ANY HELP FROM QUILTERS WOULD BE APPRECIATED I have my quilting longarm...for some reason I just can't get the hang of it or either its not really what I like....I should of gotten the computer one instead of hands on...

I got my longarm in 2006. Instructions were very limited, a few videos sent by the company. So I really taught myself. Remember when you first got your embroidery machine and how intimidated you felt. Give it time and practice and you will become a pro on it too.
I have an HQ16 - I do most of my work hand guided and occasionally use rulers or templates. I have only a few panto-graphs that I use.
I just finished two small quilts for the LINUS group. Join a group online that can answer many of your questions. Look at YouTube videos, take classes, practice on panel fabric, children's quilts, and scrap fabric. You can always cut the fabric into coverings for pet beds.
Make a effort to spend time with your machine daily. Look at it as a job to learn. Attend a local quilt guild where you might find someone who would be willing to teach you about your machine. I love quilting with a longarm. I can get more quilts done in a month than I could have done in a year. You just have to set your mind that you are the master and it is only a machine.

1 comment

by camylow 26 Aug 2013

thanks so much...I think I will try finding another quilter around to teach me...

i also wanted one and when i got mine i wanted to send it back!!!! you have to give yourself time,maybe 6 months.i have had mine for 6 years and some days i just want to slam it on the floor! but i get periods where i can do almost anything on it. first.....read all you can about your machine.second.....practice on pantographs for awhile. i did about 15 small pieces like wallhangings and nonpatterned fabric. i looked at youtube at the gammill site.the best advice i picked up is that if your machine is pulling up the bobbin thread the prob is in your tension.and that is why it is called tension,cause it makes you full of it. hope this little bit of info helps. private message me if you want.i have learned from my own experiences,but there are classes out there.on-line and in person.sincerely,lynne

3 comments

by ajmmjs 24 Aug 2013

oh, i forgot. when you do pantos run your finger over the pattern about 10 times. hand to brain comitment.

by camylow 24 Aug 2013

I have had mine for about 2 years or close...I think I have done 4 quilts top on it....there is one sitting on there for the past 4 months....well have no desire to finish it although it is one of my favorites....just got stuck in the process....my girlfriend comes over...she has a business but I am finicky and she doesn't really care....I like everything to line up straight and true and not be off anywhere...I think that is my main problem.

by ajmmjs 24 Aug 2013

oh yes it is! you can't be perfect! just go over a small bad place but never pull out all threads and do over. i have had that no desire feeling. especially after screwing up for months.give yourself credit for having a brain. set a time limit to work on it. i go by an hr if i am frustrated.but you would be surprised how much you can get done if you do an hr a day. keep trying,lynne

I have a longarm but not the computerized one. I quilt hand guided. Load yourself a sandwich and sketch something and try to follow it. Then try it without the lines. Look at some of the simpler meandering designs and try them. If it isn't for a customer then relax and not grip the handle tightly; just lightly and then have some fun. It comes to you; maybe not overnight. For fun don't look just quilt in your mind and then check it out. You are free to do some wonderful things hand guided.

1 comment

by camylow 24 Aug 2013

thank you...I guess I just worry too much...are the blocks straight in a row...how to start and not return to the same area...get somewhere on a roll and then forget the pattern and mess the whole style up...