Schill93

I just got my toes wet with free mothion quilting. Currently I am sewing on a very capable Babylock machine for piecing, but the 6 1/2" harp really has me strugling with the bulk. I know about table space, and that's a different issue. It's just I don't have enough room to move around for design.

I don't want to spend a lot of money on a machine as I'm no spring chicken (78) and don't have such a long life span ahead of me. The other thing that bothers me about the smaller machines is it is hard to see the quilt behind the body of the machine. So I thought the higher harp machines like the Juki 2010Q might help a little with that issue. But the width is only 8 1/2" I believe.

I have read just about every post on here about machines I think, but every time I look at one that someone talks about on here that has say a 11" harp width (whlich would be nice) it doesn't have the height that I like, and cost a whole lot more.

Is there such a thing as 11" harp width machine that has a 6" height as well, that doesn't cost an arm and a leg? I really don't want to have to spend more than $2,000 for another machine.

AprilM

I totally understand what you are saying... have you thought about maybe investigating a used sit-down long arm? My guess is that you might be able to find one more reasonably priced at a dealer who also sells longarms and may have a gently used one taken in on trade. Sometimes, like with sewing machine trade ins you can leave your name on a list of people to contact when something suitable is traded in. Just a thought... you shouldnt have to struggle doing what you love and gives you joy every day!

Tartan

​Unless you get one on the sit down long arm machines or similar, the throat space is limited on a sewing machine. I don’t know how large a design you want to do but you only need the space between your hands for FMQing.

KalamaQuilts

I'm not clear why you need to see the quilt behind the machine?
An alternative thought... you could get 11 king size quilts quilted here for 2000 dollars, 22 if you do them double sided like I do. So, many more than that if you make lap/twin size quilts. Just a thought.

I have a 11" harp, but my limit on doing my own quilts is 40 X 40 tops. And on any size harp I have found it much less stressful and easier to use straight line or increasing circles and my walking foot, not free motion wavy lines that require constant shifting.

nativetexan

some quilters on this forum do wonders with their quilts with regular sewing machines with small throat space. not me necessarily. But hopefully they will chime in here.

Macybaby

look at the industrial straight stitch machines - you might be surprised at what you can get for the $$$ if you don't need a lot of bells and whistles.

rusty quilter

I got to agree...I have an 11" harp, but the drag with larger than 40X 40 puts a whole lot of strain on my neck and shoulders. Anything over the size of a baby or lap quilt...goes to the long armer...and she does a wonderful job!

quilterpurpledog

I quilt all of my quilts on my Bernina machine which has a 7.5 ich harp. The key is to ditch stitch around every block or major element if you do not have blocks. Then, you never have more than half of the quilt scrunched (not rolled) under the harp and you are only working to quilt one small area at a time. I have done lots of queen sized quilts this way. I recently went to another workshop with my guilt and there were 3 longarmers there. The class was for using regular machines. When asked why they were there all three said they wanted more personal control and no computer generated patterns. That told me something important.....

Sailorwoman

If I were you, I would look at other methods of minimizing bulk when free motion quilting. I bought Marti Mitchells's book, Machine Quilting in Sections and I was able to free motion quilt a top that was just over 100" both ways on my domestic Juki using one of her methods. It was easy to do and that is a lot less expensive than buying a new machine.

Jingle

I made and a king sizes quilt about 113 x 117". by Marti Mitchell's book quilting in sections. Sewing the sections together was a bit challenging but it worked. I can quilt - FMQ a large double quilt on either of my 9" throat straight stitch only machines. Not a big struggle.