FlynnQuilting

hi I'm John Flynn any of you might know me as the civil engineer who switched to quilting and I the main reason that I started quilting was to relax and for the past 10 years I've been selling a quilt frame for hand quilting which many of you saw me in my rocking chair relaxing and quilting and in those 10 years of listening to what people really wanted to have in a quilt frame I finally in this last year developed my multi frame which you see here as a three-rail quilting system that you can machine quilt or hand quilt without basting so it's relaxing the machine quilt as well as this latest version of the frame comes complete with 48 inch reinforced fiberglass tubes which are lighter in weight and also keep the completed quilt roll smaller they also easily adaptable for larger quilts using lightweight conduits you can buy at your local hardware store in your box you will find an instruction manual a step-by-step DVD two large red pipes three fiberglass rods with adhesive strip to reinforce frame ends six rod ends with knobs and screws three Muslim leader strips and a roll of grosgrain ribbon lay your leader strip out flat on the table and position the rod on the leader strip so that your adhesive strip is close to the edge on the leader strip now pull the cover off of the adhesive strip and roll your rod onto the leader strip once your leave strip is attached to the rod roll the leader strip up on the rod within three-quarters of an inch of the edge and use the rod as a guide to mark your starting point on the leader strip you also need to mark the center line measure two feet from the end of these four foot rods and Mark the center of the rod repeat for the other two rods before you mount your quilt is important to put registration marks along the edge of the top and back to keep tensions equal I lay my top one inch from the top edge of the back and put registration marks along in this case I have seams that I can put registration marks on the back if you didn't have those seams you would need to put our mark on the top as well just a mark every four or five inches to make sure that you maintain equal tension on both the top I've marked the center of my back I'm lining that up on the center line of my leader strip now I want to stitch my back to the line on my leader strip pick one back stitch at the beginning and I tape the back to the table and is do a running stitch along your leader strip roll the back up on rod C and attach the other end to rod a in the same manner in the center of the back up to the center line on the leader strip on the back up on the line and Stitch the back to the back stitch roll the whole back up on to Rod C and set those two rods of side now you want to attach your top to rod B put in the center of the top on the center line of the leader strip and attach toe up along the edge I've taped a flannel black tablecloth to my table so that when I lay the batting out it kind of clings to the batting and I lay the top on the batting and I unrolled the two together with some tension to keep the roll tight you could do this on a carpeted surface but they didn't want to crawl on the floor today I'm ready to attach my top and batting to the back at rod a line up the center of my top one inch in on my back and Stitch the top and batting to the back make sure that your stitching just through the top batting and back so that you can quilt right up to the edge of your top without stitching to the leader strip slide your rod end on to the fiberglass tube and secure it with one of the set screws provided the set screws do not have to be screwed clear through the pipe they just have to retain the rod end from turning attach a rod into both ends of each rod now you're ready to attach your frame end so that the teeth match the teeth in the rod ends do the same thing on the other end of the frame now I want to write Rolla start of my quilt up to within an inch of rod a and tighten both ends of rod a I can tighten the top and batting at Rod B and tighten the knob on my right I'm Robbie and tighten the back on rod C and tighten the knob on my right now I'm ready for the signs I've removed the left end of the frame so that I can slide the quilt under the presser foot and and replace the left end and retighten the knobs I've lost attention on my quilt I need to make sure that the frame in our flats before I tighten the knobs but my tension should still be there I'm ready to put on the side tension ribbons and start quilting so to apply side tension slide your grosgrain ribbon through the slot in the bottom of the frame end under the frame end and pin through all three layers and pull on the other end of the grosgrain ribbon and pin it to itself I'll do this on two spots on each end of the frame now you're ready to begin quilting your quote frame came with two 24-inch red roller pipes on a 48 inch frame I generally used just one and the deck of my sewing machine if your machine doesn't have a deck you might want both pipes but generally if you have a deck one one is enough you want to start by bringing your bobbin thread to the top and I usually quilt left to right on my quilts because it makes more sense I can quilt clear to the edge because I don't have a leader strip there it's good to figure out early on how far you can push the frame toward your machine I don't grip the frame I'm just guiding it by the sea rail my fingers underneath allow the roller pipe to carry all the way once I crossed the center I need to reposition my roller pipe to the other side of the frame tickling on a longer piece if I'm right near the center of the quilt sometimes the frame bears a little heavy on the sewing machine it's easy to add just a bag of dried beans to the end of the frame and it unweight the frame on the sewing machine the roller acts as a fulcrum and then the frame is easier to move once I finished this reach I have a choice of stopping about six inches from the edge of the quilt with my needle down and advancing the frame with the needle in or I can quote clear to the edge and break off the thread and start again on the left which is which I prefer to do because left to right quilting is much easier for me so I'm at the edge of the quilt and I've secured the thread I take out the side tension ribbons and release the three knobs on both ends of the frame now I can simply roll the completed quilt up on radhe I'm sure I don't roll too far so that I can serve overlap my quilting areas and then tighten the knobs on both ends of rod a tighten up rod B and tighten i just tighten the right end of that and tighten up rod c tighten the right end now i can replace my side tension ribbons on both ends of the frame you and I would slide the frame down left end of the quilt and start again by pulling up my bobbin thread and quilt the next reach before you buy the PVC pipe to support your frame it is important to measure the height of your sewing machine deck this machine measures 3 and 5/8 inches so a 3 inch PVC pipe measuring just over three and a half inches is perfect you may have to buy the next size larger pipe and set your machine on a thin piece of plywood if you can't get one that fits perfectly if you don't have an extension table you may need to buy two pipes sometimes the frame ends get off just one or two teeth and won't lay flat to correct this loosen all the knobs on one end of the frame tighten off notice the diagonal seam on the back so that the bulk of the seam does not roll up in one place you will need to move the PVC back and forth to balance the frame the frame moves smoothly with a palm up grip and a slight compression each time you change the bobbin you will want to bring the bobbin thread to the top if you have a top-loading Bob and you will need to slide the frame down to the edge of the quilt and insert the bottom in the space between the edge of the quilt and the frame end you here's a hand mirror and a flashlight to check the tension on the back there's time to move ahead stop with the needle down about six inches from the edge of the quilt I like to draw my quilting design on paper roll with 4-inch lines to work out the design then I trace over the pattern multiple times with a ballpoint pen memorizing the quilting pattern I find this much easier than following a line drawn directly on the quilt a good way to get a feel for the frame is to practice it like you would your handwriting with practicing OHS and ease and Hales you you you can quilt a horizontal line by holding the frame against the back of the sewing machine two parallel lines space with wooden blocks you can guide the foot along a quarter-inch thick ruler to make short straight lines one way to transfer a design is with a perforator pattern rub over the pattern with pounce filled with cornstarch you you can tie a quilt by saying your machine on zig-zag and stitching a small design lift your presser foot move to the next spot and stitch again tighten your thread ends with a tapestry needle and an open-sided needle threader or you can use a cell threading needle I made myself a batting sampler to see how different batting's react to machine quilting the more you practice the better even though the quilting areas around 4 inches all the patterns interlock and there is no indication that the quilting was done in 4 inch strips keep practicing you will end up with little quilts you can cut up and bind to make placemats potholders or my variation on the rag quilt this Wheel of Fortune quilt is basted with water-soluble thread and ready to quilt off the frame use your quilting design to enhance your peace pattern you I use the pebbles a lot to give my quilts texture a machine based at this quilt and then removed the third rail and hand quilted it on a two rail frame here our machine based it with washout thread and did the larger quilting pattern off the frame remember you can hand quilt without basting on your multiframe use it comfortably in your chair and the frame adjusts to you when you're through quilting the frame and stand store out of the way you

