line quilting using a walking foot (see below) or free motion quilting by dropping the feed dogs. The walking foot is fine for stabilising the quilt but getting to the centre of the quilt can be a bit of a struggle. Free motion quilting is challenging - some of your more experienced quilty friends suggest a glass of something could help. Maybe go faster? Nothing really helps much. It's never quite as good as you'd like so you persevere. Sometimes it feels like there should be a free massage/physio session with every quilt you make!
You may have tried ruler work quilting after watching some You Tube videos but find you're continually having to move the quilt and it takes as much time for "faffing" as it does for the quilting. It doesn't seem very productive. It feels as though things should be much easier and enjoyable.
And you are right! The world has moved on since you started quilting if you've been quilting for a few years. Longarm machines in 2021 are designed exactly for people like you. And whilst it's still very much a "considered purchase", they start from as little as under £5,000 including delivery, VAT and training.
The new Handi Quilter Moxie fits the bill for new longarm quilters perfectly. It was launched in November 2020. The machine has a 15" long free arm. Plus you have a choice of frames. In simple terms if you've got 9 foot x 5 1/2 foot space getting the Loft Frame with the Moxie means that you can baste directly onto the frame saving your knees or back from a workout.
The Loft Frame is a no-baste frame and is a good choice over the smaller footprint Little Foot Frame. The Little Foot Frame requires less space (7' x 7') but you will need to pre-baste your quilt using methods such as spray glue, basting tacks or fusible wadding. In addition as you move the quilt on the Little Foot needs more time to check the alignment as you will need to readjust the quilt on the frame to quilt an area at a time, whereas with the Loft Frame you wind onto the next section using cogs and stoppers which is much more time-effective. When you attach your quilt to the cloth leaders (which are included and are attached to the poles using velcro), you are effectively basting your quilt. In addition if you have more space and you do bigger quilts you can get a 2' extension to the Loft Frame and quilt up to 100" wide quilts.
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| Loft Frame (set up at 8' wide) |
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| Little Foot Frame (with Simply Sixteen Longarm) - about 6' wide |
Moveable Longarm versus Stationary Longarm
The Moxie is what Handi Quilter call a "moveable" machine. In order words you move the machine and the quilt stays still. This is the opposite of what you do when you're quilting on a domestic machine. With a domestic machine you're moving the quilt and the machine stays still. That's why we call a sitdown machine a stationary machine. There are also longarm machines that are stationary such as the Sweet Sixteen (a 16" sitdown longarm) and the Capri (an 18" longarm with built in stitch regulation).
Video Stationary vs Moveable showing carriage
It may not be obvious what the advantage is to having a machine that moves rather than moving the quilt. So, let's use an example of signing your name on a piece of paper.
If you move the pen over the paper it's relatively easy but if you move the paper under a fixed pen it's quite tricky. Here's an example - and I was trying pretty hard to make it look good.
Maybe with practice it could look better but it would always feel more difficult to me than writing with the pen. My signature is something I'm pretty familiar with. Imagine trying to make nice looking designs instead on a very specific part of your quilt and you start to understand why you were finding it quite difficult to quilt! You should definitely not be too hard on yourself for finding quilting technically challenging. On a domestic or a stationary machine it generally is harder than on a moveable longarm. It isn't the case for everyone of course and there are times when sitting down to quilt can be easier than standing up.
With frame systems there are some excellent saddle stools which make sitting at a higher position much more comfortable.
Stationary doesn't mean you don't have stitch regulation
Choosing to go with a stationary machine doesn't mean you can 't have help with getting your stitches even. It really does take practice to get even stitches when you're moving the fabric so for some people getting some help with this is a good idea as it reduces frustration and it's generally quicker to get good results.
There is a "Law of the Even Stitch" that goes something along the lines of..
You're quilting away for a little while and thinking to yourself as the stitches are forming beautifully in exactly the pattern you were trying to create...
"Hmmmm...I seem to be getting the hang of this, I'm finally getting even stitches."
At exactly this point of peak ego weakness your quilt gets hung up on something and you end up with the shortest stitch. This is quickly followed by the longest stitch it's physically possible to do because you put extra effort into moving the quilt. Suddenly it frees itself and BABOOM! Back to square one.
Uneven, irregular stitches.
Result: Bruised ego. Deflated feeling.
Does this sound familiar to you?
If so, check out this video where I go through how the InSight Table with the Sweet Sixteen (or Capri) longarm works.
You just press a button and it does it for you...
This is probably one of the most common "overheard at a quilt show" comments that isn't true! Well it does do it for you but there's creativity involved, just in a different way. For example, Handi Quilter Ambassador Joe Cunningham talk in this video about how he digitally creates his designs which are then stitched out on Pro-Stitcher. His work is really interesting.
So, while there are options to add computerisation to longarm machines where patterns can be selected which the machine then stitches out, this is optional and we understand that it isn't for everyone. It's your choice.
On Handi Quilter moveable longarms the computerised package called Pro-Stitcher is available as an upgrade to any of the machines (except the Moxie which will have a Pro-Stitcher Lite version in 2021).
For example, in this short video I created 4 placemats by laying out fabrics and wadding on a backing fabric, securing the edges using a channel lock (horizontal or vertical stitching) then quilting using an appropriate design on all of the placemats in one go.
