Originally Posted by
An Arm Long
If you are willing to put in the time to practice without stitch regulation, then go for it. But if you want to be very good quickly, then start with stitch regulation.
I agree. When you have stitch regulation, you then only have to concentrate on your design. Otherwise you have to concentrate on both your design and your speed and like everyone on the QB always says: Practice, practice, practice--you don't learn how to be a good longarmer overnight. When I bought my longarm--I did not even consider buying one without a stitch regulator because I knew I wanted to wuilt for both myself and for customers---and I am way too anal about how my product looks when it is done. I just knew I would not be happy if my stitches were all different lenghts. But that is my opinion. Everyone is different in their talent and end result desired look. ALso remember that the longer the throat, the farther away you will be reaching when you are quilting. I do my best quilting at about 12'' from the front bar. Even though I have a 26" throat--if I am working on just a single block or a single horizontal border, I roll my quilt so that my quilting space is about 12" away form the front bar. Again, everyone is different in how they quilt and how they stand and how they are comfortable when they are quilting.