Originally Posted by
feline fanatic
I have never done it but I have heard that some longarmers have a way of loading so they can do part of the quilt then reload and do the other part. I was never clear if they were folding part of it over and dealing with the uneveness on the take up rollers or what. I could never wrap my head around it so never tried. So I can't quilt anything larger than 100" wide and that is with a 10 ft frame. Even then I am not comfortable because I can't use my side clamps very well. When I get to them I hit them with the machine head so have to move them or take them off when I get close to the edge. Good luck with this!
while I have a 14' frame and can quilt a huge quilt (but would rather not!) I was always hitting my side clamps and messing up. So I changed them up like a friend showed--I made a fabric extension with a sleeve on one side that I put an 18" ruler into--that is what I clamp to. then I pin the other end of the fabric (which means I can adjust how wide the extension is from the ruler to the place on backing I'm pinning)to the backing. I used ticking canvas for this so it holds up to frequent pinning. This allows me to quilt to edge of top without worry about my ruler table hitting the clamps and bobbling the design. I also allows me to have a stablized area on side that is about 15" wide and not 2 clamps pulling on it in just two spots--much less tension needed yet still very stable.