dpsquilter Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 I am looking to puchase a longarm machine but am undecided as to the size of table that would be best. I am trying to decide between a 12 ft. or 14 ft. Any opinions or advice would be appreciated. Also, what is the largest quilt you have been able to do on a 12 ft. table. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Persephannie Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 I would say, go for the table that you have the room for. I have a 12ft table and it really needs about 16 ft of room space in order to me to confortably get around it. Right now it's actually diagonal in the room and pushed up against one wall. I've quilted a Queen size quilt on my, but another woman who has a 12ft table has quilted a king size (120"), but she said that it was tight. Keep in mind that you may not be able to use certain tools, like the HF and quilt a King size quilt on a 12ft table as the HF takes up extra space on the right hand side of the machine etc. If you are just going to quilt for yourself and don't have a king bed, then the 14 ft may not be necessary, but if you are planning on quilting as a business, you may not want to limit your customers. If you have the room for the 14ft, you shouldn't have any regrets. I hope that you get other opinions too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsbishwit Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 I have a 12ft table and quilt king size quilts all of the time, in fact one of my customers just dropped off one today. I will accept a king that is as wide as 114" so I will have enough space on my leaders to allow for the backking fabric without bummping into the clamps with my machine head. As far as the length of the king size quilt I will accept up to 118"-120" depending on how wide the pantogragh pattern they want stitched on the quilt to allow for the bulk that is rolled up onto the take up roller (with really long quilts my space can get limited because I own a Liberty which is a shorter machine head than the Millie or the Freedom). If you want to do king size beadspreads however(quilts that touch the floor) than you really need the 14 ft table. Hope this helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Beth Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 I have a 14' table for 4 years and have used most of the length - probably had about 4" on each end - once. I have had a couple of other really big quilts that came close, but probably would have fit a 12' table. I have room for a 14' table and I'm glad I have it, but it is not really necessary. However, if you ever have a customer with a huge quilt, and you don't have room to accomodate - you will kick yourself for not having the 14' table. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Crafty Unicorn Posted July 17, 2008 Report Share Posted July 17, 2008 If you have room for the 14" table, I'd go for it. They say a picture is worth a 1000 words... This quilt used every bit of my 12' table. I had to take off the HF and my tool shelf. It was so big that I could barely get to the right edge beacuse of the offset of the laser. Fortunately it was perfectly square and flat. (She is an amazing piecer) Any wobble in the edges would have put it off the machine. Another thing about the extra room would be having space to park the head for cleaning or fiddling while you have a quilt loaded. JMNSHO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.