Does anyone work on quilting frame?
 

Hi,
I am working on the old fashioned quilting frame that hangs from the ceiling. I just started the stitching. I'd like to ask some questions to anyone that works like this. I'll attach a picture of it. No laughing please! :D

No reason to laugh! What are your questions?

I recall, as a little girl, my Mother usinf a similar rig but it set on the backs of chairs rather than hanging from the ceiling. It would fill most of the living room.Do you have hooks in the ceiling? I also recall mom having a frame that had sharp tacks or brads that would hold the quilt in place. She done a lot of tying of quilts.

I am so glad you asked these questions. I am going to follow the thread and learn right along with you.

Nope, but you will get lots of help here from those that do.

No laughing from me! I'm interested! How do you quilt the middle?

I have heard of these types of frames but never seen one either . THANKS for posting the pic :thumbup:

I also am curious, how do you quilt the center ?

I believe that you start at the outside and as you are done quilting the outer edge, you roll the board and the quilt rolls around the board. That brings the next area to be quilted close to the outside.

I was browsing the internet tonight and happened to find the following website on how to make a PVC quilt frame, light weight and easily movable. Just thought I would share with you.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4928734_make...ing-frame.html

Oh, the boards looked like they were attached to me. If that's the case wouldn't it be too much bulk to reach over after a while or am I overthinking this?

This is how I use to tie all my quilts before I started to machine quilt them. It is really simple to make I used 1 x 4's 12 feet long and I covered them with leftover batting that I stapled right to the board. Then I used C clamps to hold the 4 boards together once I had my sandwich tacked to it. I put mine on the back of four dining room chairs in the middle of my family room. And yes you start on the outer edge and work toward the center rolling the two sides inward. The quilt rolls around the board. A permanent setup can be attached to cables or rope and raised to store over a bed or wherever. They are quick and easy to use especially if you get a couple working on it at the same time.

Ok, now I can picture it but doesn't the bulk of the quilt rolled up hinder your reach after a while or is it not that much bulk?

My mom has a similar quilt frame. But has free standing legs for hers.
No the bulk is not that large. As you keep it fairly tight as you roll the ends. Usually the the longer end. Not the sides.

I love that quilt! And, it seems it would be really easy to have a quilting bee or whatever it's called, where a bunch of people gather around the same quilt and work on it. :D

My dad said his mom had a frame that hung from the ceiling. I never quite understood...now I do!!!!!

I have one - but have never used it - it belonged to my MIL - I did watch her use it. What are your questions? Hers had holes on both ends of the long side bars and the short side bars. She just put in bolts (?) in the holes as she rolled it up.

I just looked at your picture again and if you have the quilt/back/batting pinned or fastened to all four sides - it won't work. You should only have the two long sides fastened. Leave the two short rows free - then put some temporary strips of fabric fastened to the rails to keep the sides taut while quilting. As you roll it up, then you re-position the sides. HTH

You need to have the quilt/batting/back pinned or fastened to all four sides to keep it taunt. I used thumb tacks and as I moved or rolled the ends I would remove the tack on each side as I got to it.

a friend yrsss ago did her quilting this way...the frame hung over her bed in her Bedroom...she was the most neatest quilter..looked like machine stitches..

I have 5-6 different size frames similar. Mine have round poles and they sit on legs of varying types. But same process. Roll as you go. Bulk is not bad. We get together a bunch of ladies from church every now and then and quilt on quilts. We call our group "Threads of Prayer" and have great get togethers talking, eating and laughing alot. We put on labels "Quilted with love, prayers and a few imperfections". My grandmother quilted from one suspended from ceiling at her church for almost 50 years. I love to still work the old fashioned way and get away from machine quilting now and then.

The quilt you're working on is pretty. So are the stained glass items in the background. Did you do them, too?

very neat they used to do it that way in the old days.

That's the way my Grandmother quilted. After the quilt is sandwiched and the top is attached to one of the boards and the bottom is attached to the opposite board, the sides are rolled up to a comfortable working distance between the rolls. This should be the center of your quilt showing. Then you quilt from the center out in all four directions. Each side is unrolled as necessary to quilt.
If you have chairs, only two boards are needed for attaching the top and bottom of quilt. The chairs are used to rest these two boards on. If suspended from the ceiling, then you need 4 boards, 2 to rest the other two on (by clamping with C clamps or any other means of immobilizing them.) These two side board had holes every couple inches and my grandmother used a peg to hold them in place.
I hope this helps.

Do you know anyone who has used these kinds before? I am making the Farmer's Wife Sampler all by hand and am curious about this as I have never hand pieced muchless hand quilted before but don't have the budget to put a ton of money into a quilting frame. This looks like it might be in the price range and DH is very handy so he would be able to make it for me.

