Finish Your Quilt With Spotlight's Long Arm Machine Service

Quilters rejoice! Spotlight now offers a long arm quilting service to finish your quilted creations. Selected Spotlight stores including Bayswater, Everton Park, Glenorchy and Maroochydore now offer edge to edge quilt finishing on industrial long arm machines. The service provides perfect computerised quilting on any sized quilt with the ability to resize, rotate and repeat designs to suit your unique quilt. Completed within 10 working days, the long arm machine service is the perfect way to complete quilts in a range of sizes. Discover the long arm quilting machine service at Spotlight and let us finish your quilt!

What Is A Long Arm Machine?

A long arm quilting machine is designed to sew together a quilt top, batting and quilt backing into a finished quilt. These state-of-the-art machines are often computerised, and feature an industrial length sewing machine head, a large frame and rollers onto which the fabric layers and batting are attached. They differ from other sewing machines in that the head of the machine is moved over the quilt, rather than moving the quilt through the machine.

There are a number of benefits to having your quilt finished with Spotlight's long arm machine service. Quilting with a longarm machine takes significantly less time than hand quilting or using domestic quilting machines. The long arm specialists at selected Spotlight stores are trained professionals in using long arm quilting machines. Choose your thread colour and select from over 200 stitching designs to finish your quilt. The stitching pattern is adjusted and calibrated to perfectly fit your finished quilt size. Best of all, the end result is beautifully stitched together quilt layers, no missed stitches and none of the hassle of finding enough space in your workroom!

Watch Spotlight's Long Arm Quilting Machine In Action

How Does Spotlight's Long Arm Service Work?

1. Call Spotlight Bayswater, Everton Park, Glenorchy or Maroochydore to make an appointment. All consultation appointments are between 2pm - 4pm.
2. Familiarise yourself with the requirements for preparing your quilt for finishing.
3. At your appointment, you'll speak with our long arm specialist who can help you choose your edge-to-edge design, select your thread colour and complete the Long Arm Service Booking Form. You can also download the form prior to your appointment.
   
   Download Form
   
   
4. You will need to provide your own wadding/batting and quilt backing.
5. Once your quilt is booked in for finishing you'll leave it at the store. The in-store long arm specialist will calibrate and operate the long arm quilting machine to complete your quilt, with a 10 working day turn around for the service.
6. When your quilt is finished a Spotlight staff member will notify you to organise a time for collection.

Only at Spotlight Bayswater, Everton Park, Glenorchy & Maroochydore

Contact one of the below stores to make an appointment for the long arm quilting service.

How Much Does The Long Arm Service Cost?

Please Note: Quilts that do not fall within these standard sizes will be quoted on appointment.

Basting Service

If you still prefer to finish your quilt with hand quilting or machine quilting, why not consider our basting service? Our long arm machine can also be used to create large tacking stitches which run across the quilt in parallel lines, 3 inches apart. Machine basting ensures the quilt is properly stabilised and ready to be finished with your chosen method. The machine basting service is available at a minimum cost of $75.

How To Prepare Your Quilt For Completion With The Long Arm Service

To get the best results from the Spotlight's edge-to-edge quilt finishing service, there are a few key steps to keep in mind when preparing your quilt. Please note that:

• We cannot finish quilts that have 3D motifs or buttons, as the machine cannot go around these.
• As an edge to edge service, our service does not include going around motifs or icons, and does not include any ditch stitching.

Prepare Your Quilt For Finishing In 8 Steps

1. Press all your seams flat to avoid lumps or puckers.
2. Quilt top and backing should be straight and squared up.
3. Backing and wadding needs to be 4 inches wider than the top of the quilt on all four sides.
4. If your quilt backing fabric requires joins, it's preferable to have the seams run horizontally (across the quilt).
5. If your backing is not large enough and you need to add extra fabric, we suggest that adding a piece through the middle will yield a better result as we cannot guarantee that borders on the outside will be perfectly centred.
6. Seams: Make sure your outside seams are secure as these can come undone when the quilt is being racked up.
7. Loose threads: Ensure all loose threads have been clipped from the front and back. Dark threads can show through the fabric if it is a light fabric, and once machine quilted there is no way to remove any unwanted threads inside the quilt.
8. Basting or pinning: You do not need to baste or pin the quilt as we require the 3 layers to be separate before putting it on the machine.

Find All Your Quilting Supplies At Spotlight

At Spotlight we have everything you need to make and inspire your next quilting creation. Discover FREE quilting patterns online with our quilting & patchwork projects, which include precise, easy-to-follow instructions and downloadable project sheets with templates included.

Explore Quilting Projects

You can shop Spotlight's extensive quilting range online or at your local Spotlight store, where you can find a massive selection of cotton quilting fabrics including blenders, quilt backings, plain quilting fabric, floral quilting fabric and much more! When it comes to fabric bundles, our quilting pre-cut range includes fat flats, flat quarters and jelly rolls so you can easily create perfectly colour coordinated quilts.

We also have wadding & batting to fill your quilt, available in handy pre-cut sizes or by the metre. Set yourself up with essential equipment like cutting mats, quilting rulers, rotary cutters and quilting cutters, quilting pins & clips and quilting pens for marking from our selection of quilting tools.

Shop All Quilting Supplies