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Loading a Quilt Diagonally on a Grace Hoop Frame

A few months ago I shared a video on quilting feathers on the Hoop Frame and how I managed to do more quilting in a small space by loading the quilt diagonally. See how this works step-by-step in this new video:

Why Load Your Hoop Frame Diagonally?

The design for this baby quilt is formed with half square triangles that create an appearance of squares on point. I knew I wanted to quilt through each square "ring" with one design, but doing this with the quilt loaded normally would have taken a lot of time.

It's far better to load your quilt into the hoop frame with the space you wish to quilt running parallel to the front and back rails of the frame.

This way you can quilt across the space in one pass, verses having to break it up into smaller chunks. So the main reason to load your quilt this way is for speed.

Note - because of the way Hoop Frames work which is more like a traditional lap hoop, you can load your quilt in any angle you want.

The key with this style of frame is to clamp the quilt in place. This is why you can quilt bigger quilts on this frame, without it taking up a big footprint in your home.

Click Here to check out another video where I loaded the Dream Big Panel at a really weird angle in order to quilt feathers fast!

Quilting Feathers on a Hoop Frame Home Machine

Accessories to Make Quilting on a Frame Easier

If balancing the speed and movement of your machine is too challenging, you can try the following accessories to improve your stitches:

Grace Speed Controller

Speed Controller

Grace Sure Stitch Regulator

Sure Stitch Regulator

Quilt Motion QCT5 Home Machine

Quilt Motion QCT 5

2 comments

Great question Margaret! Unfortunately no, this technique is unique to a Hoop Frame because it clamps on all sides. A Rolling Rail frame like the Q-Zone Queen works differently and won’t allow you to clamp in this manner.

The good news is your frame is faster and easier to load with every load, which saves you time and is an advantage over any hoop frame. The downside is, for this very particular nice style of quilting, it won’t work.

My best advice is to load your quilt straight as normal and quilt it with another design – not diagonal lines. An all over pantograph or free motion quilting design will be a great choice!

Leah Day,

This is the first information I’ve seen since I’ve been searching for info about quilting an on point rail fence quilt on a Longarm frame so there aren’t so many starts, stops and tie offs. Is it possible to load a quilt on point on a Q Zone Queen frame?

Margaret Sherman ,

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