dgmoby

There is actually a man, who I believe is very disabled, who takes regular machines and stretches them into small-armed longarms :) He has quite a little following going on, and is very sucessful at this. I can't remember his name...but I've seen him all over the 'net and he has his own website also. Tell your hubby to hurry up!!! People are waiting :) LA's really are very expensive for the amount/type of materials - in my opinion...which I consider valid since I bought one too!

Debbie in Austin

GiGi

The Janome 6600 has the feature to wind a bobbin while you sew. GG

missbelle

I remember the National two-spool machine. My grandmother had one. I sewed on it when I was not big enough to sit in the chair alone.
I have looked far and wide and a person who has one will not turn alose of it.
msbelle

missbelle

Debbie, when you see the info about the man who extends sewing machines to long ones, please get the info and put it on one of the forums on this site. misbelle

Rose Marie

There is a long arm sit down machine called George but you cant do pantograms and programed designs with it.

Bev

I would wish for a better light if I only had one wish. My second if I had two, would for sure be a larger area to accomodate at least a lap size quilt.
The light on my newest Janome is so dim I had to buy a small lamp to attach to the machine. The salesman told me it's a special bulb that looks dimmer but casts a better light. That's a lot of BS, it casts hardly ANY light.



:-( :-(

IrishNY

We have lots of people on this board. Maybe if we wrote an open letter listing the things we want that we've mentioned and posted it with the addresses of the machine companies, we could flood them with letters. That would be far more effective. We could just ask people to use the template letter, add their name and address and mail. Large quantities always get noticed.

Bev

[quote=fabric-holic][quote=IrishNY
Who has a handy husband who can build these?[/quote]


I have an adorable husband. But not a "handy" one.
However I think I'll keep the one I've got and just hire a handy one.

8-)

Lostn51

I have his how to PDF on my lap top. If I can ever slow down enough I was going to find an old Japanese 15 and make it. But you only need one machine and you use a piece of pipe (Schedule 80) for the arm.

There is quite a lot of machine work that goes into making one so if your hubby has access to a machine shop then it is very doable. My neighbor own the largest Machine shop in this part of the country so when I have to fab something crazy up for one of my cars I always go to his place and use his stuff!!:mrgreen:

Do a search on "The Purple Monster" and you should be able to find it.

Billy

dunster

My Bernina 440 has most of these features, not the bobbin-running-out alarm, but I can tell a difference in the sound when the bobbin runs out. I usually ignore it and pretend that I still have thread, but I realize that's just crazy.

The true longarms use bigger bobbins, size M, and they do hold a lot more thread. I have started using Bottom Line more in my sewing machine's bobbin, and I can finish a large lap quilt easily on 2 bobbins, with no lint.

Don't forget that a longarm is much more than a sewing machine with a longer throat. The frame holds the quilt and the machine moves. And $20,000 is almost double what you have to pay for a very good one.