The rise of technology in the various scenes of everyday living has really given a huge boost in the propagation of the entire human race. Basic concepts and principles have been aptly modified in order to cope with the changing of times. This modification has also led to the improvement and increased efficiency of most of the practices in varying industries and trades. Let’s knock on the door of a growing method as far as popularity is concerned. Let’s go neo quilting.
Quilting has been vastly improved via the appearance of a certain method called longarm quilting. This involves a process wherein a longarm sewing machine is utilized to sew or patch together a quilt top, quilt batting, and quilt backing into a shining finish of quilt top. The machine which has a length of about ten to fourteen feet usually consists of a common industrial sewing machine head, a foot table of ten to fourteen feet length, and rollers that serve as fabric placement. The most significant feature of the longarm version is that less time is needed in order to complete the process.
It was the birth of the sewing machine that triggered the existence of an idea about having a specific quilting machine. It arrived in 1871 as a quilting frame and machine as having a pair of bars that facilitated for the quilting process resulting into straight and parallel lines on the fabric. It was in 1877 that the design jumped into a more similar form with that of the modern-day quilters which are identified nowadays as the longarm quilting machine. Since during that period electricity was not around, the user manually operated a crank to start the machinery and the quilting process.
Three decades passed by and the quilting machines took even larger strides in terms of design and patent changes. Even though there are lulls such as the Depression era which brought about the decrease in the use of sewing machines en route to a shift of support towards hand sewing, these machines were able to stand their ground. Upcoming and fresher designs were even circulated to further raise the popularity of such machineries.
Quilters have found it more convincing and comforting to side with longarm quilters during the past years mainly because the quality of the quilt top finish has drastically reached new levels. More so, quilters do not have to undergo a process which is considered by many as time-consuming specifically when the traditional methods were utilized.
Long arm quilting has also allowed for an extended network of the trade as professional longarm quilters can be depended on for services finishing quilt tops. The easy access, quick operation, functional improvements, and economical benefit have really boosted the acceptance and support of the quilting art in general.
There are two ways in which style is crafted using the methods and efficiency of long arm quilting. The first one is identified as the pantograph. The pantograph design is placed underneath a plastic layer on the table. It is then traced using the laser that is equipped on the machine head. This design usually has the same length as the quilt and can undergo repetition in rows so as to come with a certain all-over design on the quilt top.
Another type of longarm quilting is called custom work. This is tapped on occasions when the quilter desires quilt blocks to have individual designs per block or area of the quilt. This version is more time expensive and time-consuming as compared to pantograph. Moreover there are some instances when additional resources and working time is demanded.
