Quilting in Motion: Featuring the Hummingbird Hoop

Hey everyone, thank you so much for tuning in to our live event. My name is Nikki LaFoy, and we're going to be talking for the next hour or so about this fabulous product, the Hummingbird Hoop from the Grace Company. So I'm gonna be demonstrating for you how we use this, how it works, and if you're watching live, if you have any questions, type those into the comment section and I will answer as many questions as I can. So this hoop is fabulous for helping you finish your quilting projects because you can use it even in a smaller space. So it's sort of a combination of free motion quilting, hoop, and frame quilting because instead of, you know, moving your your machine around.

And moving the pen around, you know, if you were drawing, you're moving the paper around underneath the needle. And we have these ball bearing wheels on the bottom of these four legs that allows your hoop to just slide around so easily. As you move from. Your, you know, your one quiltable area to the next as you unclip and, and re-hoop. So, it's kind of like an embroidery hoop in that way.

You're working in this area, one section at a time. All throughout your project. So, I did have a couple of questions coming in um about the different machines that you can use this hoop with. So, Um, you can use this hoop with any domestic machine. It does change the area of your quiltable area a little bit depending on your throat space of your machine and the width of the base.

Because you can only go. Back as far until the the rail back here hits the back of the throat of your machine and then. Until the back of your needle hits this rail as it comes forward. And obviously you don't want to go. That far.

You want to give yourself a little buffer. And the um the clips, the clamps that come with this hoop, you have 2 side clamps and then 4 clamps to go on the takeup rail and the front rail. 2 for each. They have these markings on them to help you navigate and help you see your quiltable area. So on the side, we have this one white mark which tells you the upper edge of your quiltable area.

So you don't want to go further than that or you risk you know bumping into this take-up rail. And you don't want to, you know, bounce off of that. That can jar your quilting. So you want to make sure you have enough space back there and those markings really help. And the markings, um, it doesn't matter which way you have this because the marking is on each side.

So even if you get it flipped, it's still marking you, your. The edge of your quiltable area up here. And then. The edge of your quiltable area down here depends on this width, like I was saying. Um, so the, the larger the space you have here, the more quiltable area you'll be able to do at a time, but you can, this, this hoop is adjustable for, for machines that have a smaller, um, throat space.

So you can use this on any domestic machine. So Sheila Ann had asked, will this work with a FOF creative vision? And yes, absolutely. And um a cam, or a calm, sorry, had asked, will this work with any sit-down long arm such as a sweet 16 and others. And the cool thing about this hoop frame, or this hoop rather, is at the Grace Company, they wanted you to be able to use this with as many machines as possible.

So the legs on the sides are adjustable. The height can go up and down and you can also spin the leg. So if you. Pull out on the little tab, it spins and you have another set of ball bearing wheels. On this side, so we, this is how I have it for my machine, and if you spin it.

You have ball bearing wheels down here as well as over here. So that allows the hoop to sit closer to the table for those machines whose bed sits down at your table height. You also want to make sure that you have enough space in front of your machine, um, enough space on your table in front of the machine, because you want enough space to bring this hoop back toward you to the upper edge of your quiltable area. So here's the edge of the bed of my machine. You need this space in front so that the wheels don't fall off the edge of your table in front here.

So make sure you have enough space. Um, in front and around side to side because we are going over here and pulling it over here. So you want to make sure you have enough space around. And this hoop comes with this mat. So it's a nice smooth mat that allows these wheels to slide around really easily.

So, you get the benefit of being able to free motion quilt easily, um, almost like using a frame, but if you have a smaller workspace, you don't have the room to set up a frame in your sewing and quilting room. This gives you a lot of the benefits of that. Gives you great control over moving the quilt and I think this is especially helpful when doing larger projects even though I'm demonstrating a small one today, but for larger projects it's really difficult sometimes to be hauling something big and heavy around under the needle. So with the hoop you clip it to all four sides you know you can see I've got my edges of mine rolled up and clipped so that they are out of the way here. I'm not dragging anything around on the table and you can see it's nothing for me.

I'm just using my fingertips to push the wheels and it's so easy to drive that around. It takes. It takes no effort at all. So I think it's a lot less taxing on your shoulders and arms rather than you know pushing something big and bulky around. You just.

It's the same sort of motion, but it takes a lot less effort. So, I'm going to be checking my questions over here intermittently. So, if you have any questions about this product, please feel free to type them in and we can discuss. But I'm going to get started on quilting my project in my next quiltable area. So that you can see this in action.

