Longarm for diagonal straight line quilting?
Hi everyone - I was wondering if any longarm quilters could let me know how successfully they've been able to do straight line quilting on the diagonal and if so which machine they have.
I am a quilt artist making big wall hangings in Essex linen, up to 2m x 2m. My Janome MC 8400 is just not cutting it - the stitch consistency isn't good enough. After some great advice on a previous thread I'd decided on a Juki SS machine - but I want to take my business up a gear and I'm wondering whether I should bite the bullet and get a longarm. The catch is - I only do straight line quilting. I'd say half the time my lines are parallel verticals or horizontals so a longarm with channel locks would really speed things up for me in that respect. But the other 50% of the time my lines are diagonal - and worse, they are perspective lines so they diverge and are not parallel. It's hard to explain what I mean, but these are picture quilts - you can see some here on my IG account https://www.instagram.com/kate_williams_studio/. (I hope we're allowed to link, apologies if not!) I guess what I would be doing is FMQ but in a perfectly straight line. But is this totally unrealistic? I'd also need the stitches to be perfectly regular - would a stitch regulator solve this problem? Many thanks in advance to anyone who can help! |
Beautiful work! I think a longarm would make your life much easier! It sounds to me as though you have no need of the computerized/robotics so you should be able to find a longarm that has just the channel locks for your horizontal and vertical needs, and a ruler would help you achieve the other line work you need. Longarms come in a wide range of prices with various bells and whistles.
We have some amazing long-armers here that I am sure will chime in with more information. I highly recommend YouTube for videos about longarm’s there are some amazing people who post their tutorials and just videos of them working. |
Straight diagonal lines are difficult on longarm. You would need to use a ruler as you quilt to get the lines straight. I do not know of any longarm that would have channel locks on the diagonal and I am not sure how you would put the quilt on the frame on the diagonal. Longarm do have stitch regulators. However, longarms are great for quilting. I don't know if you can get a computer program to do diagonal lines. If you think you want a longarm, I would see if I could find a shop that offers classes and also rents out time on one of those machines before deciding to buy.
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Oh gosh a ruler for the diagonals! That had literally never occurred to me @tallchick I'm an idiot. I sort of know how to do my own thing but my knowledge of quilting is pretty limited otherwise... I will investigate YouTube. Now I'm very interested to hear from any longarmers about which basic longarm they'd recommend for straight lines only...!
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Originally Posted by sewingpup
(Post 8544974)
Straight diagonal lines are difficult on longarm. You would need to use a ruler as you quilt to get the lines straight. I do not know of any longarm that would have channel locks on the diagonal and I am not sure how you would put the quilt on the frame on the diagonal. Longarm do have stitch regulators. However, longarms are great for quilting. I don't know if you can get a computer program to do diagonal lines. If you think you want a longarm, I would see if I could find a shop that offers classes and also rents out time on one of those machines before deciding to buy.
I can see that using a ruler would be a bit of a pain, but probably still less of a pain than shoving a huge quilt through a SS machine trying to keep everything straight and smooth? I would save a lot of time on the horizontal/verticals with the channel locks I think. Maybe I will have less perspective in my designs going forward ;-) |
I have an APQS Lucey which has a 26-inch neck. You definitely can use the stitch regulator to do ruler work. You need the thicker 1/4-inch rulers for ruler work. I like using my little 8-inch ruler the best as it is easy to hold and move but I have also used my 12 inch one. Longer than that, it just is too awkward to use. You will also need to get a ruler base which attaches to the machine and is used to support the ruler, so it does not tip. gallery: mctavish quilting studio here are some examples of quilts Karen has done on her APQS
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Ruler quilting or robotics would be the way to go on a longarm. Channel locks only do 1 axis - horizontal OR vertical - at a time, not angles.
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I agree with sewing pup. Take a beginning longarm class to fully put a longarm through its paces and see for yourself if it will do what you want it to do. I have one of the best, highest-rated longarms on the market and even on this unit, diagonal quilting is not the easiest or most trouble-free thing to do.
I'm also wondering if you're aware of the costs. They are NOT inexpensive by any means. |
As Peckish shared, LA machines are not a cheap investment…especially if you add a computer. My machine has channel locks that travel horizontally and vertically but I use rulers for cross hatch and other diagonal quilting. Good luck in your search. It took several years of classes and demos at quilt shows before I decided on which model was right for me.
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Good luck with your search for a machine. Used set-ups (somewhat less expensive) are available but since you're in UK I don't know. The robotics and computer add significantly to cost.
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