Deborahlees

I have been sewing/quilting for years....Every project gets a little bigger. Just finished quilting a twin size, free motion on my dinning room table, it took me 3 days. Rolled each end on an old broom handle...but kept on thinking there should be a better way. Can not afford or have room for a longarm....so am looking into a John Flynn Quilt Frame. I know there have been discussions in the past here. Am seeking current comments and thought on your experience of using this frame. Pros and cons I would like to hear it all. Thank you very much for sharing with me.

amma

The frames haven't changed any :wink: so the past topics are still current :D:D:D

crashnquilt

I had one of these once. The first thing to take into consideration is YOU NEED LOTS OF SPACE. Your machine is the center point and you have to have room on each side of the machine the size of the quilt you are quilting, i.e. if your quilt is 70 inches wide then you will need a minimum of 80 inches each side of your machine to quilt.
When I was using the Flynn Frame I was standing to quilt. You will be standing in the same spot because you move the quilt back and forth.
The table you use needs to be sturdy and long.
The is a HUGE learning curve to using the Flynn Frame. It took me a very long time to learn to regulate the stitching and getting graceful curves.

Personally, I would buy a machine with a larger harp. If you are just using it for free motion you might want to look into the Juki TL98Q it's a dandy workhorse of a machine but it is straight stitch only.

Also, get the book MACHINE QUILTING by DIANE GAUDINSKI. She does her free motion quilting on a Bernina. She has some great suggestions on how to "package" the quilt and how to manage large quilts under the needle.

Good luck.

BellaBoo

I have the JF frame and it works great for me. I bought the six ft folding table at Lowes and put my machine in the middle and I have plenty of room on both sides. The folding table is easy to store, will fit under a bed or behind a sofa if you can't leave it up all the time. I have used several models of LAs and the JF frame took much less time for me to learn and it's much faster to load a quilt on it. As with any new tool, it takes practice and frequent use to get comfortable using it. I have rods up to king size and will use two table when doing a quilt that big but seldom machine quilt that size, I send those out to be quilted or use the section quilting method.

I sit down when I'm using it.

Rose Marie

I have one gathering dust in my closet. Did not work for me.
Even using it on a small lap quilt the rollers kept falling off the table.
I agree it takes as much room as a long arm for a bed quilt.

LivelyLady

I really like the JF frame, too, and I sit down when using it. I have a long fold up table.....a cheapie, but it works. I also use the JF to baste any quilts that I want to hand quilt. I got mine a few years ago off of ebay.

hopetoquilt

"Also, get the book MACHINE QUILTING by DIANE GAUDINSKI. She does her free motion quilting on a Bernina. She has some great suggestions on how to "package" the quilt and how to manage large quilts under the needle. "

Just added it to my amazon wish list. Thanks for the suggestion. I love the look of machine quilting but will probably never own a long arm machine. I want to get much more competent at machine quilting using my babylock.

Jingle

I don't use a frame of any kind, no space, I use a Juli TL98QE, with a large harp and I have done 93 x 112" quilts, I no longer roll my quilts, just kind of smush them up, works great for me.

Deborahlees

ok silly question here....what do you mean by a "Large Harp"

BellaBoo

How did it keep falling off the table? I have never had that happen to me. I used it with John Flynn standing over me for about an hour at a quilt show before I bought it. I had a crowd watching me and I was nervous not wanting it too look too hard to learn. But it was easy to use. Once you get a rhythm it's fun.