And then when I'm all done, I'm I'll unclip it and take it off and show you the different elements of the hoop so that you can see a little more clearly when I don't have my project on it. But to start, so I've already done my one quiltable area over here. So, I'm starting again right where I ended. So, when I ended, I cut my thread. You don't necessarily have to do that.

You can actually leave the needle down in the fabric and move the hoop as you re-hoop for your next zone. And I'll show you what that looks like. But because I did this earlier, I did cut my thread, which you can do. Because it's really easy to then pick that back up. So I'm going right over where I stopped.

And I'm starting again, so I'm going to bring my bob and thread up. So there's my bobbing thread. And then put the needle back down and I'm just going to start my meander again. So I'm just kind of nudging the frame or or the hoop around and I've got a stitch regulator sensor underneath my fabric working for me. So as I move the hoop around it's, it is telling the needle how fast to go based on how quickly I move the fabric, how quickly it senses the fabric is moving.

And I wish I could talk and quilt at the same time, but I'm not there yet, so I will pause when I have something to say, but I want to show you how easy it is to just I'm doing my meander to the other edge of my quiltable area. And then I want to show you how I re-hoop. So here we go. All right, and I'm gonna stop there. I could probably go a little bit further before I get too close to this edge that this side, um, becomes in danger of bumping into this edge of the base of my machine, but because I only have a little bit left of my project, I'm gonna stop there.

Now, you can leave the needle down. Let me show you how I just slide this over. So, I'm unclipping. um, the hoop comes with these really nice bungee clips so that you can roll up. If you have a lot more excess here, you can roll it up and kind of stack it on top of this rail so that you don't have a big glob of stuff impeding your quilting the um.

The area of your, your, how much quilting area you can have. You can kind of stack it up here and then clip it, wrap it around and clip it to this clamp. And these bungee, they slide or. You can Make it so that you have more elastic here for bigger projects. So if you have a lot here, you have a lot of elastic here that you can wrap that around and clip that.

So I'm going to unclip. And unroll. Michelle says hi from Alberta, thanks for joining. Judy says this looks so smooth. Is the hummingbird hoop meant more for beginners or experienced free motion quilters?

I think that it is great for both. I think it's great for beginners um because it makes it super easy like you saw this happen it was super easy. And it's great for experienced free motion quilters as well because of all those things that I was talking about before you can quilt large things on it it's not so taxing on your shoulders you have so much control over where you are drawing with your thread by just nudging this hoop. So I think it's great for everybody honestly, but if you are looking to get into free motion quilting and it's kind of scary, I honestly think that this hoop can really help you master that skill maybe quicker or easier or with less frustration than you would have otherwise. And Michelle asks, can this do a queen quilt?

Yes, I do believe so. Absolutely. The largest thing I've done on, on this to date is a 30 by 45, so it was like a wall hanging, but it was really easy to fit in here and a queen size quilt it's going to be very large. You're gonna have a lot to roll up, but like I just showed you with these, these elastic things, if you have a lot extra, you roll it up, you clip it, and it keeps it out of the way. And also I found.

So, when you're quilting something large on this, you can either, you know, you can start in the middle and work your way out, or if you start at one corner. And you know work over and do rows down as you get to the middle, you can then flip that around so that the bulk of the quilt is down here in front of you instead of right in here because the more bulk you get in here. It can start like spilling over and then if you bump into that, it takes away from your quiltable area. So you want to only have enough in here that you can kind of stack it up on top of this rail so that it's not, you know, taking up space back here but you can flip it so that the bulk stays down here. So I'm unclipped, and when you go to rezone to your next quiltable area.

You can just slide this hoop underneath. And that's a great method for when you're working with something large too if you don't want to be messing around with moving that big thing. Um, to slide it over, to slide the hoop over. You don't have to slide your big queen size quilt over to slide the hoop over. But I am actually going to cut my thread because I still need to baste this edge.

So I'm going to do that before I. Um Before I, I reclamp. So, I am, Just cutting my bob and thread right there. And then I'm going to realign my project. And reclamp.

So when you rehoop for the different zones, you want to have a little bit of your, your previous quilting in your next quiltable area so that um. So that You can pick up where you left off and it doesn't look like, you know, there's no space in between the last zone. Karla says hi from Florida. How easy is it to set up and take down between projects? Hello Karla, thank you so much for watching.

It is very, very easy and it doesn't take up a lot of space, which is another one of the huge benefits of this because if you have a small space that you are sewing and quilting in like me, I share my sewing room with the guest room. So I can't really set up a frame. But this hoop takes care of that because you only need. Your table space that you, you know, use for. Sewing and quilting And it doesn't take up more floor space, so I'm good on my, I just, I'm double checking my quiltable area here.

