Spiderman was framed!

At the risk of sounding a bit boastful... (and like a cliche` 1960's cigarette add) "I've come along way baby!"  About 9 years ago when I thought I'd give quilting a try I had a sewing machine that only had 2 stitches; 'forward' and 'back-stitch'.  I bought it at Wal*Mart for $80.  I had a small bag of cheap cotton fabric and the only place I had to sew was the kitchen table which was a 32 inch round table in a cramped little kitchen.  To cut fabric for piecing I had to move the machine over to a chair, cut, then move it back to piece.  At the time, that worked out just fine for me.  Then a few quilt projects later amidst the comedy of basting quilts by hand on the living room floor (at times sewing them to the carpet by mistake) and wrapping them all around me to run them through my home machine to quilt them together, I had to find a new way.  I've gone through about 4 machines, broke a few with inexperience and burnt out a few others, and took over the new (dining room) addition on my house to be able to spread out a bit.  From there I started to get bored with quilting down the seams and began to free motion quilt (a la meander stitch) using my home sewing machine.  Worked fine for a few projects, but by that time I had my eye on something bigger and began to research long arm quilting machines and frames.  After having tried basting quilts by sewing them, pinning them and spraying them I was ready to try anything to never have to baste a quilt together again.  So my search began...

I found the research into long arm quilting to be a daunting task as there are so many choices and it's a bit like choosing between two luxury cars.  They'll all get you down the road and are both exceptional compared to your old clunker and you end up making your decision based on creature comforts and price.  This search was somewhat like that.  Every frame and long arm I researched had exceptional reviews by loyal quilters and it was quickly obvious that almost anything I chose would do the trick. 

In addition to price, for me the choice of which frame to purchase came down also to size.  A quilt frame takes up quite a bit of floor space. Unless you have a house with enough space to keep a 12 foot by 6 foot piece of unmovable quilt frame set up, chances are you don't have enough space to operate the machine as a King sized quilt frame. I've not had much call for king sized projects, however, I can't rule them out either.  So, I wanted the ability to have a frame that could potentially hold a quilt that is up to 120 inches wide but could also be set up in a configuration that can save space when working on baby quilts and twin sized projects.  There are two basic choices, aluminum or wood frames.  The aluminum frames mostly come with a fixed length of poles and can be set up in specific widths.   And example is the Baby Lock 'Pearle' frame (which given unlimited space and money would be my first choice) can only be setup in specific lengths, king sized, or twin sized.   So for me, having to have the frame set up for a King sized project to complete a queen sized quilt is a waste of space that I don't have.  Also, did I mention that you'd need to have unlimited space and MONEY?  Yes, these large metal frames without a machine on them can coast upwards of $10,000.  The Baby Lock frame came in at $8500.00 without a machine attached.  For me, I went with a wooden frame for under $1000.00.  It's entry level, I know, but there's more reason than price that I decided to go this way.  The frame itself technically does all the same things the more expensive metal frames do and it does something that they don't do... it scales!  Since the frame I purchased didn't come with poles to hold it together or to hold the quilt I can decide how long to make the poles depending on which size quilt I am working on.  I chose to set my frame up at 8 feet 6 inches, which is just barely large enough for a queen sized project.  However, if I need to change the size of the poles in the event that I complete my sewing studio in the basement sooner than expected and have more space all I need to do is go to Home Depot and purchase new poles which cost me under $8.00 each per 10 foot length.

Now, for the machine, I'd love to have a new modern long arm machine driven by a computerized system that quilts intricate patterns into your work while you stand there and take all the credit.  However, that type of system just isn't in the budget.  So I began to look for a second hand long arm and you would be surprised at just how few of them there are out there.  Apparently, people who make the investment into a long arm quilting machine tend to keep them or trade them in for the next generation machine.  The few I had found on eBay or other sites for sale were too expensive or in pieces.  Then I came across a deal from Hinterberg for one of their wooden quilt frames and a refurbished 17 inch Viking Voyager long arm machine.  The whole package with stitch length regulator; an addition that maintains the same stitch length regardless of the speed that you move the machine (a necessity for a beginner) for just under $4,000.00.  SOLD!!

I found that to purchase these high-end quilt systems, aluminum frame with a new computerized long arm machine could potentially set you back between $18,000.00 to $25,000.00.  Now, lets say you were to do this for a business, and lets also say that a queen size quilt top if you were to send it out to a quilter to complete for you would cost you an average of $250.00.. I can see  that this is an investment that would pay for itself very quickly even if you only completed one or two quilts a week.  Since this is my first foray into quilting on a frame, we'll stick to less lofty goals for now.

So where was I.. oh yeah.. Spider-man!  I had begun this project a long time ago for Jason as he had decided he wanted to change his room decor to super heroes.  I put it aside for a while because he keeps going from super heroes, to Hot Wheels, to muscle cars, to fire and skulls (don't ask!) and back to super heroes.  When I use licensed fabric (fabric that has characters that are trade marked, owned and released specifically for the fabric) I like to look for fabric panels.  This panel I found from one of my favorite online wholesale fabric distributors.  They're usually specific sizes, this one is just about the width of a twin sized bed, sometimes you can find them the size of standard pillow, you get the idea.  Pairing this panel up with a few other themed fabrics allowed me to build a very quick twin sized quilt top.

Piecing was extremely fast and easy, great project to use as a practice on the quilt frame.

The process of quilting on my new frame.. first the backing fabric is loaded.

Then quilt batting over that.. I'm also using this project for some research.  As part of the repair project that I'm working on our friends that owns the quilt requested some extra fluffy / high loft batting.  Since I typically use traditional cotton batting which is very thin I wanted to test out this super loft cotton on a project before I used it on hers.

You may not be able to see from this photo, but this batting is much loftier than what I use and is noted to be for use in quilted or tied quilts as well as what you'd find in a sleeping bag. I tried to show the height here...

 Last bit of setup is the quilt top itself.  In this photo I've put the batting and quilt top on the same pole, however, I will say that I've already realized the benefit of purchasing a quilt frame with a 4th pole.  That way you could purchase quilt batting in giant rolls and not have to place it on the same pole with the quilt top, which can be a bit bulky, and it also keeps it off the floor.  In this house anything that hits the floor that is soft and fluffy becomes a dog bed... it's their domain and I can't say that I blame them.  So here is the quilt top on the frame and ready to quilt...

Not extremely fancy quilting here, just meandering.. but getting used to the new machine and how it moves on the carriage and frame.  Using larger than usual motions in this project to allow the fluffiness of this high loft batting to show.

The finished quilt..

Not sure you can see the loft here.. fluffy and soft!

Although Jason was aware that this project was on the frame for him I surprised him with it when it was done by making his bed while he was in the shower.. he was very excited to see it.