Watson

There is a group on Facebook called Simply Sixteen Quilters that is all about this set up with the Little Foot frame. They'd likely love to answer any questions you have, if you're on FB.

I've looked at this set up too, and I've looked at the Studio frame and I would be tempted to go the Studio way, because I do have the space, but the Little Foot sure looks interesting.

Watson

Quiltngolfer

I have it, but I bought the Studio Frame and set it up as 8' frame. It is so awesome! I just love it. I bought some of the groovy boards and just took off. It is so easy! The stitch regulation is wonderful on it.

Cari-in-Oly

I have the studio frame set up at 8' too, although I have an Avante.

Cari

Helen S

About 3 weeks ago, I bought this frame with the Baby Lock logo on it along with the Baby Lock Coronet, which is exactly the same machine and frame as the HQ Simply Sixteen and Little Foot frame, and all are made by HQ. I am not impressed with the frame.

I should now tell you that I previously owned an HQ Simply Sixteen and the 10 foot Studio Frame, but had to sell it due to moving into a smaller home and don't have as much space as I had in our other home.

So, here's my take...

Pro's:
It's a great size if you haven't got space for a larger set up.

Con's:
If you have previously owned a regular long arm setup, this is probably not going to make you happy.

I find that the clamps are very difficult to place and remove, the areas that have been quilted must be rolled up and held in place with what appear to be channel locks, which are also very difficult to use, the clamps, if not exactly placed, drag on the machine bed, we had to set the bar side pieces one notch higher than the book says to put the, because the bar was dragging on the machine bed.

When we tested one in the shop, it worked perfectly, but after getting mine all set up, in hindsight, have discovered that, in the shop, they had placed a quilt sandwich onto the frame and the backing fabric went completely side to side. This is not representative of how one would load a quilt onto a long arm frame. The fabric must reach side to side enough to clamp onto the side bars as well as top and bottom, which means you must use an excessive amount of fabric for your backing to make things work properly. You also have to make your quilt sandwich before placing it on the frame. What's the point in having the frame is you have to go to all this work beforehand and during the quilting process? It has taken the joy out of quilting for me.

I have a call in to the shop to change out my frame to a regular frame and will just set up half of the frame for the space I have. I should have done that in the first place, and will probably have to pay a restocking fee, but so be it.

Overall opinion: I have used the Little Foot frame twice in the 3 weeks I've had it, once to play and once to quilt a baby quilt. I'm sorry to say that I dislike it enough that I won't use it again.

cathyvv

I suspect that the Little foot frame would be an extremely tight fit in 1 6'x6' space UNLESS you never have to get behind it for any reason.

Had a HQ16 for years, no stitch regulator, on a frame and with the pc quilter. The HQ16 was a work horse, never had a problem with it, never had it professionally maintained - DH is the handy type, and very carefully cleaned and oiled it as necessary. The computer the pc quilter was on was failing so I replaced the system with a Qnique 21. It works well, but I do miss the HQ16.

The only thing negative I can say about the HQ16 is that the user manual was way too thin. It covered the basics, but that is it. That is probably so that you will take it to be maintained professionally, but those machines are heavy to cart around. Perhaps they want to make house calls.

However, if you are the handy type, you can find videos on you tube these days that explain most maintenance issues and how to handle them.

Please note that un-clamping the quilt and turning it around will work with some motifs/pantos, but for others it will mean turning the motif/panto around, too. There is always some new challenge awaiting, right?

Brook

I have one and find it stitches well. I love the stitch regulator. I didn’t have the space for a full size frame. I’ve quilted three quilts on it got easier to move the quilt around each time. Rolling a king size quilt tight enough to fit on top of the back bar is hard and frustrating but can be done. If I had the space I would have bought a regular frame. The one thing I hate to do is sandwich a quilt and you definitely have to do that well using the Little foot frame.

pchp

I have the Baby Lock version (Coronet) and have now done 6 quilts on it; the largest is 80 x 80. Certainly I like it best when the quilt doesn't have to be moved from one side to the other. However, I don't have room for a larger frame. My feeling when I purchased and still is that I prefer moving the machine to moving the fabric, so this was a good choice for me.

Pros: moving the machine, not the fabric; fits in the space I had available

Cons: I still have to pin-baste; I don't have a programmable pattern availability

I just received the ruler base as a gift, but have yet to try it out or to purchase rulers.

Hope this helps. If you have more specific questions, please post them!