The Big 5

We're busy getting ready for the Festival of Quilts. We love the show! The fun of preparations, ordering the threads and completing the display quilts, the buzz when we get there on the Wednesday and greet the familiar faces of the other stall holders and show staff. Then it's all go as we unload the car, find the stand and set up the frames and hang up the quilts and arrange the threads. Everyone all around us is busy creating order from all the jolly chaos as one by one the stands are finished and the Festival of Quilts gets ready to open the doors for yet another year. There's nothing quite like it. 

Suddenly it's Thursday morning and the bell rings and thousands of people pour into the Halls to participate in the biggest Quilt Show in Europe. From the minute the doors open on Thursday morning until the Show closes on Sunday afternoon, we at Machine Quilter are busy answering two big questions:

"What's so great about machine quilting on a frame?"  

"How do our Machine Quilter frames and JUKI sewing machines give you more value for your money?"

Bob Purcell, Paul Hayes and Martha Milne

We've been demonstrating machine quilting frames ever since the very first Festival of Quilts in the summer of 2003. Sixteen years of personal experience and the responses of  thousands of people trying a frame for the first time, all  boils down to 5 reasons.

Five Reasons Why machine quilting on a frame is so great!

Come and test drive the NEW JUKI on our frame

You can read all about it in the next few posts.

Better yet, come visit our stand listed under
 Machine Quilter Company D17 and test drive it yourself!

Best of Both

Here at Machine Quilter we celebrate how American innovation meets British ingenuity!

Our Machine Quilter frames are an American idea that has been brilliantly adapted to fit into English homes. Right from the start we've been keen to make American machine quilting products more readily accessible to the English quilter.

Demonstrating the frame at a Christmas in July Shop Party

We're right here in Lincolnshire, UK; we can give our customers ongoing support, education and inspiration. Quilting is all about connecting with people. Because our frames are made here in the UK we are able to give our customers personal service. We offer free demonstrations and workshops for people interested in machine quilting frames. We also offer workshops, and Retreats so that you can keep on learning and growing. We also offer online support with website blog posts & video tutorials, Facebook and Instagram but we think that meeting face to face is vital. 


We became the original UK Distributor for Superior Threads so that we could offer the newest machine quilting thread ranges, just as soon as they come out. We wanted English and European quilters to be able to get the latest threads while they were still new and exciting.We began in 2003 and we've been connecting British and American quilters ever since.

The 6 foot Machine Quilter frame with Kimono Silk threads from Superior Threads

Fantastico #5027 Cha Cha from Superior Threads

Bright Blue Bottom Line from Superior Threads

Fantastico my favourite variegated machine quilting thread

funny how red white and blue works on both sides of 'the Pond'

On this day in 1989 I left Amercia with my brand new British husband. Now 6 kids and 30 years later we still celebrate the Best of Both. Happy 4th of July from machinequilter!

Stitches per minute

Getting a nice line of stitching requires a certain amount of speed. 

Professional long arm quilting machines are designed for higher speeds to create those beautiful lines of stitching.  Speed puts stress on thread.

So machine quilters using long arms need threads that can cope with high speeds. Lets look at stitches per minute and compare stitch speed across a range of popular quilting machines.

APQS long arm machines can go  up to 3500 stitches per minute

Gammill long arms can so up to 2700 stitches per minute

JUKI's new QVP  goes 2200 stitches per minute.

Innova 22 inch long arm goes 2000 stitches per minute

Avante HandiQuilter runs up to 1800 stitches per minute

JUKI TL98P semi-industrial straight stitch  1500 stitches per minute

JUKI TLQVP Mini semi-industrial straight stitch 1500 stitches per minute

Bernina 820 goes 1100 stitches per minute

Janome Horizon goes 1000 stitches per minute

Most domestic sewing machines go just under 1000 stitches per minute. That's NOT very fast. Most threads will run fine in sewing machine limited to or near the  1000 stitches per minute mark. Even though they have a longer arm the Bernina 820 and Janome Horizon fall into this group. 

Feathers created with 1500 stitch per minute JUKI TL98P

Once you move up to 1500 stitches per minute you need better quality thread. I discovered this when I upgraded from a much beloved old Bernina to the JUKI TL98P. I had all sorts of tension problems and thread breakage.That's when I discovered Superior Threads designed for long arm quilting. The large cross wound cones come in lots of ranges. Some long arms are pickier than others where threads are concerned. If you're having thread problems with your long arm ring me for a consult. Machine Quilter has been selling thread to long arm quilters here in the UK for 10 years. We can help you choose the ideal thread for your machine quilter whatever the speed. 

Ring or email Martha at Machine Quilter for advice about which threads to use with your sewing machine.

martha@machinequilter.co.uk

01526 553366

Magnifico from Superior Threads Perfect for machine quilting

Inferior Threads

There is a secret ingredient that makes all these frames work,  The secret ingredient is thread! Thread that is actually designed for machine quilting at high speeds.

The JUKI QVP2200 long arm goes 2200 stitches-per-minute.
The Handi-Quilter Avante goes 1800 stitches-per-minute
The NEW JUKI TL QVP Mini that we use on our smaller machine quilting frames goes 1500 stitches-per-minute
Most ordinary domestic sewing machines go almost 1000 stitches-per-minute.

