I have really struggled dragging a large quilt under my little home sewing machine and FMQ had become my least favorite part of quilting.

I found a LQS that will let you rent their longarm for $20 an hour after taking a class. So today I took the class and played on their Gammill longarm. It was so much fun!!! What a joy!

I have reserved the machine for Thursday morning and I plan on FMQ a lap size quilt.

I will never go back to using my home machine for quilting. After I have done 3 - 4 quilts free motion, the store will teach me to use pantographs.

One question, does anyone know if you can use monofilament thread on a longarm for applique?

Elise

I have heard of a few people using some type of 'invisible'thread. One lady on my Gammill group says it it not made for long arms. The thread gets too hot and it 'burns' a groove in the tension disks. I would ask where you rent. My favorite 'go to' thread is Permacore. Its sturdy, comes in lots of colors and is not pricey. I also like So Fine for the bobbin..and sometimes for top thread if I need some thing finer. Congrats and have fun!

Glad to hear you liked renting a LA. One of our LQS also rents time but I haven't gone there yet.

One question I have is if you have a sore back or arms from moving the machine around? I'm out of shape and wondered if I would be sore from all that movement.

I worked with the longarm for just under 2 hours and I did not notice any stiffness in my back or arms. The machine felt light and moved easily.

The store did not know if monofilament thread would work in their longarm. They told me to give it a try, so I made up a sample to test out tomorrow.

Thanks for the replies.

Elise

How lucky for you that you have a place you can rent a long-arm so close. I took a class at a shop that's about 2 hours away. It'd be worth it if I wanted to rent it for an entire day but I don't know if I'd be able to handle it for that long. I'm still dreaming about a sit-down Sweet 16 or something similar that I could have in my sewing room and wouldn't take up so much room.

I understand (not from personal experience) that you can use just about any kind of thread on the Gammill long arm machines. A tension adjustment may be necessary is all.

Okay, you were the tie breaker. One of my friends loved renting and one didn't care for it at all. I'm going to give it a try. I really do think I will enjoy it.