I have one of the PVC frames but I never use it. It doesn't take up much room but it is too big for my small house. I just use a lap hoop.

My mother always used a frame like this. It hung from the ceiling in the living room or big room. There were large hooks (don't know what they were called) that screwed into the ceiling and strong string was run thru the steeple type hook and tied. Then the string was tied to each corner of the frame where the pieces crossed and were clamped tight. Then when lowered, the string was unwound, then wrapped back around the corner of the frame when thru for the day. I have it now as Mom passed away last year. Mom always put a sheet over the quilt when thru quilting for the day so dust would not get on the quilt. She would quilt all the way from one end to the other as far as she could reach and then unclamp the two corners, roll the quilt til she could reach another section.

Not sure if this is explained very clearly. It's hard to explain, but I can close my eyes and see how she did it. We tied a lot of quilts on this, too.

Also, we basted the top, batting and backing of many quilts together, that my sister-in-law's mother would then quilt on her lap. The basting kept the layers from shifting.

Mom had little nails all along the top of the quilt frame. She would always have her backing larger than the quilt and batting. That way she was able to fasten the quilt to all four strips of wood and this really held the fabric tight. Then she trimmed the extra lining all around the quilt when finished. That way none of the nail holes were on the finished quilt.

I didn't make mine, but I bought one just like it. It worked very well for me.

My grandmother used one of these frames. She had a huge dining room and it hung from the ceiling in there. The room was large enough for many ladies to work at the same time. Yes, you roll it around the frame as it is completed so that at all times it is easy to reach the area being worked on. When she needed to use the table it was drawn up to the ceiling and you were able to walk under it. Wish I had the room for one just for the memories if nothing else. Can you imagine what the older ladies would think with all the new tools that we play with now a day? They only used cardboard for patterns, scissors, needles and thread and look what they accomplished!! My grandmother had many quilts when she passed away many year ago.

I just seen this question started in 2010 but thought I would respond.. My grandmothers use to use this method of quilting.. houses were small we as children we would play under these quilts growing up. she would pull the quilt up in the air and tie it down so it wont come down.. and we are dinner under the quilt.. and when everyone went to bed.. my mom and grandmother would hoist the quilt down and finish it... I still use this method of quilting today.. although I have mine on chairs now.. I have vaulted ceilings and don't need to hoist it up. . ty for sharing.

Hi, I love your frame!! my DH made one frame for me, I hope this tutorial helps you!
http://elblogdenievesmaria.blogspot....or-grande.html (spanish)
I learned how to do it here http://www.ehow.com/way_5387176_home...lt-frames.html (english)

When I finish a sectión I dismount the four bolts and roll the sandwich until a new unquilted section is set. You can see in my album the set up. http://www.quiltingboard.com/members...27-461308.html

Enjoy your treasure!

my mom always attached all four sides, as you roll you remove just what you need to from the two short sides

I have a frame like that. The boards should be attached with something that can be removed so you and roll the quilt and then refasten the board. Quilted like that with my granny for years. We used C-clamps to hold the boards together. Have fun.

One of the ladies in our quilting group brought one like this for our group to use on a quilt for the family of one of our ladies who died. Her picture was in the middle. Not sure what we did wrong but there was a big bubble in the middle. She had to take it home and redo the center while it was half quilted. I know she had all four sides attached and rolled two sides from we got some finished. I can't get as small a stitch with this type of frame. Guess I'm just more used to quilting in my lap.

What a neat process!!

It is how my mother quilted and how I still quilt bed size quilts. Recently, because I live alone,I discovered how to rollup the sandwiched quilt without help from someone or losing the tautness, This is providing I started on one end of the quilt. I use another board and two more C clamps. I do not undo any of the corner C clamps but add this new board mid section or the position I want to roll to, then fasten with C clamps, then loosen the area corner clamps on the quilted end and rollup and secure again. then remove pins on the sides enough to roll. Roll up and tighten up again. I can either remove the center board since all four corners are secure or leave it depending on how much space I have left myself to quilt. It is so nice to be able to do this unassisted. I am blessed to have large rooms with tall ceilings to set up a frame like this in an old Victorian house.

Love your quilt but you can have that hand quilting.

This frame is not even large enough for the quilt pictured. The entire quilt needs to be flat and fastened to the outer sticks.

Bless you for teaching me how to roll my quilt without help. I'm alone now, too, and when I did my last quilt last month, I nailed whoever was handy to help me do the rolling when I was "ready to roll". (I would say that this job is where that saying came from.)
My tenant from upstairs, my granddaughter and even the piano tuner were put into action. Now I know how to do it myself. Thanks.

Great info in this thread!