Channel: Quilt with John Flynn

Views: 316,367

Rating: 4.8693938 out of 5

Keywords: John Flynn, Flynn Multi-Frame, machine quilting, Flynn Quilting

Id: WQ_Dqdd5t_I

Length: 32min 53sec (1973 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 11 2014

Reddit Comments

[u/mrs_tekcor]

You can use a frame to machine quilt??? I thought they were only for hand quilting! This could open up a world of possibilities!

[u/SandyQuilter]

My sister has one of these. She said it took a good bit of practice to figure out how to use it, and she'd have to re-learn bits every time she got it out, but overall, she thought it was a pretty good system.

[u/jibbidibbi]

it's not a great replacement for a longarm unless you're only ever going to do baby blankets. :D

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it's fun, it's pretty hard to master and has a bit of a learning curve wrt just mounting the thing.

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the poles that come with it are 48" which is not very wide. they say to make your own out of conduit, but conduit is heavy as heck. i have a set of 55" poles that are conduit, and they're a workout.

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you can't use PVC because it's too floppy. i was very lucky to get a set of fiberglass poles for free, because i live in toledo, and we invented fiberglass XD so i have a 75" set, but you need 70" of clearance on both sides of your machine to actually use it, so i hope you have a very long room XD

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using my large poles requires me to be in the dining room and i kinda nudge the buffet and the china cabinet when i use them.........

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if you can get poles that long working, you've got pretty much a twin size. i can't imagine going any larger and having them be manageable.

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just my 2 cents about the flynn frame. i havent used mine in a good long while since i started renting time on a longarm, but they're good practice for someday when you do want to longarm. i basically didn't need to be taught to mount the quilt at all when i took my lessons :D

[u/Lyric-Girl]

The reviews are generally bad for that.

[u/touretteski]

If you search r/quilting for Flynn you'll see some talk about it. u/jibbidibbi uses one, here is one of her posts with it https://www.reddit.com/r/quilting/comments/622f2s/my_baby_is_back/?st=JQ1CLMY4&sh=f6a23c74