I went to a LA's home for hands on instruction to load and quilt a quilt. It took almost two hours to get the quilt, batting and backing loaded on the machine. The quilter has been doing this for years and does good LA quilting but to go through all that for each quilt? I was bored and tired of it before I got to the stitching part. :? After going through that I am re thinking the OH I want one.

Conversely, how long does it take you to bat it and baste/pin it? It takes me about the same amount of time.

HaHa!!! Yes, when I got my short arm and frame I was surprised at how long it takes to load the quilt onto the frame. But then the fun comes with the quilting...without struggling with rolling and rolling and stuffing a quilt inside a domestic machine throat.

I think it's a great trade off. And after a few quilts you get so you can load one pretty quickly. Just another part of the process. And like others said, it doesn't take as long as pinning or basting.

Gads, that is a long time to set up for quilting. Unless you count the traditional things like: squaring up the quilt top, cutting and sewing the backing, cutting the batting to size. Then I can understand it all. These are things you would hopefully be doing anyway, no matter how the quilting is done.

Once the top is squared, the backing made and squared, and the batting cut the actual putting it all on the machine is really just a piece of cake [chocolate, of course!]

ali

After my first basting attempt on a quilt, I knew I wouldn't do that again on the floor or table top. I bought a no basting quilt frame and can have the quilt on that frame in less then 20 min. I baste on the frame instead of hand quilting for quilts larger then double bed size. For smaller quilt sizes I use Pinmoors to baste.

that's why a lot of LAs went ot zippered leaders, but you still have to pin or sew the pieces to the leaders, then you just zip them onto your frame.
unless I run into problems I can usually get one ready in about an hour
maybe knowing this will make the price more understandable to those looking for a quilter

It's all a matter of preference and perspective.

a) Take 2 hours to load a quilt on the frame and save time quilting it with a longarm. Total time for an all over design - 4 hours.
b) Take the time to pin it all together on the floor and quilt it on your DSM. Total time for an all over design - More than 1 day.
c) Take the time to load it on a hand quilting frame and hand quilt it. Total time for an all over design - More than a week.

No matter how you look at it, it is a much shorter time to finish quilting on a longarm. Me personally, I'll keep my frame and avoid all that pinning time.

It takes me less, 20 to 30 minutes. I float the top and batting, just lay them on the backing after the backing is loaded and rolled on the frame poles/leaders. I use a few pins to keep the top and batting straight on the backing, then sew around the edges to attach it. I do have to take a minute to straighten the top and batting with each advance of the quilt. :thumbup: :thumbup:

it is time consuming to load your quilt but there are new things on the market that help speed up the process. there are now zippered leads, you baste the top and backing to the leads then just zip them on....much faster! i have reached the point where it takes me about 45 minutes to load a queen/king quilt.
finding out more of the process helps show why it costs what it does to have a quilt quilted for you. :thumbup:

that is the part of longarming that i hate, if i could afford to pay someone to pin them on, i would quilt all day lol

Does not take that long for me I use leadergrips they save a lot of time.

It's just that I find basting on my three pole frame is much more enjoyable then putting the quilt on the LA. How to by pass that part and get to the quilting? LOL. Someone figure that out for me.

it doesn't take me two hours to pin on even a king size quilt...and I pin everything....no tricks or zippered leaders...I think it is just a matter of practice. Probably does take me about an hour...if there are problems...then could take longer..but I try to recognize the problems before actually pinning.

I just have a Grace Mini Pinn frame, set up quilt size, & yes, it does take time to load, but worth it! I do it in sections, as in taking my time. I load the quilt, then come back when I feel I am ready to quilt the quilt, & I may not do the whole quilt at one time. So, if you break it down, & do it all in sections, it's not so bad, & so much easier than just fighting it on your regular sewing machine otherwise... Remember, you can always walk away from it & leave it all set for awhile, then come back to it later, when you feel like it....

I have a Bailey 13" mid arm home quilter with a Grace frame. My goodness, it does not take me that long to load up my frame. I can do it all in about 45 minutes....if I stay there and do it in one session. I have found that I don't need pins so close they are touching, and I lay the batting on in a fairly straight line, and pin the quilt top in place after rolling it on a pole. Nope, these are quick and easy. No fussy stuff here for me!

June in Cincinnati

Takes me 45 minutes to an hour depending on the size of the quilt. I have the zipper leaders that I can either sew the backing onto or pin. I prefer to pin it on for some reason.
Then I float the batting and the top stitch the sides as I advance, until I get to the very end. Then pin the end down too.

Not sure why it took 2 hours, although if taking the time to teach how to do it vs just doing it....it could take longer.

I think is would be a matter of practice! Like everything else we do, practice, practice, practice.

