Sue, I got a Juki TL98Q (9" arm) and a HandiQuilter II frame from Allbrands.com back in Dec. The machine, frame, and HandiHandles were $1500 with free shipping.

I've done 4 quilts on the setup, with the largest being queen size, and while the 9" arm does present some challenges when you have most of the quilt rolled up inside it, I've had pretty good success. And if you're going to do free hand designs, you can scale them to however much room you have to manipulate the machine.

Donna

Sue, I had a first-generation Handi-quilter, and found it very constraining. I do understand they have improved quite a bit.

Donna, if you get zippers for your leaders, you can turn your quilt when 1/2 way through. It gives you a bit more space.

Other than these two comments, I haven't much to contribute.

If you plan on doing lots of quilts, though, I'd suggest looking at at least a mid-arm setup, rather than a short arm.

Mary

I have the same Juki TL98Q on a Pennywinkle frame. The frame can be bought in two sizes, I have the king size. Kay/Quiltdiva has the same setup as me and has done 'millions' of quilts! LOL

I've done 10 or more quilts on this setup from baby quilt to almost King. Mostly I do meandering/stippling. I've tried straight lines and that'll take more practice.

As Donna said, there is a bit of challenge with a large quilt rolled up in the arm of the machine, but when meandering, it doesn't matter too much. I've added free-handed stars to quilts easily, hearts and flowers would be easy too. And pantographs can be adapted to the size as well. I've done my son's 2 Ispy quilts with boxey pantagraph with no problem.

I bought the frame new/used, and the machine from Ken's Sewing center for $900 I think... Reasonably priced and I've gotten a lot of use in the year I've had it set up!

I've looked at the Tin Lizzie at the shows and that 17" arm sure looks nice! But with that you have to also buy their frame (so they say). I've also looked at the Bailey's mid arm machine which can go on a variety of frames. (The only reason we didn't buy this is that DH was concerned about spending $$ on a quilting only machine...not sure if I would like doing it that much.)

Happy hunting!

Showing my ignorance here, but what constitues a mid arm? At what size is it a mid arm?

Thanks for the responses so far. I looked at the allbrands site...too much stuff...information overload. Thanks for helping me narrow things down.

Sue, I think anywhere from 9" to about 14-15" is considered a mid-arm machine, and anything over 15" is long arm. A quilt shop near me just got a 36" arm machine! I think it's a Gammill with a Statler Stitcher, and the thing must have cost around $30,000 I would think, maybe more.

Mary, I turned my queen size quilt 180 degrees to finish quilting it. My leaders are attached to the poles with Velcro so I just pulled them off with the quilt pinned on and turned it around.

Jennifer, the Home Quilting System Yahoo group recently had a discussion of the Tin Lizzie and they didn't seem to like it very much. I think the general consensus was that they vibrate a lot and are noisy. But I guess it's like most things - you get what you pay for! A $15,000 car isn't going to be as nice as a $50,000 one!

Donna

Hi Sue - I have the HandiQuilter 16 - a mid-arm. It has a hopping foot and does (I think) everything a long arm will do only with a 16" span - much more room than a regular machine set up on a frame, but less than the long arms - I think those start with 17" span. And even at probably half the cost of a long arm, you are still looking at well over $3K for a mid-size. Clear as mud??
Where is the San Diego quilt show??

I 'think' a short-arm consists of what looks like a traditional sewing machine with arms up to 9" (is the largest I've ever seen).

The mid-arm machines are like the Tin Lizzie, Bailey and others that you often see in the magazines. I think these are the ones you can put on any quilt frame purchased as a separate piece. These range up to 20-22" maybe.

The true long-arm machines are the huge industrials produced by Gammill, Nolting, and other names are escaping me at the moment. I'm not sure of their overall size, but know they come with professional setup and training, usually..

maybe others will add to this information...

This was my setup; I had a HandiQuilter I. I could do a king sized quilt on it. The table was 13 feet long and extended into our bedroom. I don't know if I'll go that big again - I don't plan on making any more that size. There is a quilt shop that rents time on their long-arm and if I should ever get talked into doing another king I'd just as soon go that route.

I have a New Joy frame with a Janome 1600 sewing machine on it. This system can be set up in various sizes (47, 76 & 105 inches). I leave my system set up to it's fullest capacity, I have quilted baby - queen size quilts; it has the ability to do a king but I have never made a king size quilt.

I purchased this system May of 2006 and paid about $2300. I have been very pleased with this system and would purchase it again. I would get rid of this system only if I was to purchase a true long arm. My only complain would be that I wished it had a larger throat capacity but it has stood up to all of my quilting regardless of sizes.

I have added a link for additional information.

Here is a link that might be useful: New Joy

Where do you keep these setups in your houses?
Kelly - NH

I know that many long arms are actually a waste of space if you will - your arms can only reach so far to where you can control the machine AND see what you're doing. Any further than the reach of your arms is worthless.

I can't speak of anything else. :D

My basement is 1600 sq ft my sewing/quilting set up takes up a bit over half of the room. I also store my fabric and other machines there also.

