LongArm Quilting at

Upgrade to Mastery

So you're competent with the LongArm and want to know more? The Upgrade to Mastery is a ten-week course designed to complete your LongArm training. Upon completion of this course, you will be competent to operate and maintain a longarm and to evaluate and quilt tops.

Mastering the LongArm

Trains the student to mastery of the APQS Millenium longarm quilting machine. At the completion of training, the student, on passing a final exam, is qualified to use the Moon Star Studio longarm on their own, without supervision, at a reduced leasing rate.

Topics to be Covered

• Orient on Machine
  • Quilt Rollers
  • Table
  • Sewing Head
  • Sewing Area
    • Bobbin Race
    • Stitch Length Regulator
    • Controls
    • Indicator Lights
  • Accessories
    • Bobbin Winder
    • Thread Spindles
    • Thread Lubricator
    • Rulers
    • Hartley Fence
• Machine Management
  • Power Up
  • Threading
  • Bobbin Threading
  • Controls
  • Stitch Length Regulation
  • Clean and Lubricate
  • Needle Replacement
  • Thread Tensioning
  • Carriage Maintenance
• Loading
  • Check Quilt Top
    • Common Problems
  • Prep Quilt Top
  • Check Quilt Back
  • Sew on Leaders
  • Load
    • Zip In
    • Tension Quilt
• Quilting
  • Common Topics
    • Locking Thread Ends
    • Monitoring Thread Tension
    • Common Problems
    • Correcting Errors
  • Freehand Quilting
    • Doodling a Quilt
    • Sources for Patterns
    • Developing “Styles”
  • Channel Lock Quilting
    • Grid Quilting
    • Basting for Hand Quilting
  • Pantograph Quilting or All-over Quilting
    • Learning a Pattern
    • Aligning Pantograph Rows
    • Sources for Patterns
    • Designing Your Own
  • Using Rulers
    • Expansion Plate
    • Sources for Rulers
  • Stitch-in-the-Ditch
    • Using Rulers to Stabilize Lines
    • Using Channel Lock to Stabilize Lines
    • Stitching on the Low Side
  • Pattern Quilting
    • Marking Patterns
    • Paper Patterns
    • Using Rulers to Stabilize Lines
    • Sources for Patterns
    • Designing Quilt Patterns
• Unloading/Finishing
  • Unload/unzip
  • Remove Leaders
  • Trim Loose Threads
    
• Recommended Resources
  • Books
  • Websites

  ©Moon Star Studio, 2004

What's Included?

This complete course takes you from competency to operate a longarm quilting machine to mastery of a variety of quilting techniques and full understanding of the care and feeding of a longarm. Included in the course is:

• 10 individual 4-hour lessons, mostly spent hands-on with Moon Star Studio’s APQS Millenium LongArm.
  
• While some of the training is done on muslin, students can typically complete several of their own quilts during the course of the training.
  
• Study Notes identifying the topics to be covered in each lesson.
  
• Access to Moon Star Studio’s quilting library, including books, videos, patterns, etc.
  
• Customization of the training to focus on areas of special interest to you. For example, if you favor pattern quilting over pantograph work, more emphasis will be placed there.
  
• Training should be scheduled on a regular basis, e.g., every Thursday evening. Training can proceed faster if desired by scheduling more than one session per week.

What's It Cost?

The complete course costs $749.

A $149 deposit plus $200 for the first two lessons is due at commitment, with an additional $100 due at each of the third thru sixth lessons.

Practice Quilts

A descriptive list of quilts you will use to practice on in the course of mastering the LongArm.