What is Longarm Quilting? A Guide to our Longarm Quilting service

Bernadette Hoy
3 hours ago
4 min read

Many of you know we have a BERNINA Q24 with QMatic in the Sylvania store.

This gives us the knowledge to be able to sell and support the BERNINA Q series on frames or sit down tables and the QMatic. In addition, this also gives us the ability to offer a longarm quilting service to you all.

Longarm quilting is a specialized quilting method that uses a large machine to sew together the three layers of a quilt—top, wadding, and backing—allowing for intricate designs and faster completion of large projects.

At My Sewing Supplies, we offer a long arm quilting service. We offer both edge to edge and custom quilting. The machine is based in our Sylvania store, however we have patterns and threads in Lindfield and do pick up and drop off quilts through the Lindfield store.

Edge to Edge Longarm Quilting

Edge to edge quilting is when one quilting pattern is repeated all over the quilt. It is sometimes known as continuous quilting or pantograph. This is the most affordable quilting service.

There is currently a 10-12 week wait on edge-to-edge quilting. We always recommend booking your quilt in as you are still working on it to limit the time it takes us to quilt.

There is a minimum quilt charge of $80 regardless of size, as each quilt requires standard set up and completion time.

The quilting charge is calculated at

$5/sq foot for simple designs

$6/sq foot for medium designs

$7/sq foot for dense designs

Custom Longarm Quilting

Custom quilting is when the machine is manually driven to stitch different quilting designs into different areas on the quilt. The block backgrounds may be different to the borders, that are different to the sashing, applique items may be outlined etc. This is a very time-consuming process that also requires a lot of skill and years of practice.

Our fees for custom quilting are:

Simple Custom quilting $15/sq foot

1-2 thread changes

outline blocks/details

General light background fills, meander, etc

Single / normal wadding

Design time usually less than 30 mins

Stitching time usually less than 1o hours

Medium Custom Quilting $18/sq foot

Multiple thread changes

As above for simple quilting and...

Stitch in the ditch, outline applique, ruler work, more complex background fills

Single/normal wadding

Design time usually about 60 mins

Stitching time usually 10-20 hours

Heirloom / Show Custom Quilting $22/sq foot

Multiple thread changes

As above for medium quilting and...

Heavy detailed custom quilting, gridding and marking specific designs pre quilting, tying in and burying threads

Complex/double wadding

Design time usually about 60 mins

Stitching time usually more than 20 hours

There is a 6-12 month wait on custom quilting. We always recommend booking your quilt in as you are still working on it to limit the time it takes us to quilt.

Basting

We also offer a basting service. Quilt basting is the process of attaching the three layers that make up a quilt (i.e. the quilt sandwich) together to ensure they stay put for the next step, which is machine quilting or hand quilting.

Unless you are planning to have your quilt quilted professionally by a longarm quilter (ie us), then basting a quilt is absolutely necessary. It is the only way to ensure the three layers will stay put when you quilt them. If you do not want to pin or baste yourself, we can do that for you.

Basting is charged at $3/sq foot and usually is a 3 week turnaround.

Additional Services/Costs and things to know

Binding

We can add binding to a quilt for an additional cost starting at $4/ linear metre.

(We attach your binding to the front of the quilt while it is still on the frame)

To minimize your expense, we ask that you have your binding cut / joined / ironed in half lengthways with the wrong sides together.

If we need to iron your binding in half it is a further $2/ linear metre

If we need to make, cut and join your binding it is a further $3/ linear metre

If you would like your binding hand sewn to the back of the quilt it is $15/ linear metre

Joining

If we need to join your backing there will be a $10 per seam charge.

If your backing is not large enough, we will charge you for the fabric to increase the size as well as the time to sew these to the edges of your backing.

If your wadding is not large enough, we will discuss with you whether we need to join a piece to it or charge you for new wadding.

Wait time

Our wait time is listed above under each category, please note we get very busy towards the end of the year, and these times stretch out further.

Custom Quilting spots are also very limited with only 12 positions a year.

Show Quilts need to be booked 12 months in advance and received a minimum of 3 months prior to the deadline.

Preparation

Your quilt back and wadding need to be 20cm larger than your quilt top (10cm either side). Eg if your quilt measure 150 x 170, your wadding and backing need to be 170 x 190

Your binding needs to be 50cm longer than your quilt outer measurements.

Excess threads should be trimmed from the quilt top.

We hope this gives you some insight into our longarm quilting service and process :)

For any questions and enquiries phone us at 02 9522 2340 or send us an email info@mysewingsupplies.com.au

We hope this is helpful to explain the process.

Here is some of the beautiful work from both edge to edge and custom longarm quilting.