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| Pro-Stitcher Track and Cables |
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| Pro-Stitcher Tablet and Holder |
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| Pro-Stitcher Components |
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| Carriage for Pro-Stitcher |
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| Pro-Stitcher on an Amara - it is very integrated into the machine |
We've been at Quilt Shows in front of a completely hand-guided longarmed quilt where visitors have been over-heard saying "Oh it's all done by computer!" Some longarm quilters go to extreme lengths to get the precision demanded at the highest level of competition and this can make quilts look very precise. One of our customers who gained first prize in her category at the Houston Quilt Festival said that sometimes when she has been judging quilts she has to be very careful to not make assumptions because the skill level of the top quilters is so high. In one case we know that a quilt judge assumed a quilt was quilted by computer when it was hand-guided with some ruler work. It didn't win anything at that show but went on to win many prizes afterwards nationally and internationally where it was made clear it was a hand-guided quilt.
A computerised system is often used by professional longarm quilters when they are quilting for others. This makes more efficient use of their time as they can be answering emails or doing other work while the machine is stitching out. They still have to decide the design, scale, thread, etc and set it all up to do that perfectly but we offer training with Pro-Stitcher so that new users can get familiar with computerised quilting quickly.
Quite often a quilter will purchase the longarm system with frame, become familiar with it and then add on the Computerised Pro-Stitcher in due course. This is a good way to do it so that you built your confidence. Equally we know there are customers who have bought both at the outset and go straight into computerised quilting and hardly ever do free motion or ruler work. You choose whichever method is best for you
Pantographs / Quilting From The Back
An alternative to doing edge to edge quilting with the computer but still being able to do edge to edge quilting is through the use of Pantographs or Groovy Boards which you may have heard described as Quilting From The Back.
Pantographs are printed designs on a (usually) long roll of printed paper . A laser light points at the line of the design and the quilter traces the design with the laser light by moving the rear handlebars. In this way the design is transferred (without having to mark the quilt) onto the quilt itself.
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| Example of a Pantograph Design |
Groovy Boards are plastic templates with a groove in it (it isn't some retro cool 60's technique). You attach a stylus to the back of the quilt and drop it into the groove. By moving the handlebars at the back of the machine within the groove the design is created onto the quilt perfectly with a beautiful stitch-regulated stitch.
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| Example of Groovy Board design |
This method is usually best explained by watching a video. In this video I explain how you quilt a quilt using a pantograph using the Handi Quilter Simply Sixteen with the Little Foot Frame. We suggest using the Glide foot for this technique.
We have a selection of Pantograph designs on our handiquilter.co.uk website as well as the boards that you purchase for use with the Groovy Board Stylus. The Groovy Boards are popular with those who have never done longarm quilting at all before and don't feel very artistic.
It is possible to purchase digital designs to print out and tape together from various internet sites. You can also purchase and download digital files for computerised quilting.
So what types of quilting can you do on a longarm quilting machine?
In summary, on our Handi Quilter longarm machines you can:
- Free Motion Quilt from the front of the frame or machine
- Follow a laser light on a drawing to reproduce designs from the back of the frame or machine - pantographs
- Use a stylus in a groovy board to create accurate stitch regulated designs. The groovy board stylus is used to quilt from the back so you do need the rear handlebars but the results are very accurate as the hand-guided stylus follows the groove.
- Do ruler work to create all kinds of shapes
- Quilt in reverse - have the top on the bottom and vice versa. The thread you use in your bobbin will end up being the top thread. This is a great technique for doing faux couched work with thick threads that you could never put through a bobbin
- Computerised quilting
- Couched quilting (thick threads, wool, silk ribbons, metallic lame) using the Couching Foot
- Mark designs and use the marked line for reference or stitch through papers like Golden Threads
- Felting (using a special felting foot and needles - purchase from a Handi Quilter dealer)
- Use 1, 2 or 3 threads through one needle
- Piece directly onto the frame using a strip piecing flip and sew method
- Bind on your quilt
- Applique directly onto the quilt
- Outlining designs (echoing) using the Echo Feet
- Micro quilting using the micro quilting foot, handlebars like the Micro Handles for the Avante
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| Create your own designs in Pro-Stitcher Designer and stitch them out using the Pro-Stitcher Computerised System |
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| Felting Foot |
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| Felted Flower |
So where will you put it?
Machines don't like extremes of temperature - so if you are thinking about putting your longarm in a shed or in the loft you may have to move it to a temperate zone for the winter or if the summer is particularly hot (2020).
Freezing temperatures result in the oil being less viscous so you may need to put a greenhouse heater that comes up when the temperature goes down to close to zero C. The oils and greases need to be warm in order to lubricate so just heating the air is not always sufficient.
The floor is best solid but with the ability to absorb sounds or vibrations. A tiled floor can transfer the sound and be quite noisy for example. A wooden floor is usually fine unless the floorboards are very old and uneven and have a bounce to them. This can set up vibrations which can affect the performance of the machine through harmonics. You can discuss with us in advance to ensure that any concerns can be addressed before the machine is installed.
What about lighting?
Some of the newer machines have fabulous lighting so you may find LED spot lights are sufficient around the machine. Lighting from a window that comes from the side can be useful when you are quilting white on white or similar coloured threads and fabrics. There is a Handi Quilter Light which plugs into a USB that can be used with the Simply Sixteen, Avante and Amara for this purpose.
We recommend checking to make sure that any CE certified lighting is genuinely certified, particularly if you are upgrading the lighting. One issue can be lighting (particularly fluorescent) interfering with the screens of the larger machines and Pro-Stitcher. A good test is to look through your phone camera set to video. If you can see lots of lines flickering on the screen that is probably electro magnetic interference and it may affect the operation of the tablet. We would recommend discussing with your electrician.
This is a really interesting & helpful article, now I just need to win the lottery so I can buy a bigger house to fit it in & give up work so I have the time - I'm off to buy another ticket! ;-) JG
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