Originally Posted by
Littledreamdevil
when I do FMQ I just lay/roll my (king) quilt up and lid of my cabinet supports my quilt. Is that what you are talking about? When I am laying out my quilt, I spread it on floor and see how it will look or on bed. My house is small so I have learned to work with my small work area.
No, a suspension system is used to actually hold part of your quilt up off the surface of your sewing machine table in order to help prevent drag during FMQ that is caused when parts of the quilt get caught on the edges of the table, or start to hang over the edge.
The system I made for myself consists of a salvaged heavy-duty metal tripod/light pole at the rear left hand side of my machine table and on the front left of my machine table a rolling stand with extension arm that I also use for my iPad when reading in bed. I strung a bungee cord between the two of them and bought a couple of large ratcheting spring clamps from Amazon.com for $6. I just clamp the part or parts of the quilt that I need to be out of my way and drag free to the bungee or the arm of the reading stand. I can reach the front clamp without getting up from my sewing machine when I need to rearrange things. The stand at the back of my sewing table is mainly used to prevent the quilt from sliding off the back of the table so I only use it when I'm doing double bed sized or larger quilts.
My sewing space is really small, too--it's crammed in the double doorway between the trunk room and the guest bedroom in my 100 year old house. The suspension system really makes a difference for me when trying to manage a large quilt in my tiny space.
Rob