Long Arm Fun at the Festival

Emily Milne and George Franklin setting up the JUKI QVP 2200

 The Festival of Quilts 2015 was our best ever! We had a brilliant stand this year with lots of room for our new JUKI QVP2200 machines. Emily and George were the JUKI QVP2200 team. QVP stand for Quilt Virtuoso Pro. This is the 'papa bear' of quilting machines with an 18 X 10 inch throat that glides at 2200 stitches per minute.

Emily demonstrated all the really cool features and George kept it running smoothly. Here George is playing with this awesome software that enables the machine to copy designs hand drawn on the tablet.

For the gals lucky enough to have purchased one of these machines, George will come with the Juki QVP 2200 and get it set up and running smoothly for you too. One of the customers asked George how long he would stay? And George replied "I'll stay until you're happy." It doesn't get better than that! The Franklin's Group are the UK Juki distributors.  We believe that any machine is only as good as the service behind it. It's great to know that this amazing machine has amazing back up too.

Dream Come True

NEW JUKI QVP 18 X 10 inch long arm

Three years ago we asked a question. How long would the arm be on your ideal dream machine? Follow the link and read the post.

Just about everyone said 18 inches!

 Last year JUKI introduced their NEW 18 X 10 inch long arm across the pond.  American quilters were giving it rave reviews so we shipped an American model across the Atlantic just for the 2013 Festival of Quilts.

test driving the JUKI QVP at the 2013 Festival

This year JUKI has created our very own

 UK/European CE approved 

18 X 10 inch  long arm!

 Test drive the NEW JUKI Quilt Virtuoso Pro

 at the Franklins stand A46 B36-38.

 I can't wait!!

JUKI Quilt Virtuoso Pro 2200 (stitches per minute)

Double Takes at the Festival of Quilts

Nick Loven Film maker

I was looking through last years Festival of Quilts photos. We'd asked Nick Loven, our film maker and photographer to come and take some photos of our stand. He took lots of great photos of people trying the Juki sewing machines on our New English Quilter frames. It was a great year! There were thousands of quilters everywhere.  Camera-men are people watchers and this is what he noticed.

Too cute!

The 2014 Festival of Quilts is early   
Thursday 7th August until Sunday 10th August
We'll be with the JUKI dealers under
The Franklins Group A36/B36 

You'll be able to see Juki sewing machines, New English Quilter frames and Superior Threads all in one place. See you there!

Air Threading Overlocker

 JUKI has just come out with a new air thread overlocker called the MO-1000. I've always been scared away from overlockers because of the threading. Unless the sewing machine guy came home with the machine, there was no way that I was going to be able to get it threaded!

Juki's new air threading overlocker

 This new model practically threads itself!! Although mainly used for sewing clothes or soft furnishings, I've recently used it to finish off the edges of a quilt to get it ready for the binding.

Juki MO-1000 stitches

 These new MO-1000 overlockers have just arrived in the UK. 

If you'd like to give them a try

 ring Laurence at Franklin's 
01206 574758

Trade in the one you have 
that you can't thread
for one that you can 
and get a great discount!

Amazingly easy to thread!

Textile Students

Textile Students on the 4 foot Art Quilter frame

 Ally Pally is a fun venue. It's full of students and teachers.School kids in their uniforms on a fun day out and University students too. These girls are on a Textile Course at university. Look at their faces, they just loved the frame. They loved the gorgeous variegated thread from Superior Threads too.

The Art Quilter frame with the Juki TL98P straight stitch

Being able to effortlessly glide the sewing machine over the perfectly tensioned layers of fabric was quite a novelty.

Textile students 'drawing with the needle' at Ally Pally

They really appreciated the control this gave them as they played with various line designs on the practice piece of fabric. It was sooooo much easier than wrestling with the fabric under the arm of the machine! It is the perfect tool to help them complete their textile projects quickly and to a much higher standard.

everyone had a go with the Juki on the Art Quilter frame

Now they really really want one! It's right at the top of their Christmas list.

Two Words

Box Feed! If I had just two words to say about the JUKI Exceed F600 sewing machine - it would be - Box Feed.

I'm talking here about how the sewing machine pulls the fabric under the needle. There are 'feed dogs' - I think the name comes from the 'metal teeth' that come up from underneath and grab the fabric. Combined with the action of the pressure foot, the feed dogs pull the fabric under the needle. Home sewing machine feeding systems use an oval motion to pull the fabric under the needle. But industrial sewing machines use a Box motion which has more contact with the fabric, so the feeding system is stronger and more consistent. OK, so what's the big deal?

Straight seams! Right now straight seams are a big deal! I've been piecing some tops to use in the next Line Dancing DVD. Two of the quilts tops involve lots of strip piecing and I was struggling with puckering, particularly at the start and stop of the line. I just put this down to 'user error' on my part and tried to fiddle with the tension without much success. I tried to iron out the puckers which only worked up to a point. In the end I was frustrated by the distortion and put the project to the side.

This is why I am so impressed with the JUKI Exceed. Right from the start, my seams were straight, perfectly straight. I rang up my sewing machine guy and started waxing lyrical about my sudden new found ability to sew straight seams and he began explaining how the box feed works. Now I feel great. Those wonky puckered seams were not my fault. The sewing machine guy explained that the puckering is due to a hesitation - caused by the oval feed movement. It just takes a bit longer to get hold of the fabric and this is what causes the puckering. The box feed used by the industrial machines has a firmer grip on the fabric so the feed is steady and even, creating a beautiful straight line of stitching.

I was really enjoying how easily those initial blocks came together. Later as I was piecing entire sections of the quilt. I was impressed with how easily the machine handled the heavier weight of the entire quilt. The even and consistent feed meant that my quilt came together straight and square.

JUKI sewing machines are the only domestic home machines with a Box Feed. I've been using the JUKI TL 98P for years on my New English Quilter frame. And the JUKI TL 98P also has a box feed system. But as I drop the feed dogs for free-motion quilting, I'd never used it! So I'd never realized just how great the box feed system was. Now I do!

Yesterday I finished piecing Emily's quilt for University. Today Emily is quilting it!