George Videos

[Gregg1969]

I am seriously interested in a George machine for free motion work. I was wondering if there are any video clips out there of it in operation, so I can get a better idea of the machine set up and operation. There isn't a dealer in my immediate area, and I really don't wish to drive 50+ miles jsut to see a machine work unless I know I will be purchasing it.

Thanks!

[Beachside Quilter]

Hi:

On the APQS home page, choose the tab "Quilting Machines", then scroll down to "watch videos", under "Gone Quilting with Fons & Porter", choose "Dawn Cavanaugh", then a subtopic appears that you can choose the "George" segment. The "Ricky Tims" segment also features "George".

Happy viewing!

Vickie Oliver

Beachside Quilter

APQS Rep SW FL

[Sheri Butler]

Below are 2 video clips on youtube you may want to watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch#playnext=1&playnext_from=TL&videos=RFx60wWIVRY&v=-DCb2fHMN3Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch#playnext=1&playnext_from=TL&videos=um8HxhKFkLU&v=yoSHo-2LAC4

[Gregg1969]

Awesome! I am getting more interested.......

Thanks for the quick responses! :cool:

[snowquilter]

Hi Gregg,

Are you planning on attending any quilt shows, this year? George is at most of the larger shows, maybe one in your area. Then you could multi-task---see the quilts, see all the newest quilt stuff, test-drive the George....buy the George:D

Glad you're interested!

Claudia C. Myers

[Gregg1969]

Claudia:

I am planning to attend the Intenational Quilt Fesitival in Rosemont, IL in April, and I know APQS has a booth there, so hopefully I will get to test drive a George. Rosemont is only 3.5 hours north of here (I am in Springfield), so hopefully things will work out. The closest APQS dealer to me is over 3 hours away, but that is life I suppose.

I currently use a Baby Lock Quilters Choice Professional, but 9 inches to the right of the needle pales in comparison to 20 inches to the right of the needle. My free motion skills aren't the best right now, but I am getting better at it with practice. I'm driving myself crazy thinking about all of the feathered borders and wreaths that I want to do!

[Mrs.A]

Hi Gregg:

There was no apqs dealer in Arizona when I was looking at machines. I bought my George without ever sitting and sewing at one but I was proficient with free motion on my Brother and Bernina so I figured I could handle it.

There was a bit of a learning curve mostly regarding tension adjustments....I was too timid after years of indoctrination NOT to touch the bobbin tension. I had to get over that in order to use a variety of threads on George. Now we are the best of friends and I've had some show success with quilts that were quilted on George.

I was also concerned that there were no apqs service technicians in my area but here's what I have learned on that score: George is a wonderful machine because he is built for one purpose...free motion sewing. He's not trying to be all things to all people like my friend's expensive Bernina 830! When I did have issues (adjusting the height of the hopping foot or thread breaking) I received excellent help on the telephone from Amy at apqs in Iowa (how patient she is!!!) and by email from the wonderful Dawn Cavanaugh herself. I've also learned a lot in the last 2 years from this forum. A LOT! And I've met other George owners who have been friendly, helpful and frankly inspirational. I understand that apqs offers excellent maintenance seminars at the larger quilt shows so that is in my future as a just-in-case.

The 20 inches of throat space has made me a better push-through quilter...greatly reducing problems with drag when a large quilt gets hung up in a smaller machine. With a few extra tools & modifications, you can use George with any kind of thread for quilting and thread painting.

If you have any questions that George owners can answer, I'd encourage you to post here in the forum. So many talented and helpful people here. Wishing you the happiest quilting possible, Nancy in Tucson

[Gregg1969]

Nancy:

Adjusting the bobbin tension is something that I have yet to do, as I have not found it necessary on my Babylock. However, after reading Heirloom Machine Quilting by Harriet Hargrave, I feel confident in adjusting my bobbin tension, should the need arise.

When I started off on this quilting journey 3 years ago, I bought a basic Singer from Joann Fabrics. I was relieved to see that it had automatic tensioning on it, as tension was something I didn't want to deal with. However, after 1 year of frustrating quilting on it, I decided to purchase the Babylock Quilters Choice Professional, and one of the very first things my dealer instructed me on was tension adjustment. It was a little intimidating at first, but after playing with different threads and tensions, I look back and think "what was the big deal?". It is just a knob; it won't bite! The only time I really need to adjust it is when I go from 50wt cotton thread to .004 invisible thread for when I quilt.

It is nice to see so many people offering advice out there. What a great online forum! :cool:

[Neher-in-law5]

Welcome Gregg, when you choose to get George, I am sure you will truly enjoy him. I have had mine a few years now, but haven't had a lot of time to work on him. The tension adjusting is really pretty easy. And as you can see, there is great advice on this forum. My first help request post was at night around Thanksgiving one time. The answer came quickly from Sue in Australia. Can't beat that.