Santa's Workshop

Linda and Paul Hayes in the workshop

Our New English Quilter frames are designed and made by Paul Hayes in Lincolnshire, UK. Paul is our genius designer and see, he does look like Santa! Paul took all the best ideas from the American machine quilting frames and adapted them to fit into smaller English and European homes. Designed to be quick and easy to set up, our frames can be ready to use in less than 2 minutes. So we can set up the frame on the kitchen table, get in a couple of hours quilting and take it down again in time for dinner.

   

New English Quilter frames in the making

Paul is inspired by the Arts & Crafts movement so simplicity is a common thread or guiding principle in the design and engineering of the frames. Our frames are made to order, designed and created by local craftsman from the finest materials. We believe that tools can be beautiful as well as useful.

 "In Britain, the Arts and Crafts Movement flourished from about 1880. At its heart lay a concern for the role of the craftsman. Inspired by the ideas of John Ruskin and William Morris, it advocated a revival of traditional handicrafts, a return to a simpler way of life and an improvement in the design of ordinary domestic objects."

New English Quilter frame crafted to last a lifetime

Our New English Quilter frames celebrate a revival of the Arts and Crafts movement. They're crafted by hand guided machines using the finest materials and designed to last a lifetime. New English Quilter frames make wonderful Christmas presents for quilters. They are the gift that keeps on giving.

How to assemble the frame

Here's a little video clip that shows just how easy it is to set up our New English Quilter frames. I'm posting it especially for you gals who are having your frames delivered in the next couple of weeks. It really is this easy! You'll have it out of the box and ready to go in less than 5 minutes. If you have any questions just give me a ring. 01526 378057

About the bump...

Here is a photo of our old track extender system at the top of the photo with the new track, labelled 'B' underneath. I'm going to tell you a story about how we came up with the new track.

Our original tracking system was an innovation at the time because they were amazingly smooth! The tracks were also continuous at the 6 foot size and extendable to 8 and 10 feet. But with the extensions, there was a bump at the join. And this proved frustrating when you were working on a larger quilt. In an effort to get round this we did make a continuous 8 foot track. But the larger size was unwieldy and awkward to transport. Couriers would not accept anything over 6 feet in length and it was difficult to fit the long 8 foot tracks in many cars.

Paul, our innovative genius designer, likes to get things right. And he wasn't happy about the bump! So Paul has been trying to figure out a better way to extend the tracks for some time.

Paul uses wood for the tracks because the wood helps to absorb the vibration of the sewing machine. Metal tracks magnify the vibrations and the vibrations of the metal carriage wheels make small marks in the metal tracks, especially a light weight metal like aluminium. Over time, these indentations affect the smoothness of the carriage as it rides over the tracks. The natural elasticity of wood absorbs the vibrations. Over time the wooden track actually becomes smoother. So Paul definitely wanted to continue using wood. The challenge was how to create a seamless join, so the tracks could be extendible and portable.

Sometimes the answer to a puzzle is so simple you just wonder why you didn't think of it sooner. Paul's friend Phil suggested cutting the join at angle! A simple brilliant solution!

Paul developed a self-aligning fixture in the bottom of the track joint that ensures that the two sections are always exactly level with each other – but it still wasn't quite perfect until Phil (our “Man in Massachusetts” who helps with design and manufacture) suggested cutting the joint at an angle instead of straight across the track. Brilliant! That’s Phil, on the right with Paul, in the photo above.

Wow, what a difference! You can hardly feel the join when you run your finger over it. And with the carriage it's practically seamless. Well done Paul and Phil! Now the track can be extended to any size we like, and we won't feel the join while we're quilting. Not even a little bump!

The Big One

From time to time, we get requests to do custom jobs. This particular project was to create a table and frame for a Singer stretch sewing machine called the Homesteader. Sue imported the Homesteader from America and uses it with the PCQuilter. Sue needed a table and frame to accommodate her new set up.  She wanted the table and frame designed so it could be set up in a variety of sizes. She also needed it to be easy to set up and take down. Paul loves a challenge and he did it!

 In the top photo you see Paul showing Sue's husband how the table extends. The cut outs in the table keep it light enough to move around. The side photo shows the table extended to 10 feet. And in the final photo, Paul is showing how easily the frame attaches to the table. Sue is going to send us some photos of the set up in her home. We'll pass them on to you when she does.