Long before Lolah arrived in my life, I had a homemade system to help machine quilt large quilts. I found a used White sewing machine that ran smoothly and quietly and made a beautiful stitch. The Flynn System for quilting which I had purchase at Road to California Quilt show was just not working for me in the way it was meant to but with longer poles and a support system all I needed was something to ride my machine on. So I devised this system:
Here you see the Flynn attachments to the long poles supported by hangers screwed into a piece of wood that is attached to the tripod legs I found at the local big box store.
The machine bed was made out of plywood with a series of swivel wheels and 2 handles made from sturdy hanging hooks.
The machine pedal was easy to reach with my right thumb while holding the hook and maneuvering the base around the quilt.
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The table was covered with a piece of shiny 1/4" thick board; the wheels had no resistance and they moved freely. It was surprising how fun and easy it was.
But I quilted this whole quilt using a meandering stitch and it turned out great!
As long as I didn't run over my assistant!!
Toodles,
Lorette
That is ingenious, Lorette!! I have a John Flynn frame as well and it never worked properly for me. Wish I had been as innovative as you and made use of mine like this. I just uncovered it this evening as I continued my sorting and re-organizing. It was just one more gadget for quilting with my domestic that didn’t work as I hoped it would.
ReplyDeleteIt worked enough for me at the time! Life got busier after that and I put it away. I recently found the box with the Flynn system and it brought back some great memories! Binx, my assistant, has since died! He loved it sleeping on top of the quilts!
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