Quilting room advice
 

So, if you were contemplating a new quilting room and the purchase of a long Arm quilting machine in the future, what size do you think the room would need to be at a minimum. I would want room for the quilting maching, my basic sewing machine, a counter height cutting table and some fabric storage. How much space is needed for quilting frame?

We are closing in a garage, I know I could easily use the entire space, but my husband wants some space for a home office so he can work some from home. I need to carve him out a small corner, LOL.

One of the longarm quilters in my area remodeled her house by enclosing the garage and turning half of it into a dining room and the other half into her longarm room and then they added on a whole new garage. The half of the room that was turned into the longarm room is really just barely big enough. There's a walkway down each side of the machine and a walkway from the new garage thru to the dining area and the rest of the house along one end. Longarms take up a whole lot of room.

it depends on what length you have your frame set up... some are adjustable. i think the big ones are 12' and you need room to get around one of the ends. I have limited space, so I set my Hinterberg stretch up with 9-1/2' poles. that left me is 1.5' to get past the end in the room I had. with this set up, i can quilt queen sized quilts, but not those that go to the floor, just the mattress depth on the sides. however, i did manage, with some finagling, to quilt a king sized quilt.

There are computer programs out there that will let you "build" a room and move stuff around in it. You might look into that - there are some inexpensive programs (about $10 at Half Price Books, I think), and you could play with different size rooms and see what they would look like.

I have a Gammill and the table is 14' long. Also there is a set of wheels on one end and a crank handle sticking out. I always have bruises from that. It sticks out about 6". I have 30 inches between that crank end and the beginning of my sewing table. Not enough. 36" on the front side of the table. I need all of that (i usually work from the front) and 40 inches on the back side. I would need more if I worked from that side. That's because the machine backs up into that walk area when you are quilting close to the pick up roller. Next week, I'm going to work on some tray type storage for my projects. I always have 8 or 10 going. ADD or ADHD i think. Since i'm on very tight budget, I plan to put masonite pieces on shelf spaces in my plastic shelving sections. I use the lids of banker boxes or under bed boxes to put the projects on. They will become the drawers that sit on the masonite pieces. I will set up a file with pictures for anyone who is interestd when i get it done.

I just setup my long arm this weekend. Minimum space for it would be 14' x 8'. And that is long arm only. If you are adding sewing machine, cutting table, etc. I think you want at least 14x16, probably 14 x 20.

Think about this.....could any room really be big enough !!!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean think of all the room you would need for just the fabric. Let alone a design wall, the biggest long arm you could find....and not to mention the HUGE cutting table, a computer, a TV, a large ironing board, at least 4 sewing machines , maybe a washer and dryer...a wet bar with coffee pot, microwave, popcorn maker, and a wine frig....now that is only the beginning......Let me wish anyway ;)

My new sewing room
 

My new sewing room is 15' x 30'. Seems very big but my goodness it is getting full. Have my long arm at one end, but also have a table that is 5' x 8' that we use for uphlostery and use it for cutting and underneath storage. Love that table but would have made it 3 x 5' if I had it to do over. Love my room to go out and just play with sewing & fabric. Go as big as you can. Good Luck

Measure the long arm, add a min. of 6 foot in length and wideth. this will give you a 3 foot walk space around the machine. My sewing area is the size of a 1 car garage. and is not big enough for my LA and everything else I have! LOL LA is in a seprate room with part of my stash. I have a min. of 2 machines set up at any given time. I figure I need at least 3 foot around any place I need to walk or roll my chair. DH built me counters the full lenth of the room on both sides I use part of it for my cutting table. I built myself a ironing pad that fits of the counter to. They are both mobil so I can move them anywhere or slide them behind a cabnet completly out of the way.Everything above the counter is open shelves filled with baskets, under the counter is sets of kitchen drawers and a couple of lg open spaces for storing anything large. As much storage as I have it is still cramped in there. Wish it were a 2 car garage size! LOL