# Another question about long arm quilting machines



## Patches (Aug 9, 2006)

I am sorry to keep asking questions about the quilting machines, but don't want to purchase something I am not happy with. I found a Grace quilting frame, (which I think is really a great frame, from what I have seen of it).......but the machine it comes with is only a 9 x 6 throat. That sure doesn't seem like much, but my question is this...........
If I were to quilt say, a 96" quilt, I would roll it up and start in the middle, right? How big would the roll in the throat of the machine be? How much room would you have left in there to follow a template? Does this make sense to you long arm quilters? Would there even be enough room left to follow one of those designs, or would you only be able to do your own design because of the space? If any of you can understand what I am asking, could you give me some help here, before I make an unnecessary trip to look at this set-up. Thank you, and sorry for the unclear question!!:grit: Marilyn


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## Terri in WV (May 10, 2002)

How much room you have will depend on your batt and fabric choices, but no matter what you use you'll not have much room and you'll spend most of your time rolling the quilt. I have a fun quilter(18" throat) and I figured it would be plenty. After I got started I found how quickly it can go and wished for more room.


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## sunny225 (Dec 4, 2009)

Try this yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/homequiltingsystems/
They talk about all the different machine/frame combos you can think of.
I started out with a New Joy frame & a Janome 1600. I loved it! On the bigger quilts, I would quilt down as far as I could (till the roll was too big to fit in the throat of the machine), then unpin & turn it around to do the other end. Of course that meant having to quilt the pattern differently too.
Now we have the Gammill Classic. It has a 26 inch throat & costs about 6 times what the other smaller set up cost. Just depends on what you want to spend & what you need/want on your system.


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## BusyBees2 (Dec 10, 2004)

There are a lot of variables. What is the largest size you do most frequently?

I have a Juki with a throat space of about 9". I find I can do side-to-side pantographs the most easily. I can not do any custom work. The throat space doesn't offer me more than about 5" of space when things start to get rolled up. 

I can quilt a queen sized quilt using a side-to-side pantograph without too much difficulty and without starting in the middle. On a few I have chosen to do half and then turn it around for the other half. This is possible, but a pain. Any quilts smaller are much easier to handle, of course.

I would consider what size quilts you generally do and how you'd like to see them quilted. If you do larger quilts and like the look of custom quilting, the 9" throat isn't going to work for you. Buy the biggest throat you can afford. Although I'm glad I have what I have and can't afford more, it didn't take me long to learn the limitations and wish for more. 

Also consider who you are quilting for. Is it all just for you, or are you considering a business? Those may be factors from the financial side of things,.


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## CJ (May 10, 2002)

With a standard batting (Warm and Natural for example, available everywhere... I hate this stuff but it's very popular) and a quilt that large, the only way you'd have any quilting space left with a throat that size is to quilt it halfway, then turn it and quilt the other half. Even doing that at the center you'll be down to about 3 inches of quilt space... not enough to do much of anything other than a small stipple.

Turning a quilt is a fair amount of work, which is why longarmers charge extra for custom borders.


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