Several months ago I set out to learn long arm quilting. My motivation: I am terrible at quilting on my home machine! I haven’t gotten much out of straight line quilting and after much difficulty with free motion I managed to get my machine into the repair shop.

My first opportunity for us with a long arm came when a friend offered to let me use her machine. It was all gaming and loopty-loops, but it was fun! I loved driving the giant machine over the top of my quilt and watching in pleasant surprise as my quilt completed in a matter of hours. And while it wasn’t fancy, I loved the end result because I made the entire quilt myself.

I got hooked! But how do you continue with longarm quilting? Borrowing one machine at a time was not going to be realistic. And while I hope to invest in my own machine one day, buying a long arm isn’t in my immediate future either.

With a little research, I found a few options in my area to rent time on a long arm. And I loved it right away. It’s any quilter’s dream studio complete with beautiful lighting, open designer walls, huge cutting tables, a variety of home machines and of course a long arm quilting machine.

To use the long arm there, as in many places, you must take a class and successfully quilt an entire quilt. The class covers the basics of how your big beautiful long arm works, including how to load the quilt and the basics of free-motion quilting. The cost of the class also includes 2 hours of quilting time to complete that first quilt. Once the course and quilt are complete and approved, you will be certified to use the long arm.

Since my certification I have used the long arm for various quilts, each time I keep learning, I keep playing, I keep ending up with something I love because of the experience of doing it. I know I am only at the beginning of my longest journey to develop my quilting skills, and I am excited to move forward, enjoying every step of the way. One of my favorite parts of using the long arm is the experience of finishing my own quilt from start to finish.

I encourage anyone curious about using a long arm to get out there and give it a try. There are many quilt shops and companies that offer training on longarm machines and allow you to rent the machine to finish your quilts.