kluedesigns

i saw john flynn at the Lancaster PA quilt show 2 weeks ago. i watched him and asked questions. then he let me play with the quilt frame for about 15 minutes since his booth was slow.

i didn't buy it from him because i knew All Brands had it much cheaper.

the frame system is 3 rods. the size that came with the frame are 48 inches long and he says if you need to quilt something longer you can buy electrical conduit and cut it down to size.

that idea really appealed to me - i've built stuff with electrical condiut in the past and find it very easy to cut down and work with - so love that i can switch it up.

each of the 3 rods comes with a muslin leader strip - this is how you attach your quilt to the frame.

you attach the quilt back to a rod at each end (bottom and top) by hand basting some big stitches.

then you hand baste the quilt top bottom to the other rod.

now you need to lay your quilt and rods completely out - i use the carpeting floor in our bedroom.

you put down the quilt back with the 2 rods and smooth it out, then you lay down the batting and smooth it out, then you lay down the quilt top and smooth it out.

you hand baste the top of the quilt top and batting to the top of the quilt back.

now you begin at to roll the quilt up on to the rods.

you roll up the quilt top and batting onto the rod, then you roll up the back onto the rod.

now you're ready to put on the frame side braces. the frame side braces have slots for grosgrain ribbon that you attach to the brace an loop over and then pin to your quilt - this keep everything tight.

now you load it onto your sewing machine. you sew from the side now instead of the front - i thought i might find this hard to do but my brain didn't have a problem with it since its free motion.

i moved my sewing machine from my sewing table and put it on my cutting/work table. my work table is about 72 inches long - i got it at staples - its just a cheap folding table.

the flynn frame comes with 2 really fat PVC pipes that you use to rest the frame on while you're working.

this allows the frame with quilt to feel like it floating. it truly is weightless.

now take your 2 hands and make a "thumbs up" this is how you position your hands on the quilt frame.

you rest the quilt frame on your index fingers and the thumb is there to prevent the frame from slipping away and you just guide the frame in which ever direction you wish to go.

i know typing this out - its seems like a lot of work but it really isn't. its so easy to set up and the actual quilting is effortless.

what i like about this set up too - is you can do the sections of the quilt that has an all over design and then when you reach the bottom of the quilt you can pull out the middle rod because that pattern has quilted all the layers together.

now you can roll everything back up onto the rods and go back and do the fancy designs in the blocks.

i did an all over continuous line design so i was able to stop when i completed an area with needle down - loosen the braces on each end and the grosgrain ribbon - and roll out an entirely new section to quilt and then tighten the braces and put the ribbons back on and get to work quilting.

this is a real plus for me since i only have 4.5 inches of throat space from my needle to the back of the machine.

so that entire quilt pattern was done in 4 inch sections across the width of the quilt.