If you haven’t already heard, we have a longarm (and upholstery machine) available for rent! The machines are here in the shop, and we have appointments open whenever I (Sarah) am here. This guarantees you’ll have all the hands-on help and undivided attention you may need. If you’re interested in setting up an appointment – or you already have – this post is for you!
Our Machine Capabilities
We have a Block Rockit 14+ on an 108″ frame. What does this mean for you?
- Frame is capable of holding a queen-sized or smaller quilt
- Built-in stitch regulator ensures an even stitch, no matter how fast or slow you move
- Manual operation allows for complete control over the quilt design
- Laser pointer equipped for pantographs
- Ruler bed equipped for ruler-work quilting
What You Need to Bring
Bringing everything you need when you first come in will help the process go smoothly – but not to worry – if you forget something, we have a lot of great local quilt shops nearby!
Make sure to bring:
- Your completed quilt top, squared
- Your batting (we prefer Warm & Natural, but any quality batting will do!), at least 3″ larger than your quilt top on all sides
- Your backing, at least 3″ larger than your quilt on all sides, squared
- Machine quilting thread (our machine works really well with Gutermann, Mettler, Signatures, and Glide), both spools and cones will work
You may want to bring:
- Marking tools (not necessary, but helpful for complex designs)
- Thread snips (not necessary – we have scissors here, but it seems a lot of folks prefer their own!)
- a drink or snacks if you’ll be working on a large/complex project
What To Expect
When you get here, we will set you up at a side table to get everything in order (and prepare yourself mentally if you need, but we promise it isn’t as scary as you think). Although your first experience will be a little easier if you’ve done free-motion quilting before, it isn’t necessary to have any experience. We will walk you through everything and will assist you in any way we can.
We will show you what the controls on the machine do, and then help you mount the quilt on the frame. We will walk you through every step, and if you’re not comfortable trying to mount the quilt your first time, that’s okay! We can do it for you and explain what we’re doing the whole way.
Once everything is mounted on the frame, you’ll be ready to quilt. If you’re new to quilting, a meander is a great place to start! Meandering is quick and extremely forgiving as the pattern is as random as you want it to be. If you’re concerned that you will “mess up”, you can pick a thread color that is close to the color of your quilt. We can help you advance the quilt, thread the machine and thread the bobbin.
As you quilt, you will have to advance the rollers. We can help with this too! To summarize, we can do everything for you except the actual quilting part – that’s hopefully why you’re here in the first place! If you’re familiar with longarm quilting or want to do it all yourself, we are more than happy to teach you how.
Setting up an Appointment
If you haven’t already, give us a call to set up an appointment to use the machine. We are typically scheduled out only about a week or so, but the colder seasons seem to be more busy. A good rule of thumb is to give us a call and make an appointment as soon as you decide when you would like to come in. If you have to cancel for some reason, that is okay! Just give us a day’s notice if that happens – there’s no cancellation fee.