Originally Posted by nursie76
Originally Posted by kluedesigns
i'm one of those people who have it, use it with success, and i've done king size quilts on it.
learning to quilt on a frame is completely different then sitting at your machine and doing FMQ.
just as you had to learn sitting FMQ you have to put in the time to learn FMQ on a frame, either flynn or any other brand.
i use this frame with a 5 inch throat and while i have limitations its not with the frame - its with the 5 inch throat machine.
if you baste your quilt and pull out the middle rod you have the ability to quilt 15 inches - so clearly a 12 inch block wouldn't be a problem if you have a machine with a large enough throat.
95% of the time i baste my quilt first, pull out the middle rod, and then i do the detailed quilting. this allows me to advance the quilt forward/back with the needle down to quilt a 12 inch design without having to cut the threads.
Do you mean you put the quilt on the frame and using the frame, machine baste, and then reroll the quilt on the frame pull out the middle rod and then do the actual quilting?
yes, that is the typical way i do it. it much faster and easier for me to machine baste than hand baste.
sometimes if i don't mind SITD on the quilt i'll do that and then pull out the middle rod and do the fancy stuff.
sometimes i'll use regular thread for machine basting and other times i'll use the water soluble thread - it just depends which will work best on that quilt.
if its a real fancy design that will cross over the basting stitches at numerous locations i'll use the water soluble thread. if i won't have many crossings of thread i'll use regular thread because its cheaper.
you don't have to wash the quilt to dissolve the water soluble thread - you can just spray it with water and let it sit for a few moments and it will dissolve.
its really fast to machine baste on the flynn i take stitches that are about 3 inches in size and its very easy to just cut the threads and pull them out at the end.