How does the Longarm Quilting Machine work?
The longarm quilting machine is a high speed, industrial sewing machine that sits on a long table that has rollers attached to it; mine is 12 feet. The quilt top and backing are attached to these rollers by pinning them to canvas strips. This eliminates the need to baste the layers together. As you quilt, the separate backing, batting and quilt top layers are sandwiched together onto one roller. The machine itself moves easily and freely over the layers, with all movement controlled by the quilter. This is just the opposite of using the home sewing machine to quilt where the machine is stationary and you move the fabric layers. There is a wide opening, or throat area, leaving a large area in which to work. The quilter can operate the machine from both the front and the back. On the back side there is a flat area to place roll patterns, called pantographs. In this setup, a pointer light is used for the quilter to follow the lines on the printed pattern to set the design on the quilt top
