just got my longarm! need advice please!
 

Hi everyone, I just purchased a 2013 gammill vision and had it delivered this past friday. I recieved a full day training on it from my dealer the day it was delivered. I love it, like really love it, the problem is, is that now I've forgotten most of what I've learned and I am so afraid of messing my new machine up to practice on it. Any suggestions on the best way to learn?

I would get some cheater tops and just freemotion quilt on it. Using the cheater tops will give you the same focus you will need later on a "real" quilt, but without the time and expense. Use muslin on the back, and the least expensive batting you can find. Here's a good site that has reasonable prices and a good variety of different tops:
http://www.pre-printed-quilt-tops.com/
I bought my long arm online, and didn't even have ANY training on it. This is EXACTLY how I began learning, and I still do this when I have a new tool or have heard about a new technique and want to practice.
Look for some quilt tops at yard sales too - this is another "cheap" way to get your feet wet and also allows you to get the feel of going across seams and dealing with "non-square" quilts. Both of those are problems you will encounter later on, and it's a lot less stressful learning about them on a cheap top rather than it be something you've already spent a lot of time on (or even worse, a customer quilt from a customer whose seams were quite less than perfect, but who expects you to "quilt that out"). Relax, have fun, and jump right in!! And from what I've heard, most dealers will help walk you through most any questions you have over the phone.

The teacher in me says practice, practice and more practice. However, I suspect part of the problem is fear of messing up the machine and its little (or big) pieces and parts. How to wind the bobbin, how to thread the needle, adjust the tension, what to do when a problem occurs, etc. let alone trying to get a feel for how it moves and works. Heck, I'd be surprised if I remembered how to start it (as proven by my embroidery attachment for my machine). Remember how nervous you were when you first got behind the steering wheel of a car? But it didn't take long to learn how to drive or remember the rules of the road. Hands on every day will soon make you comfortable with your new toy. The memory will come back too, as you relax a bit and "do." Search the web too, my DH has found lots of stuff out there for the Gammill--tips and tricks and such.

Just remember to have fun and it's still a sewing machine just bigger. I never was patient enough to practice on cheaters I just started on my quilts with pantograghs. Love them!!!

Yours could contact your dealer and see if you can go in for more classes, but you could just get out the book,
Load up practice quilt and start practicing... Once you start you will remember what he told you, you will also*learn* your own way to do things... Gammil also has good tech/customer support, you can learn a lot by visiting their website

There are so many videos on YouTube, that I am sure you will be able to find some to help you.

The number one advice I would give you is practice daily. My long arm came with 3 days of training. They had us change threads and set tension all the time. Practice and see if there are others that can help you even if it is just online. Congratulations!

Hi Penny,

Welcome to the board. I may be in danger assuming but because you wrote that you "love it, really love it" I am thinking you love operating the machine but are concerned about the other things, like properly loading a quilt top, checking tension, properly threading, how often and where to oil, when should you raise the take up roller (a big reason that gammel immediately got checked off my list of LA when I first started looking). Didn't your machine come with any kind of manual to walk through some of those basics? I am sure once you look at the manual your training will come back to you. If you did not get a manual, I would contact the dealer immediately for one. Manuals usually cover the basics like oiling and threading. Tension issues you learn from experience as so many different things will affect tension such as thread in top, thread in bobbin, needles, how tight you have the quilt in the rack, batting, fabric etc. You will learn this as you gain more experience.

Don't be afraid of it. Yes, there are very expensive machines but they are pretty hard to mess up. If you throw it out of timing, that can be fixed and knowing how to reset your timing is something every longarmer should know how to do. It is darn near impossible to ruin these machines. You could damage it but usually they can be repaired. Get a manual and start looking at You Tube videos.

I have a 2011 Gammill Vision and I love it. Since then, I have found that you really can't "mess" up the machine. Yes, things can go wrong, but there has always been a solution. Gammill has excellent tech support and I have always been able to fix things by talking to the tech rep by phone. I don't have tension problems and I think this is because I have always used the Towa tension gauge for my bobbin. I don't use a gauge for the top because it doesn't need to be adjusted that often. The bobbin, however, can be tweaked with each bobbin change and if you change to a different type thread, you need to adjust. The more you use your machine, the less fear you will have, so I say just dive right in!