About Quilt Making Machines

Quilt making machines are known as "Longarm" machines. Longarm
quilting machines are used to sew together a quilt top, batting and
backing into finished quilt. They make quilting a much faster and
easier process than hand quilting or sewing machine quilting, but they are
very large and expensive.

Components

Longarm quilting machines consist of an industrial sewing machine
head, a table measuring 10 to 14 feet wide, several rollers on
which the quilt is placed and a metal frame.
Longarm quilting machines can be hand guided or computer guided and
some feature a laser pointer to help guide the stitches into patterns.

History

The first longarm quilting machine was invented in 1871 and could only
make parallel straight lines of quilting stitches.
Before electricity was widely available, longarm quilting machines
were operated manually with a hand crank.

Popularity

The invention of longarm quilting machines and their wide availability
has contributed to a resurgence in the popularity of quilting, as they make
the process much faster and easier.
Although longarm machines are expensive, quilters can take their
finished quilt top, batting and backing fabric to a professional
longarm quilter to be machine quilted.

Styles

"Pantograph" designs can be quilted with a longarm machine. These
designs span the width of the table and quilt and can be repeated in
rows.
Custom work designs are more consuming to quilt than pantograph
designs and consist of different individual designs in different
sections of the quilt top.

Cost

New longarm quilting machines typically cost from $10,000 to $30,000
and more for extra features. Used machines are cheaper and a good
option as they are built to last a lifetime.