My quilt is large, 2 x 2 m and I am still determined to do all the quilting by hand. When I took quilting lessons with Ester Miller in Berlin we worked on those wounderful floor-standing scroll quilt frames which I loved but was not willing to spend that much money on. Besides, those frames are like a bulky piece of furniture which I wouldn’t know where to put when I am not working on a quilt.
That’s why I was using a larger hoop frame at first and also tried one of those plastic klip frames a friend gave me. But to be honest once you worked on a large floor-standing quilt frame anything else just doesn’t feel right. And with the technique we learned from Ester Miller you need both hands free for quilting which doesn’t work with frames you have to hold in one hand.
I always thought about the quilting bees in the old days on frames they made themselfs and kept looking for “how-to’s” for a frame that would fit into my appartment. I did not find anything I liked that is when I started to make up my mind about my own version of a two poles floor-standing scroll frame and here it is:
The Material I used is:
- my kitchen table ;-) ( actually it is the table legs Vika Artur from IKEA which look a little bit like sawhorses but have two seperate top bars for adjusting the hight of your table. Between the two bars you can easily secure the side poles of your quilt frame)
- two wooden poles approx. 30 cm longer than your quilt (you need 15 cm minimum on both ends to hold the poles between the bars of “Artur”, smooth sanded otherwise your quilt fabric might get damaged. In my example I used flat ones but if I’d do is again I would choose round poles.
- 4 screwclamps
- 4 smaller “regular” clamps
- two pieces of 30 – 50 cm long string (I used cotton fabric string)
- two stips of Linen (or any other strong material) a little shorter than the length of your poles, widths 10 cm
- Only tool needed is a tacker with staples long enough to secure the fabric strips on the poles
Tacker the fabric on to the wooden poles.
Now you are ready to attach the quilt to the frame. As my quilt was a work already in progress it was “properly” prepared. The quilting design was marked and the backing, wadding and top where tacked with basting stitches. (on the website of Cotton Patch you can find a very good description of how to prepare your quilt and they offer the “real frames” too)
All three layers of your quilt need to be attached to the fabric stips on the poles. The fabric strip should be facing up ( see picture above) and the entire quilt needs to be smooth and flat between the two poles. If you are in doubt do it again otherwise you might regret it when you quilt it in your frame later.
Roll up the enire quilt on one of the poles and give it a little tension. First, put the “empty” pole between the sidebars of the “Vikar Artur” table leg (see picture below) and secure it on both ends with a screwclamp. Then roll off just as much of the quilt to barely fit the lenght of “Artur”. Pull it tight and now secure both ends of the second pole with a screwclamp.
With the “regular” clamps and the string I pulled the sides of my quilt tight (which is optional I think, see if you need to).
When you finished quilting the part of your quilt in the frame just open the screwclamps, roll the finished part on the "empty pole" and put all clamps back on.
Now when I finished the quilt or want to take a longer break I just disassemble the frame. I can put the quilt rolled-up on the poles under my bed and Artur will become my kitchentable again.
