Sit Down Quilting Sunday #1 – Getting to Know the Grace Qnique

LeahDay

Leah Day has been teaching online since 2009. She's the creator of the Free Motion Quilting Project, a blog filled with thousands of quilting tutorial videos. Leah has written several books including 365 Free Motion Quilting Designs, Explore Walking Foot Quilting with Leah Day, and Mally the Maker and the Queen in the Quilt.

29 Responses

  1. Sharlee says:

    Hi Leah,
    I have the Q'nique on a frame and love it this machine is awesome the stitch quality is fantastic I am so glad to see you doing a series in this machine look forward to it!

  2. Carole Doyle says:

    I am excited to see this series! I bought a Handi-Quilter Sweet 16 last year and am still in the learning process. I do have to sit at the needle end on my set up but I have extension leaves on both sides to deal with the weight of the quilt. I also bought some clamp-on arms sold as dog groomer tools that clamp easily to the extensions and allow me to hang clamps like the ones you have from your curtain rod. I've done a couple of quilts on the system now and I am getting better. I don't have questions yet….but I'm looking forward to learning your tips!

  3. What happened to the Juki TL2200QVPS? Do you still use it? If not why did you change?

  4. QuiltShopGal says:

    Great kick off for your new and very exciting series. I think this is going to be very popular. I'm certainly looking forward to it and I think you just kicked it off beautifully, by sharing insights on the benefits of a sit down machine.

    At some point, I hope you share insights about body posture for a sitdown longarm machine vs a regular domestic machine. Somehow, the positioning shown in this particular video makes me wonder about the ergo issues, as it looks like you may be sitting too low. But overall, your setup looks great, very inviting, and I'm all ears.

    QuiltShopGal
    http://www.quiltshopgal.com

  5. Penny says:

    Hi Leah,
    I have a couple of questions: firstly does the foot hop or glide? I have test sewed on a sweet 16 but did not like the hopping foot. Secondly, have you had problems with thread tension? That was one issue that came up during research on this machine last year. Thank you.

    Oh, also which do you prefer, this or the Juki?

  6. Hello. Leah
    I love that you're doing this. I have a sweet sixteen that I absolutely love…. the issues I have had have been those of thread tension…. maybe you could go over the problems that we all face at one time or another….. thanks again for holding sit down Sunday!!!!!! I love sitting and quilting large quilts!!!!

  7. Lois says:

    Very interesting, I am considering a purchase,Thanks so much!! Lois

  8. Erin says:

    Love to read your posts and watch your videos! Is the bobbin easy to input? Does it have a bobbin cutter?

  9. Leah Day says:

    I had continual problems with my 2200 and have been looking for a replacement for more than a year. I've boxed it up and plan to store it for now and probably sell it in the future.

  10. Leah Day says:

    Excellent! I'm happy you're excited about this new series!

  11. Leah Day says:

    Cool! I plan to move to a frame with this machine sometime this year. It will be a big transition, but I'm excited to learn that style of quilting as well.

  12. Leah Day says:

    Great suggestions for questions! I'll make sure to shoot a video just showing the basic functions and how to change a bobbin. Nope, it doesn't have any thread cutters. It's super simple with limited features, which is why it's also very affordable.

  13. Leah Day says:

    Yes, I plan to shoot a whole video just on tension. Thank you for the suggestion!

  14. Leah Day says:

    I definitely prefer this machine over the Juki. I took my time adjusting the tension and now it's set and solid. I'll be sharing a video just on setting that up probably next week. Yes, it does have a hopping foot because it's a longarm – they all hop. But you can minimize how much it annoys you by adjusting the foot.

  15. Leah Day says:

    Great video suggestion! I'm actually sitting weird because I was filming with an odd setup with my ipad and had to tilt everything a bit weirdly to get it in the shot. My chair raises up nice and high for this to be comfortable and I don't have to crane my neck to see the needle.

  16. Sharlee says:

    Leah you will quilting on a frame quilting it's like night and day love it!

  17. Unknown says:

    Good to see that you have a Qunique. I have a BlockRockIt which is the sister machine by Grace Co. I have two of them. One a sit down version and one on a frame. I love the sit down better because it doesn't have as much of a learning curve! I use the frame one for larger quilts. Thank you for all of your insights.

    Lorraine

  18. 108karen says:

    So happy to see your post about this machine. Very affordable. I love sit-down quilting. The learning curve with long arms is daunting and I do look forward to seeing your trip down that road. I am sure you will master it quickly.

  19. JulieA says:

    Leah, this was great! Been looking at sit down mid-arms for a year. Q'nique was on my short list but we don't have a seller in Missouri (live in St Joe) so haven't been abnle to test drive one. Love my Elna 720 (identical to Janome 6700) but sure wish for more space to right of needle and better visibility around the needle. Really thrilled about your series!

  20. Leah, I too am very interested in this machine. It seems to accomodate us quilters who do not want a big long arm but still want to quilt larger quilts. I am curious to know if the quilt table I bought several years ago from Quilty would support a machine of this size. Look forward to more videos and info on this machine. Thanx

  21. Kathy says:

    Good morning Leah! I'm really excited about this new video series you will be creating for us. This will be awesome! I happen to have a Sweet 16, that I haven't been able to use too much, due to work, but also constant tensions issues, which I'm sure I'm responsible for. 🙂 Thank you for everything you do for us, Kathy

  22. Brenda G says:

    Hi Leah,

    How did you make this into a sit down machine since it was meant to be on a frame? Have you ever tried the Janome sit down long arm? That one is orientated like a domestic.

  23. Leah Day says:

    You can set up the Grace Qnique in a table or on a frame. Yes, it certainly will have more functions and a stitch regulator when set up on a frame, but I wanted to try it as a sit down because that will feel more like quilting on a home machine. Nope, I haven't tried the Janome sit down longarm.

  24. Have you tried other threads besides Isacord? Are there certain threads that don't work well with the Qnique? I use a lot of So Fine and Bottom Line by Superior Threads.

  25. Leah Day says:

    I'm very much a creature of habit so no, I haven't tried a lot of different threads in the Qnique yet. I'll pull out some and give it a go and share some videos on how it goes. Thank you for the suggestion!

  26. Leah Day says:

    Yep! I've just updated the link so it's correct now. Thanks for the catch!

  27. Leah, I’m so excited to see you using a long arm. I’ve already looked up having a machine shipped to me. I have a “there’s a sheen with a 10 inch harp And would like to put it on a long arm sit down frame. Would that work with your set up? Thank you again.

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