Originally Posted by mina
I just discovered this website when I decided to go on the web and look for a real quilting frame. I have a pvc pipe one I bought at Joann fabrics. At the time I was so excited. Now I don't like it. It does not hold the tention well and I am always having to move my quilts around. Do any of you seasoned hand quilters have any advise on a quilting frame that will hold the entire quilt? I have been looking at the Grace Z44 but are there others out there simular?
Thanks and have a great time Quilting!
Hi, welcome from St. Paul.!!!! I got one of those PVC pipe quilting frames from my husband for my birthday - the principal sounds terrific, but it doesn't hold, you have safety pins holding the whole thing down and it doesn't fit right on the frame. You are constantly moving the quilt. It has literally hard to quilt on the frame. So I returned it. Now, here is the Minnesota solution - you know us Scandahoovians/Germans know exactly what to do - so you ready????? OK! If you are making a lap quilt, you pin it down like you would a big one or whatever you are making. Then you use an 18" hoop from JoAnn's and use that to shadow quilt around the pattern or the block itself. Then you tie it down. Here's the biggie. If you are making a huge quilt, you find yourself a really good quilter with a long arm and you PAY HER TO DO IT!!!!!!!! We live in a small house, four rooms, just big enough for husband and me and we let the grandkids in once a year because it takes a year to clean up after them!!! So a long arm is out of the question. There are a lot of good quilters with their own longarm who do this to make money to live on. I had two quilters - one was a shop (that was making money) and the other is a quilter and lives on the money she makes. So the best part of me says "She's the one." She has done three quilts for me already this year. She is not exorbitantly expensive, but she helps me and I help her. She has done two different patterns for me.
I was dead set on hand quilting a project and it just went all to pieces and rather than lose it all, I decided to continue with the smaller quilting with the hoop and let them that have the machine do it .
Hey, where are you in Minnesota? Vikings fan? Edie