Marty

I have the same system that marty_mo has. I got it in November 2005 & set it up in my quilt shop in January 2006. It is a great system for the money. I got it from Ken's Sewing Center in north AL online. I had seen the frame at a local sewing shop. I paid $1698 plus tax & shipping at that time. But... I have a Gammill Classic Plus on order & it will be delivered on July 15!

noocha,
what frame are you going to use with your new Gammill.
Red

Hey Red. I tried to post a reply last night but my computer has lost its mind again.
Anyway, the Gammill machines all come with frames. The price you see is machine & frame. Their frame is real heavy duty. I'm getting the 12 foot one. You can look at them at gammill.net.

Sue, I have the HQ Sixteen with it pro frame. I have it set up in my dining room (we have yet to put furniture in there, so why not?) to its full king size capacity. I managed to get a great deal on this one. They are now coming out with the new model(They began to ship last month) so my LQS was upgrading to that and selling thier floor model at a discounted price. But still, it was a few more than $3K. The new ones sell for just under $8K I think.
I have quilted one twin size quilt on it so far, just meandering and am pleased with how extremely easy it was and NO BASTING OR PUCKERS!

Melissa

I have a BLQP (Baby Lock Quilter's Choise Pro) on a tabletop frame, a Quilt Easy 3. I have quilted 61 quilts on it. My machine has the 9" throat and my frame is no longer available. I have extensions for my frame to make it king size, but I have it set up for queen size all the time. I don't think I want to extend it to king size again.(having done it a couple of times).
The last quilt I did was a large queen and it was about a 1/2 inch wider than my set-up but I made it work.
A good friend has the HQ16 which has a 16" throat. I have used it and love it but it takes up more room than my frame.
Linda OH

Here's a link to mine. Have had it now for about 14 years...

Here is a link that might be useful: gammill mid arm link

My sewing room is a smaller sized bedroom. The closet extends into the room so to the right of that the room is a bit longer. So my setup extends in there along one side of the room. My other stuff fits in on the other side of the room.

hayden, how do you like your gamill? I've been thinking about that model for a while....any likes/dislikes you can share?

Thanks!

Kelly (Nebraska)

I had the HandiQuilter II set up with my Brother machine (has a 9" throat)and I loved it. I did upgrade to a Grace Pro frame because I had the space to have a permanent set-up and decided to go with that. I do like the look of the Gammil midarm set-up and I have a friend that is looking into a system and I will send her that link. That is a lot less expensive then I thought they were.

I would love to hear the pros and cons, also, Michele.

kelly, I like it. The only drawback is that you quilt from the back of the machine, where in the higher end ones they have controls at the "needle end" of the machine. If I had controls at the needle end, and could direct my quilting from there, it would be easier to do the complicated patterns. But since I quilt almost exclusively for myself, free motion stippling and meandering and loops work just fine for me. I have had absolutely no problems with this system. A good friend of mine also has this system, and she feels the same.

Hayden, is the 12' stand it comes on a frame or do you have to purchase that seperately?

that includes the 12' table. Its a nice wood and square steel tube frame, very sturdy.

So do most of you have machines that you can also take off the frame and use for sewing?

Yes. I could knock down my HQ. Most of the time my machine was on it's table.

Sue, I have the Viking Mega Quilter and Inspira Frame and I love it. We got it just before the New Generation Frames were coming out, so the whole setup was just under $2000. It can be set up at half width or full (120") which is where I have left it. It will do a king size--but I've never made one that big. I have done queen size with no problems and have gone as small as about 1 yard (for a purse) As the others have said, on bigger quilts you have to plan ahead for the smaller quilting area or simply turn it around. I read many postings on home quilting forums about different problems and was determined to not be frustrated with the learning curve. And I can honestly say the problems were absolutely minimal and I was hooked from the get-go. I'm still not a "pro" by any means, but I sure am enjoying it.

Linda

Abbigail~ We chose the Juki machine specifically for the reason that I could use it for standard sewing if I "didn't like the quilting frame" (DH's words!). It never comes off the frame though...sits there patiently waiting for me to finish a top.

You guys are going to kick me but I'm still thinking and researching the quilting systems. I'd like to know more about quilting designs in blocks or outline quilting (like you would do by hand) on these machines. I have read that on some of these you can only do up to a 4 or 5 inch area. Am I right on this? How could you fill in a block of 12 inches with one large design if the machine is restricted to a 4-5 inch area. I'm cornfused!!!!

For those still researching, APQS has a new "affordable" long-arm set up, the Lenni. It has controls both front and back, so you can quilt from either side of the machine.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Lenni at APQS

abbigail, you need to check out some of the yahoo quilting groups. the homequiltingsystems dot com is a very good one. Look back through the archives. Lots of good information. You have to join all of them.
It's true that the 9" machines will only do a 4 to 5 inch panto or area at a time. You have to roll to do the rest of a design in a 12" block. It can be done you just have to work at it.

Another question. Does anyone have the stitch regulator and do you use it? I have heard that once you get the hang of the machine you won't use the regulator. How about it ladies. Is it a waste of money to get it extra?