BLOG - From Fabric Store Confusion to Longarm Love: My Journey into Longarm Quilting

Back in 2016, I was working part-time in a fabric shop when customers kept asking if I knew any “longarm quilters.” Every time, I’d nod politely while secretly thinking, a long-what now? I’d never even seen one of these mysterious machines. Honestly, I felt like the only quilter in Australia who hadn’t got the memo.

Here’s the thing: while some quilters live for piecing, I’ve always been more interested in the quilting itself. I’d happily throw together a quilt top just so I could get to the stitching part. So when I finally learned what a longarm machine could do, I was instantly intrigued.

Of course, before diving in, I decided to “test my limits” by quilting a queen-sized quilt on my poor little domestic machine. Let me tell you — that was a workout. Wrestling a mountain of fabric through that tiny throat space was like doing yoga with dumbbells. Achieving neat stitches? Not so much. That was my lightbulb moment: if I wanted to keep quilting (and keep my shoulders intact), I needed a longarm.

After some determined searching, I found a second-hand Handi Quilter on Gumtree. Somehow I managed to get it set up without burning the house down or breaking the machine, and then came the real fun — learning to use it. Spoiler: I was terrible. My feathers looked like mutant bananas, I’d lose track of where I was going mid-design, and there were a few evenings where I nearly hurled the whole quilt out the window. But bit by bit, it started to click.

Fast forward, and that scrappy beginning turned into quilting for charity, then clients, and eventually a full-time business. Now I'm booked out weeks in advance and I get to work on incredible quilts every week, each with its own story and style. Honestly, it still blows my mind that this is my job.

So, from fabric-store confusion to longarm love — that’s how it all started. Looking back, I’m glad I didn’t know what I was in for. If someone had shown me my first feather attempt and said, “One day this will be your business,” I’d have laughed them out of the shop. But here we are — unpicking, stitching, laughing, and loving it.

Lyndelle xx