BellaOnline Forums Hobbies and Crafts Quilting Greetings from a newbe

I started quilting last spring and I am presently on my third quilt. The question I have been pondering for quite some time refers to the size of quilt you can actually make on a home sewing machine. I have a Brothers home sewing machine that can be converted into a free motion sewing maching but is not a long arm sewing machine. So far I have only made wall hangings but would desperately like to make a bed size quilt using my machine. Can anyone tell me if this is possible or if there are any sites that might be helpful in assisting me with direction.

Welcome Queen,

Hi Future Quilting Queen (I love the name!). I'm Judie Bellingham the Quilting Editor for BellaOnline. I manage to quilt up to queen size quilts on my Bernina Quilt Edition. It really depends how you "manage" the quilt while you're quilting it. I tend to do a few things to make it easier. Firstly, I get an ironing board and place it to the left of my sewing table, and lower it to the height of the sewing table. This provides another "resting place" for the quilt, and takes an enormous weight off me and my shoulders whilst quilting. The second thing I do is work out how I can quilt my quilt in a way that I won't have the "bulk" stuffed up under the machine. The third thing I do is to concertina the quilt (a bit like making a fan with paper) so that it is far more manageable when quilting. Sometimes, if it's a big enough quilt, I'll get one of my quilting friends to come and help me (cups of tea, lots of chocolate usually gets her here), and that helps also, especially when she takes the weight off. It doesn't cause so many "whoopsies" when the weight is taken off the needle. Hope this info helps. Let me know how you get on.
Cheerio for now