Rulers and guides for Long Arm quilting
02-08-2011, 12:29 PM
#11
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Madison, AL
Posts: 1,998
Originally Posted by suezquilts
I didn't read all the posts, but what I did was went to the glass specialists and had them cut me a few rulers, round ones for the center of feathers, and straight ones around 3 inches wide. I did this for a fraction of the cost, and then I went hog wild and purchased Gadgit Girls and several others.
Which I sold after I purchased the Statler... lots of $ invested in the rulers...
Which I sold after I purchased the Statler... lots of $ invested in the rulers...
02-08-2011, 12:34 PM
#12
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Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Madison, AL
Posts: 1,998
Originally Posted by candlequilter
Originally Posted by feline fanatic
The tool I find most helpful to a LA beginner is practice. I find the template tools just too pricey at this stage of the game. Besides I like the look of free hand guided. When I took delivery of my machine, I did spring for a straight edge ruler though. I think a straight ruler might be the most universal LA template.
I went to a 3 day longarm class thru my Gammill distrubutor and we did free motion and custom using basically easy things you would normally have at home as guides. The one I really liked was the 1 inch strip of tape that has about 1/8 or maybe 1/4 inch of foam on it and you tape it to your top and use that as a guide for your hopping foot. Great for doing cross hatch and etc. Plus you can reuse each stripe numerous times. We made a practice quilt top by having 9 squares that were 8 or 9 inches squares and 3 x 3 then in each of those squares you practice one little element like making little feathers, or the crosshatching, or taking a jar lid and stitching around it just to get comfortable making designs. Do you have micro handles for your longarm? They make alot of difference too.
Good luck,
Sherryl
Candlequilter
02-08-2011, 12:36 PM
#13
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Cashton WI
Posts: 1,125
Originally Posted by bamamama
Originally Posted by suezquilts
I didn't read all the posts, but what I did was went to the glass specialists and had them cut me a few rulers, round ones for the center of feathers, and straight ones around 3 inches wide. I did this for a fraction of the cost, and then I went hog wild and purchased Gadgit Girls and several others.
Which I sold after I purchased the Statler... lots of $ invested in the rulers...
Which I sold after I purchased the Statler... lots of $ invested in the rulers...
The glass guy made several circles, and 3X ? rulers. 3 inches seem to be the right size to hold onto. Check out my website, many of the photos are done free hand without the computer. The ones in the slideshows are mostly computerized.
02-08-2011, 02:15 PM
#14
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: Bucks County PA
Posts: 1,241
Originally Posted by bamamama
No micro handles, I'll have to look into that eventually, I am terrible at the really small stuff like stippling. I like the idea of using tape and other household items as guides. Just don't want to waste $$$ on things that I won't use. I am taking a class on feathers and drawing ALOT and practicing NON STOP! I love it!
I've found very few quilters in my area want who want me to do stippling; I think it's because they stipple their own quilts at home on their domestic machines. I've stippled less than 6 client quilts in 6 years of business, and I do hundreds of quilts. Most quilters here prefer a pretty freehand or custom.
The only quilters who have asked for miccro-stippling wanted it behind stars or NY Beauty blocks, or as filler behind applique. Since I micro-stipple so infrequently, I haven't bought the micro-handles.
It's easy to read all the longarm digests and websites and feel like you need every gadget and template and feature out there. But it's best to wait and see what your own particular style is, and then get whatever tools YOU need.
02-09-2011, 03:40 PM
#15
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: West central Illinois
Posts: 2,919
Originally Posted by feline fanatic
The tool I find most helpful to a LA beginner is practice. I find the template tools just too pricey at this stage of the game. Besides I like the look of free hand guided. When I took delivery of my machine, I did spring for a straight edge ruler though. I think a straight ruler might be the most universal LA template.
02-10-2011, 12:08 AM
#17
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Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Washington State
Posts: 1,312
Originally Posted by StitchinJoy
Originally Posted by bamamama
No micro handles, I'll have to look into that eventually, I am terrible at the really small stuff like stippling. I like the idea of using tape and other household items as guides. Just don't want to waste $$$ on things that I won't use. I am taking a class on feathers and drawing ALOT and practicing NON STOP! I love it!
I've found very few quilters in my area want who want me to do stippling; I think it's because they stipple their own quilts at home on their domestic machines. I've stippled less than 6 client quilts in 6 years of business, and I do hundreds of quilts. Most quilters here prefer a pretty freehand or custom.
The only quilters who have asked for miccro-stippling wanted it behind stars or NY Beauty blocks, or as filler behind applique. Since I micro-stipple so infrequently, I haven't bought the micro-handles.
It's easy to read all the longarm digests and websites and feel like you need every gadget and template and feature out there. But it's best to wait and see what your own particular style is, and then get whatever tools YOU need.
Thanks,
Sherryl
Candlequilter
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