I haven’t bought one, but this thread is timely for me. I’m thinking about buying a sit-down long table mounted long arm. But I’m in a quandary of neurotic indecision. I don’t have enough room for a frame and even a table mounted long arm will require some serious decluttering and rearranging. I’m doing the decluttering (on the theory that it is good thing even if I don’t buy a new machine).

But I can’t decide if I will use the long arm enough to make it a worthwhile purchase. Right now I am quilting on a DSM with a 5.5” throat space. I probably average one quilt per month, from small wall hangings to lap size. I am currently quilting one that is 72” by 72”. I am limited in floor space for basting, which makes me think that no matter the machine, I am rarely going to quilt Queen or King size.

There is a learning curve that I never mastered with it. It's an older model single needle. If I were to buy a new one, I'd want the area around the needle protected some way. Mine does have this huge table that came with it which is nice support if you are doing a huge quilt.

I have to admit that hand quilting is my favorite thing to do. I sometimes combine machine quiting with hand quilting.

I use my Bernina or my old pfaff triptonic.

You are not alone! I either machine quilt using my Elna and a walking foot or I "quilt by check," taking my larger quilts to someone who has a longarm machine. Sometimes I quilt a larger quilt in sections which works OK for me, although I find it a lot of work to put the sections together. Whatever works for you is fine!

Neither do I.
Must admit I have a small fear of fmq on my regular sewing machine so I look for a long arm quilter in my area and pay to have it done.

You don't have to have floor space to baste a large quilt. I use this method https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPaI...7sDesignStudio

I also quilt my quilts on a Juki 2200 QVP Mini. It's not a long arm, but a machine with large throat space. So far the largest I've quilted was 60 x 90 on it but I had no problem doing that.

I did several on my regular sewing machine but it was straight line quilting with my walking foor. It did hold the quilt together and I am still using some of them and gave away others. But it was hard to do to manage the bigger quilts. So, I bought a midarm (Viking megaquilter) on a rather flimsy 10 foot aluminum frame. That was better but had serious space limitations by the time I got to the end of the quilt and the frame was sagging at the end. I did about 20 quilts on it and I had paid about 3 grand for the set-up. As the Megaquilter was a good straight stitch machine out of the frame, I kept the machine and trashed the frame. I think I just about broke even on that deal as I did get 20 quilts done on her and I had decided I just did not like getting on the floor to baste the quilts together and then to push them around on my sit down. So when I retired I got an APQS Lucey for about 11,000. So far, I have done 50 quilts on her in about 10 years. Now I have had some serious medical issues during that time that kept me away from quilting but, I have gotten all those quilts done. So I have spent about 220 per quilt so far with my investment in my machine. But I really think I have gotten my money out of the investment as quilting is what i do for fun. I choose to buy a longarm instead of going on a cruise or going to Europe or building a garage. Quilting is what I do for fun, I do not go out to eat often even before the pandemic, I have had friends come for a quilting week several times, I showed some friends how to use my longarm. I don't gamble, I don't drink, I don't smoke. I don't buy designer clothes. Yeah, quilting is an expensive hobby but I have gifted quilts to my whole family that I have made start to finish. Now, I am not a skilled long armer and have sent a few very special ones out for custom quilting that I can not do. Do I regret my decision to get the longarm. Nope, no way, It was a good one for me. However, if you are thinking of doing it, try it before you do as many shops let you rent time on one. My little midarm one let me know, I could longarm and liked it enough to spend the bigger bucks on my bigger 26 inch Lucey on a 12 foot frame.

Thanks for the link to that video. I have done something like that with pin basting in the past, when I had a table like that stored under my bed. One tip: tape a toothpick at the mid point of each side of the table so that you can feel the center of the table even with the sandwich on top.

I have used my quilting table (which opens to about 60” x 40”) to baste in sections using commercial spray baste. However, my preferred spray baste is the homemade one (flour, salt, water, alcohol) but it has to dry for a couple hours after you baste the backing before you can baste the top, so it doesn’t work for any method that requires basting in sections.

Sewingpup: Thank you for sharing your thought process. Whatever I get - DSM with a larger throat or table mounted long arm — is going to be expensive. But I am mostly retired and sew every day, so the upgrade is probably worth it.

"One tip: tape a toothpick at the mid point of each side of the table so that you can feel the center of the table even with the sandwich on top."


SUZSLO, thank you for that toothpick tip. Never thought of that. I have marked my table, but that mark gets hidden with the first layer.