Originally Posted by sewingpup

If I am thinking right, a speed control would just be maintaining the speed of the needle going at a constant speed? When long arms first came out, there was no stitch regulation on them. You set the speed of the needle and went for it. You learned to move the machine at a consistent speed to match the speed of the needle movement. There is a learning curve to this. Interesting, an award winning long armer in this area (Karen McTavish) often will do her lovely free hand quilting with her stitch regular turned off as it actually gives you a more fluid movement as the machine is not trying to maintain the actual length of the stitch like it does with the stitch regulator on. She often encourages her students to try long arming without stitch regulation.