Originally Posted by
tessagin
I signed up for classes on a long arm Gammill at a lqs. $50 for 2 hours and then you can rent it for $25.00 an hour after. No one else in town does it so don't have much choice. For me, it'll work and I'll be able to decide if it's something I want to consider purchasing. Don't get to start for a couple weeks yet but at least it got me motivated to work on some piecing. Thing is for $25.00 I quilt it myself. No matter the size. will help me decide if I want to invest in one.
At one time I was analyzing this type of arrangement and, as I'm a slow quilter, felt it would still cost quite a bit to quilt one quilt. Then I thought it might be a good way of basting a quilt to get it ready to quilt on a home machine or by hand. So much easier than the traditional method of preparing a quilt. You can get several tops ready, then take tops, backings and batting to the rental unit and baste several in an hour. You baste the top, sides and bottom and stitch a 4" grid all over the quilt by guiding the longarm to stitch bigger stitches(an 1" apart or so).
Have fun with your classes.