1. What is consider a long arm?
2. Do you start in the milddle and quilting out from there?
3. What do you put on the rolls?
4. How do you attach it to the rolls?
5. Have you made leaders for your long arm or medium arm?
6. Do you have to have leaders?
7. How so you attach the leaders?
I think this is enough to keep my head spinning!

1. What is consider a long arm?

18 inches or more is long arm, short arm is 9 inches or less, mid arm is everything in between those two

2. Do you start in the milddle and quilting out from there?

no

3. What do you put on the rolls?

top, batting, and back - or you can just put the back and float the batting and top

4. How do you attach it to the rolls?

with leaders

5. Have you made leaders for your long arm or medium arm?

yes, i made mine but you can buy premade

6. Do you have to have leaders?

no, grace frames let you attach straight to the poles but i prefer leaders


7. How so you attach the leaders?

i used velcro

1. What is consider a long arm?
18" and over

2. Do you start in the milddle and quilting out from there?
I start at the top

3. What do you put on the rolls?
Back, batt and top

4. How do you attach it to the rolls?
I have canvas leaders with zippers. I pin to my zippers.

5. Have you made leaders for your long arm or medium arm?
No, my Nolting 24" PRO came with them installed.

6. Do you have to have leaders?
Yes on true longarms.

7. How so you attach the leaders?
My leaders have attached zippers .. I pin to them.

The best thing to do is to do a search about Long Arming, this is what we did when we purchased our machines. My sister, older and wiser, was the one who did all the investigating. I just paid for my own!

The only thing different I have to add is:
1. I put the backing on the belly bar and the take up bar. I float the top and the batting, so I don't use the bar for the top or the bar for the batting.

2. I did not have to make my leaders, I received really nice leaders with the machine. The dealer set my machine up, so he attached them with the velcro. I pin to my leaders.

I agree with all the points listed above. I would like to add that no, you don't "need" leaders but then you'll have to have an extra long backing fabric and attach every backing to the takeup & payout rollers which will be a giant pain so leaders will make your life easier. My leaders are currently double-sided velcro'd onto the poles. On my first frame, they were taped on with painters tape. I think I like that method better and will go back to it if/when the velcro wears out on my current frame.

I am not looking for a long arm was given an old and I mean old one! they do not make them anymore.but it does work. :XD: it does not have any instruction book or anything that would help me. :roll:

What's the brand?

My LA came with leaders but over the years they stretched and became quite thread bear. I bought 120" heavy muslin and made my own leaders.

If you do get a longarm machine, the very first thing to do is put a hem in your leaders where you pin. A hem like in clothing and this will reinforce your leader.

I attach with velcro. I just took the velcro off the leaders being retired and used that. Worked out just fine and saved myself bucks not buying new velcro.

I've never regretted my LA purchase. I purchased a HandiQuilter 16 with stitch regulator and the QuilTable. I'm impressed with machine performance, but more importantly I'm impressed with their customer service. No matter the question, HQ is there to help. Everything from loading a quilt to technical issues, they are happy to give assistance.

I think the phrases 'mid-arm' and 'long-arm' are pretty much interchangeable these days. There are no 'rules' just like there are no 'quilt police'.

All longarms use leaders of some sort, and there are many different ways you can attach your quilts to them. You have to do some research and find the best methods of everything for you - leaders, attaching quilts, quilting, etc. There are too many to get all answers in one place...but you should try the majority of them to find the one that works best for you.

Debbie in Austin