Longarm Q&A with BERNINA Ambassador, Jessica Dayon, Part One

Good Morning!  My name is Jessica Dayon. Recently I asked my Instagram followers to send me their questions about my BERNINA Q 24 and longarm quilting.  I’ve compiled the most common questions and I’m going to answer them. This will be Q&A part 1 and part 2 will be coming out soon.

Question 1

Q: Have you been happy with the Q 24? I’m getting one next month!

A: I am SO happy with my Q 24. BERNINA quality and performance is outstanding. I use my Q 24 all the time and I’m so happy I decided to get this machine. Congratulations on your machine! You will absolutely love it!

Question 2

Q: What size frame do you have? Thinking of getting on but unsure about space. Thanks!

A: BERNINA has a great PDF on their website with all of the details about each frame.  You can find that HERE. I have a Large PRO Frame.  The PRO frames come in 3 sizes:

• Small PRO measures 8’10” x 3’11”. Maximum quilt width that can be quilted on this frame is 71″.
• Classic PRO measures 11’11” x 3’11”. Maximum quilt width that can be quilted on this frame is 108″.
• Large PRO measures 12’11” x 3’11”. Maximum quilt width that can be quilted on this frame is 120″.

I wanted to make sure I could quilt king size quilts so I wanted to get the Large PRO Frame. In my space, it is a tight squeeze but I’m happy that I got this size and I’d pick the same one if I had to make the choice again.

If the PRO frames don’t fit in your space, you can look at the Studio Frames which are available in a 5-foot and 10-foot version and can be used with the Q 16 PRO or Q 20.

BERNINA has this lovely floor plan on their website.  Here you can see the footprint of the different size machines.

Question 3

Q: Have you done any education classes or just learning on your own?

A: I have not taken any classes yet. I worked through the BERNINA Mastery Workbooks which I found incredibly helpful. I like to experiment on my own too.  I do think I will take a class on ruler work at some point in the future. Dealers offer classes and also the BERNINA Creative Center offers classes in person (if you are in that area or willing to travel there).

Question 4

Q: I quilt using a domestic machine. Is using a longarm difficult to learn?

A: I quilted on my domestic machine before I used a longarm too. I felt like I had some muscle memory on some of the designs that I used to do on my domestic. I do think it is easier to move the machine head instead of the quilt simply because it is lighter.  When you are moving a quilt, there is some drag to it because the quilt can drape over the machine bed. But, when you are moving the machine head, it glides very nicely over the quilt as you quilt.

Question 5

Q: Have you been practicing free motion with it? Or just E2E? Do you want to do custom?

A: When I started last year, my focus was to learn edge-to-edge first. It took me a few months to feel really comfortable. I continued doing that for the majority of my quilts. Now, that I’m super comfortable doing edge-to-edge, I am planning to move on to another skill.  The ones I still want to learn are using Q-matic to quilt, free motion quilting, and ruler work.  I’ll pick one and work on it until I’m really comfortable and then move on to the next.

Question 6

Q: Have you used a different colored bobbin thread than top thread yet?

A: I have not but I know other quilters do that without issue.

That wraps it up for today! Part 2 with the next 6 questions will be coming out soon. Thanks for following along! If you have any other questions, please just let me know.