Many machine quilters really struggle with thread breaking and shredding. Often it comes down to the thread. People are using inferior thread. The high speeds of long arm quilting machines put a lot of stress on the thread. Poor quality thread will shred and break at higher speeds. Inferior threads are fine for slower domestic machines. But fast machines like long and mid arm quilting machines need Superior Threads.

Superior Threads are designed to flow smoothly through your long and mid-arm quilting machines without shredding or breaking whether you're stitching at 2200 stitches-per-minute or almost 1000. Using the right needle is important too.

This year at the 2015 Festival of Quilts our long arm and mid-arm machines were all threaded with various ranges from Superior Threads. We especially like the Magnifico and Fantastico light reflecting tri-lobal polyester threads because they are beautiful AND strong. Designed for long-arm quilting machines, they are happy to stitch at high speeds without shredding or breaking. This makes for happy quilters with less down time.

Our cat Tipsy thinks that this cone of Fantastico is a purrfect match!

 Fantastico comes in variegated colours with a one inch colour change. This creates gorgeous layers of stitching where the colours are evenly spread out through out your quilt.

Fantastico is available on 2,000 yd cones here in the UK from Machine Quilter for £13.45

Magnifico comes in plain colours on 3,000 yd cones for £9.95. That's a lot of joy for under a tenner!

This quilt used 2 different cones of Fantastico; # 5024 and #5025 to match the flowers in the border fabric.

Don't forget the BACK!

Here's the quilt back. Isn't the texture lovely! We used Bottom Line pre-wounds #607 Light Purple for the back. Also available here in the UK from Machine Quilter.


Finally, here's the finished quilt on show at our stand at the Festival of Quilts 2015. It's looking lovely with the back peeking through in the bottom right hand corner. We kept the piecing simple to show that gorgeous quilting is all about the threads.
.

2015 Festival of Quilts

The 2015 Festival of Quilts will be here before we know it! Come and test drive JUKI sewing machines on our New English Quilter frames. We'll have a big selection of Superior Threads too.

We're on the JUKI sewing machine stand A55

 Thursday 6 August through Sunday 9 August

See you there!

Rosie and Emily showing young quilters the New English Quilter frame

visit us at JUKI sewing machines Stand A55

Springtime - it's official!

Springtime a new colour-way from the Fantastico range of Superior Threads

Spring is officially here! Heralded by the Equinox, a solar eclipse and a super moon. Wow!


I've just ordered some of the new variegated colour-ways from the Fantastico range of Superior Threads. This ones's called Springtime and today is the perfect day to introduce it.

Fantastico threads are my current favourite for machine quilting. They combine beauty and strength making it the perfect thread to go at high speeds without shredding or breaking.

Priced at £12.95 for a  2,000 yd. cross-wound cone, Fantastico is a great value for money thread. Affordable, Beautiful and Strong. What's not to love?

We have a great selection of Fantastico in stock at MachineQuilter.

However you like to quilt.
on a frame, a long arm,
sitting at your sewing machine
or by hand, Fantastico will create a beautiful and strong line of stitching.
Celebrate Spring with Fantastico!

Available from our Machine Quilter online shop serving the UK and Europe. 

We have the biggest selection of Superior Threads at the best prices this side of the Atlantic!

Fantastico Real Thread Cards

Fantastico Real Thread Card Booklet now in stock

Great News!! The Fantastico Thread Card Booklet is now in stock. Fantastico is my favourite machine quilting thread.I love the gorgeous variegated colours and I love how the threads runs so beautifully through my high speed sewing machine and creates a beautiful line of stitching. The real thread booklet means that you can accurately match thread to fabric and order confidently from the comfort of home.

Fantastico has tensile strength which means that its perfect for machine quilting. It's happy to go at high speeds without shredding or breaking. Fantastico is one of the newest ranges from Superior Threads. There are lots of lovely new colour combinations that I can't wait to try!

I'm putting my Superior Threads order through in the next day or so. So phone or email your orders as soon as you can.

martha@machinequilter.co.uk

01526 378057 or 01526 378551

September Superior Threads

I'm putting the September Superior Threads order through today. With autumn on the way and the kids back in school and off to University, I'm keen to get quilting again. Superior Threads has many ranges designed especially for machine quilting. You can browse through our website or ring Martha for suggestions. Today I'm going to chat about FANTASTICO one of my favourite threads.

There are new variegated colour combinations in the Fantastico range. Use the American site as a shop window and email me your orders. 

Fantastico is my new favourite thread. It's a break-through thread that doesn't break! Fantastico has tensile strength which means that it has a bit of give in it. You can read more about it on the Stateside site. Fantastico is designed to cope with the high speed sewing of industrial and long arm machines.  I love how it runs through my JUKI TL98P at 1500 stitches per minute. It works great on the higher speed long arms like the Avante (1800 spm) and the new JUKI long arm (2200 spm). It's a gorgeous light reflecting thread. I'm very excited about all the new variegated colour combinations. And it's great value for money at £12.95 for a 2,000 yd cross-wound cone.

Fantastico. Strong. Beautiful and Affordable.