DIY Longarming ~ Machine Rental

Forever In Stitches has two industry leading Innova automated AutoPilot Mach 3's™ in our longarming studio. One is dedicated to our longarming services and the other is for our "Do-It-Yourself [DIY] Longarming". Clients three days per week. This is often referred to as "longarm rental". DIY Longarming allows clients to be completely involved in the finishing of their creations. Since you were involved in the creation of your work of art from design, fabric selection, and piecing, why not be involved in the actual longarming! DIY Longarming allows you to do just that.
This page is divided as follows:

How It Works

This is an outline of the sequence of events that you will encounter with "DIY Longarming™":
At the beginning, if you are planning a quilt with flanges, curved borders, prarie points, embelishments, cording, non-cotton materials, etc., make an appointment to discuss your decisions with us.
  • Create your top.
  • Make an appointment Note: We schedule your quilt to be done in one session. If more than one day is required then the second day must be contiguous.
  • Show up at the scheduled time as that is when the "clock staarts ticking" with your top and any other items [Due to space limitations, come by yourself].
  • Load the quilt with us.
  • We show you how to set up the quilting.
  • You run the quilting under our supervision.
  • You unload the quilt under our supervision.
  • You admire your quilt
  • You pay us and take your quilt home for binding.

Pricing Considerations

Forever In Stitches does not have a class for learning the techniques and the longarm quilting machine. We do have a pamphlet covering the items with which you will need to be familiar before you come for your DIY session. All training is OJT [On the Job Training]. This is an economical alternative to our Professional Longarm Quilting.
Pricing depends upon the complexity of the quilting. All quilters start at E2E. They can progress to higher levels when we feel they are ready, and not before.
Type Of Quilting Price/HourEdge-2-Edge [E2E] Quilting: $25.00/HourEdge-2-Edge with borders: $30.00/HourCustom: $35.00/Hour
All prices include thread and Poly Request Quilters' Dream Batting. Upgrades to different types and thicknesses include an up-charge for the difference in cost. The price varies with the difficulty of the quilting due to additional OJT [On-The-Job-Training], and artistic and computer-oriented collaboration requirements.
Our "Quick Quilter" discounts program does not apply to DIY quilts.

Preparation ~ Before You Come In

  • Iron all seams searching for insufficient or open seams.
  • Iron the top.
  • Square the top.
  • If you have not back-tacked your stitching at the edges, run a stitch 1/8" from the edge to secure all seams.
  • Remove all embellishments.
  • Square the back.
  • Eliminate any loose threads or pet hairs.
  • Safety-pin the top of the quilt.
  • Square the batting.

While You Are Here

  • You will work under our supervision.
  • We will assist you in loading your back and quilt onto the longarm.
  • We will assist you in setting up the stitching pattern.
  • We will assist you in starting the quilting.
  • We will assist you at the end of the first row and the advancing of the quilt
  • We assist you in making a quality check of your quilt.
  • We will watch you complete the quilt.
  • We will answer questions.
  • We assist you in unloading the quilt.
During subsequent sessions you will be more on your own, but still under our supervision. The same kind of approach is used when you move to add borders to your repertoire and similarly for custom quilting, but with more involvement on our part. Please remember to bring a bag lunch and drink, depending upon the estimated amount of time your DIY is expected to require.
Our Longarm Studio!