The Joy of Quilting with Your Long-Arm Machine
63
KathyQuilts.com
Carriage -
The upper and lower carriage assembly is where the sewing machine rides on a
machine frame.
Domestic (Home Sewing Machine) -
Any sewing machine that is made for general sewing
in the home market. We often refer to these as short arm machines. This includes machines
with 10 inches or less of throat length. These machines usually run at 700 to 800 stitches per
minute.
Ease -
??????????
Floating a Quilt Top -
Floating the top means the quilt back may be pinned to the take up
rail, but the quilt top and batting are either pinned or sewn to the back.
Frame Backside -
Side that holds the sewing machine carriage or table side of your frame.
When you are using pantograph patterns or template guides, you will quilt from the back of
the frame. When you pin a quilt on your frame you will pin it to the take up rail from the back
side of the frame.
Frame Front -
The front of the quilting frame will be the one that allows you to be the closest to
the sewing machine needle. You can see your quilt best from this side of the frame.
Leaders -
Strips of fabric that attach to the frame rails (poles.) The quilt gets pinned to these
cloth leaders.
Long arm Machine -
Sewing machine head made to ride on a machine frame. Larger than
domestic sewing machines—these are generally made with over 18 inches of throat space.
These are usually found on commercial machine frames. These are much faster than a home
sewing machine because these are commercial machines.
Mid-arm Machine -
Machine head made to ride on a machine frame. Head usually has
between 15 to 18 inches of throat length. We classify the Block RockIt as a midarm because of
its 14.5 inch throat.
Pantograph Pattern or Panto -
designs that are followed with a stylus or laser to trace along,
usually on long rolls of paper—placed on the backside of the frame on most machine quilting
frames.
Press -
steaming/ironing seams in the correct direction that will allow your quilt top to lay flat
