Grace frame and Janome 1600p
 

Hello.

I am seriously considering buying a grace queen frame and Janome 1600p. Does anyone on here have this set up and do you need the sure stitch to get good results or can you get by without it.

Jan x

I had the same set up (it was a Juki instead of Janome) and I have to tell you, I didn't like it. Some people like it just fine and others complain that there's just not enough room when the quilt is rolled up in the harp. They take up a lot of room and take a long time to load onto the frame (altho there are gadgets and ways to make this easier) and there is a bigger learning curve than you'd think. I don't know about the sure stitch.

I'm sure you will get as many opinions about this as there are owners! Best of luck to you!

What is your price range?

I bought a used Voyager 17 with stretch Hinterberg frame. They run anywhere from $2,200 to $4,000+ used depending on how lucky you are. The top price is from the Hinterberg website. If you can afford the price range, in my opinion it is a *much* better frame setup than the Grace frame with a Janome 1600p.

My setup did not come with a stitch regulator, and so far that's fine with me. I had quilted on my domestic machine so found it really easy to transition to free-motion frame quilting. You can do meander, loops, and pantographs fairly easily without a stitch regulator. I think a stitch regulator becomes much more important if you want to start doing ruler work. For me, I'm just thrilled that I'm finally able to finish all these quilt tops that have piled up over the years.

I have the original Grace frame with Juki on it. just bought the upgraded carriage and haven't had a chance to use it yet. I don't make big quilts. I've way more than gotten my money's worth out of it.

I have a Juki on a Grace frame and love it. I do like having a stitch regulator but quilted for a couple years without it and it worked fine.

Thank you for your replies. Unfortunately Long arms in the UK are a ridiculous amount of money. The cheapest I have seen was £8,500 english pounds. That was second hand and way out of my price range. I can get a Janome 1600p, feet and grace queen frame for much much less. I think I may wait for the sure stitch and save up for that at a later date. It is good to know that people have managed to get good results without. If anyone else has any more opinions about this particular set up I would gratefully appreciate the feedback.

Jan x

I started out with a Juki on a superquilter frame, upgraded to an 18" Innova later on the same frame...I love it way better than sit down free motion which I had been doing for a while.I don't have the stitch regulater and do fine.It was a little too pricey for me.

I have a Bernina frame (made by the Grace Company) and I use a standard size sewing machine on it (Bernina 440). My quilting space is very limited but I manage. I've done 4 bed size (double to queen) quilts on it. Granted I can't do large quilting designs, but what I can do satisfies me - mostly meanders or loops.

I use the Grace Start-right queen sized frame with a Juki 2000Qi and LOVE IT! Mine came with a speed control which I do like. Granted it takes up a lot of space in my sewing room but that's okay. I never could gett he hang of machine qyuilting on my regular machine. Like anything, there is a learning curve. But I no longer get puckers and wrinkles, which I understand are mainly "user error". Now if I coudl just get over my fear of marking on my quilts!!

I have a Janome 1600P on a New Joy Gold frame. the fram is a piece of ..., but love the Janome. I started without the stitch regulator but was never comfortable quilting especially using pantographs. I'm not consistant if how I much the machine and when going long distance I would speed up, get long stitches and the get tiny stitches when having to do intricate patterns. I finally paid the $500. for the quilters cruise control and get even stitches not matter what speed. My sister and I have quilted several quilts with our set up, of course we would love to have bigger and better but it's not in our budget so will keep at it.