tallchick

I am wandering down the longarm road, and have a few questions for those with more expertise.

1: Wind your own bobbins or buy pre-wound ones?
2: Poly or cotton?
3: Did you take classes to learn or did you just hop in and teach yourself?

I am debating about attending one of the HQ classes at their headquarters vs buying the DVD's vs attending an educational event in a nearby state.

soccertxi

I wind my own. They never seem to have the colors I want and I don't buy that many. I use what ever thread I like. My machine is not too picky. I seem to gravitate to Permacore and Omni ( look like cotton but are poly wrapped poly) and Glide (trilobal poly). You will need to try a few and see what you like and what works in your machine. I find that cotton is VERY linty. My machine does not like lint. I started with a used machine so I jumped in with no classes at all. There WERE tears. I have since upgraded and took all the new owners classes that were available. DVD and good manuals are invaluable too! Half of what they tell you will go in one ear and out the other! Find someone you can call to be a mentor. Good customer service is a must. Good luck on your journey!

dunster

I wind my own bobbins. A stand-alone bobbin winder came with my Innova and it does a great job of winding quickly and perfectly. I use both poly and cotton threads, but mostly poly since it is less linty and has a nice sheen. I had some lessons with purchase of the machine (mostly just understanding how to operate it), and since then I have taken a couple of Craftsy classes, read lots of books, watched videos on YouTube, etc.

Pagzz

1 - I wind my own and also like using magnaglide from filtec because they have consistent tension
2 - prefer poly
3 - I read through machine quilting forums www.mqresources.com and the forum for my type of machine at apqs.com. I attended a few machine quilting shows and took classes, dvds, and doodling help alot.

please note there is a learning curve. groups who make donation quilts will gladly give you lots of tops to practice on. it's a fun journey.

QuiltNama

I use both but have to say that I really do LOVE the Filtec prewound bobbins. I use white for light backs and gray for darker backs.

PaperPrincess

I also wind my own. I have had my machine for 10 months and I am scheduled for a class next week. I picked up the quilting OK, but I want to know exactly how to perform maintenance, and I now have a list of specific questions.

stitch678

Mine's a midarm 15" Bailey. lt winds bobbins perfectly, but you do get more thread on prewounds. As for thread, it depends on the project. The polyester is finer, so it works well for fine, close quilting ( l've even used machine embroidery thread for special heirloom style projects). The cotton heavier threads show up more, so they're less suitable for quilting that's close or has a lot of backtracking. l use it for te cotton patchwork charity quilts l do.

Gramie bj

I wind my own, I use Superior So Fine in the bobbin and I like King Tutt on top. I did take classes, had a great instructor who said "call me if you have questions" I did and still do. Have a great dealer too. If I have problem with machine I call them, they hang up on me and call right back! It is a long distance call. The one time I had to take it into them. They met me at the back door before they opened, had it fixed and back to me by noon the next day. It is a 6 1/2 hour trip one way.

ckcowl

Wind my own- a winder comes with the machines. Owners classes are great to take advantage of, classes can certainly give a good start, help avoid all the problems that may come up on your own. Good dealer, local service and classes make the journey much less stressful.

susanlh

I wind my own with a stand alone winder. I use whatever thread I have that matches my project but bottom line is the one I use most. I did not take any classes other than learning the loading process. I just jumped in with both feet and felt like I could practice on plain muslin. I did many sandwiches and cut them down for drag-around quilts for the grands. They didn't care what they looked like. Just be sure to give yourself time to learn and lots of practice. It is so much easier to do than sitting at a domestic machine and fighting it under the arm.