As someone who used a longarm for the first time two days ago, I can tell, you I don't care if loading the thing on took me four hours!! Quilting on the LA is fun, fun and more fun! Much more enjoyable than my home machine. :mrgreen:

We used the zippered leaders, and just used flat-headed pins to secure on the zipper, didn't seem bad at all...and definitely easier than sandwiching, IMHO. Can't wait to go use it again (have all day next week booked to play :mrgreen:).

Is that your dog in the Westminster Show in your avatar?!

I am brand new to Long arming (just three months) and I have an HQ Avante, even with a huge oversized queen on Saturday I only took an hour and a half! All pinning, no zippers, I actually find it quite relaxing to get it all onto the frame and rolled so that it is nice and neat and I know that there will be no creases or tucks on the backing when I am finished! It took sooooooooooo much longer and was so much more stressful to prepare and baste even a small lap size on the floor! lol

Agreed. I use zippered leaders and can load a quilt in an hour. I also float my top (unless it is queen or king size) so that saves time.

Same here....about 45 minutes to an hour. The first time it took a little longer but goes quickly now.

Spending some time with a LA quilter is a valuable experience and one that I would reccommend to any quilter considering buying a midarm or long arm machine set-up. I have a whole new appreciation for our long arm quilters now. I also know now that I don't want to invest in one of these machines and uderstand why they charge what they do. I could never justify the cost of long arm set-up for just my quilts and I've decided that I don't want to do this for a living. I might have wasted a lot of money and been badly disappointed if I hadn't spent a day with Chris.

I think with time you'll get faster, just like anything else. I used zipper leaders, but I still pinned my backing to the zippers. I had zippers just incase I had to take the quilt off the frame and when I zipped it back on it was still the same as the first time I put it on.

I think I have it down to just under an hour for a bigger quilt. But I don't do it that often so that seems like a long time some days but in comparsion to the amount of time it takes to finish it, I love it. I used to hate the pinning and sandwiching so the LA is great I end up with much less issues on the back.

We have the zippered leaders but very rarely take them off... only when we get frusterated with a quilt so we take it off, do a different project and then put it back on to finish it later.

My mom has a quilt on there right now so last weekend I made a baby quilt on my regular machine and it was killer! Oh well, I have 2 more tops ready to go on the rack so I think i have a busy weekend ahead of me.

I have to have 1 done for Monday (it's a guild challenge)

Chrismah could you move to AZ, I would like you for a neighbor, the house next door is empty. -- J.

Maybe the reason it took so long was because she was teaching you how to do it. There is talking time and demo time. If she was doing it all by herself it would probaly be a much shorter time.

Oh.. no I 've got an empty one here by me!! I'll even offer some cooking.

I was wondering how long it takes to load one. I guess if it took 2 hours, it would be worth it in the long run; considering it takes me several weeks to quilt one by hand.

i agree with that!

That is really a loooooooooooong time. I got much faster with practice and now it usually takes on quilt podcast and I hardly notice the time going by. This is on my Ipod.

It is the beginning I had to long at the dvd several times in the process.

I have to say it only takes me maybe 5-15 minutes to get it loaded and basted on (I use my LA to baste the pieces onto my velcro leaders), ready to begin quilting. No problemo...

2 hours is enough to make me give up longarming! LOL! I don't have that much patience :)

Debbie in Austin

Takes me 1/2 hour to pin a queen size quilt on. I use large coursage pins. My wish list has "red snappers". Here's a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdESb8_p5ec

It takes me about 30 mins or so to pin on the quilt depends on the size of the quilt. In 2 hours I can have a full or queen size quilt finished. at first it took a little longer but once you get the hang of things it goes a faster...

takes me about 45 to load my longarm. and I am a little slow. I have been doing this sence 2003. the more you do the better you get. I would rather get it right that have to undue it. which I have.

It doesn't take me nearly that long to load a quilt on my LA. I watch TV while I load it and the time goes by quickly, maybe 30 min. I also float my batting and top which saves time. I LOVE my LA. It is more fun than should be allowed by law!!!

Two hours does sound like a lot of time. Are you sure some of that wasn't because she was using the time to teach you, or because there were problems with the quilt top that needed correction? I find that I can load a quilt on the longarm in much less time than it takes to pin-baste the quilt for quilting on the DSM.

Preparation time depends on the quilt. Larger quilts take longer. If the client hasn't squared the backing, it takes longer to do that first. The outcome of the quilting is so dependent on how well the quilt is loaded onto the frame, that it is worth whatever time it takes to get it on perfectly.

Cynthia

I think maybe this lady was going slow so that you would see and understand the process.

I agree with BellBoo. With my back injuries I cannot stand and bend over long enough to pin the quilt on. If I manage to get it on in one day then then I spend the next two or three days bent over and using heating pads. Not much fun I do enjoy machine quilting on regular machine and have just ordered the sit down HQ16 Looking forward to using it.