Several months ago I set out to learn long arm quilting. My motivation: I’m terrible at quilting on my home machine! I haven’t gotten much out of quilting in a straight line, and after much struggle with free motion, I managed to get my machine into the repair shop.
My first break for us with a long arm came when a friend offered to let me use her machine. It was all game and loopty-loops, but it was fun! I loved driving the giant machine over the top of my quilt and watching with pleasant surprise as my quilt was completed in a matter of hours. And even though it wasn’t fancy, I loved the end result because I made the entire quilt myself.
I got hooked! But how do you continue with long-arm quilting? Borrowing a machine every time was not going to be realistic. And while I hope to invest in my own machine one day, buying a long arm isn’t in my immediate future either.
With a bit of research, I found a few options in my area to rent time at a long arm. And I loved it immediately. It’s any quilter’s dream studio complete with beautiful light, open designer walls, huge cutting tables, an assortment of home machines and of course a long arm quilting machine.
To use the long arm there, as with many places, you need to take a class and successfully quilt an entire quilt. The class covers the basics of running your big beautiful long arm, including how to load the quilt and the basics of free motion quilting. The cost of the class also includes 2 hours of quilting time to complete that first quilt. Once the course and quilt are complete and approved, you will be certified to use the long arm.
Since my certification I have used the long arm for various quilts, every time I keep learning, I keep playing, I keep ending up with something I love because of the experience of making it. I know I’m only at the beginning of my longer journey to develop my skills as a quilter, and I’m excited to keep going, enjoying every step of the way. One of my favorite parts of using the longarm is the experience of finishing my own quilt from start to finish.
I encourage anyone who is curious about using a long arm to go out and give it a try. There are many quilt shops and companies that offer long-arm machine training and allow you to rent the machine to finish your quilts.