I'm actually gonna shift this a little bit down so I don't run into that back rail. And I will show you, after I take this project off, I'll show you how easy it is to unclip this back rail, the take-up rail, and just take it apart. Janet says, after a couple hours of quilting, my shoulders start yelling at me. I'm wondering if the hummingbird hoop really helps ease that kind of strain. And yeah, it, it really takes the load off of that motion of pushing something, especially something big and heavy, around.

Because the ball bearing wheels just make it so easy to move, no matter how big it is and especially it's very important that you, you know, clip up the edges of your project. So that that's not dragging around. And then I am rolling up. What has already been quilted. Keep that out of the way.

All right, and then I'm going to just start where I left off. So I can see easily where I left off right here. Find my bob and thread my bob and thread. I do a little lock here. Oh wait, first.

I actually, I want to um base my edges first because I wanted to show you this, how you would do this because I. It, it will be helpful in some instances, especially if you are working with something large. And if you don't want to baste all of your edges first before you go to start quilting. As you are shifting from zone to zone of your quiltable area with this hoop, you can just tack down the edges as you go. So, it's super easy.

So I just revealed these raw edges. That I have not basted down in my new quiltable area. So I'm just going to baste those down now. So let me find my bottom thread again. I'm going to lower my stitch length.

To a basting length stitch and I'm just going to then. Based My edges. Remove my pins as I get to them. And So this way My edges don't shrink up on me. Super easy to tack these down.

I don't have to, you know, pivot and move my project. I'm just driving my poop around. OK, here we go. I'm all basted down and now good to go to start quilting. Cut my bobbing thread.

And then bring me back to where I stopped quilting in the last zone. And if you have other questions about um this product. Do type them in the comment section, but you can also go to the product page and there's a link below this video for more information on this and also um a PDF download for my project that I'm quilting on. So I'm, oop, make sure I. Turn my stitch length back up.

So I'm just Starting where I left off with my meander. There we go. I just quilted off the edge. And going to cut my bobbin thread. So you can see how quickly.

I just. Quilted that quiltable area. Um, this was 3 hoopings for my project and even if you have something larger, the, the zones go, you know, one right after the other. It goes really quickly and you get really good at, you know, taking it off and re-hooping and knowing where your quiltable area is when you're first starting out, the manual is actually really good for this product just like with all the products I've encountered from the Grace Company. They have a really good manual.

And they actually give you this. In addition to the manual, you get a nice little cheat sheet. A laminated cheat sheet where you can take notes on, which is fabulous. I'm a chronic note taker. Um, but the manual is super great about, uh, walking you through learning the product and getting comfortable with using it, getting comfortable with recognizing your quiltable area, you know, you can put painter's tape or something down in the front here so that you can easily see the end of your quiltable area on the front.

And then these rails have, or these clamps have marks on them too, as well as the side clamps. We have 3 different marks on each of these longer rails or clamps. So that you can use those to help you visually align and just visually, you know, note where the edge of your quiltable area is, which, like I said, is going to be a little different depending on what machine you have. The larger the throat space you have, the better because your quiltable area will be larger and it'll just make it quicker to get through your project with the fewer re-hoopings you have to do. But it's not hard to rehoop and like I said, you get really good at it.

So I am going to unclip. And Un clamp. And the clamps are, are great and you know, easy to use for clipping your project in the hoop and keeping it taut, you know, you wanna have some tension on it. So, you clamp it down and you can even actually kind of twist it if you need to put a little bit more tension on it. It's really easy.

So, I'm going to pull my project out and you can see the back. You can see the lines a little bit better on the back than the front, but it's just beautiful and smooth and anywhere that I joined my, my zones, my quiltable areas, and if you cut your thread rather than just leaving the needle down and shifting. You'll have little thread tails that you can clip or, you know, put on, on a hand sewing needle and slip through the project to hide. So, I wanted to make sure I had time to show you the hoop. So, without my project on it, you can see a little bit better.

This is it. This is your hoop. We've got our elastics. That They Velcro So you can take them off. I just leave mine on even when I'm storing this.

And so to take this apart. It was Carla who asked to take this down. It's really easy. Um, we twist the take-up rail. To pop that off and then.

You can either, when you take this off, you can put this take-up rail back on and just store it because it's nice and flat like this. You pull these and twist to. Set down the um the legs so that everything is flush. You've got a nice flat package here. You can put this back on or you can actually you can take these legs off as well and just store these four pieces so it it flattens down even further than this but I find that this is.

It doesn't take up much space. I just set it. I set it like this in the back of my closet until I need it again, and you hardly know it's there. So easy to take down and you can see a little bit better now the wheels, um, the ball bearing wheels. So I had it like This, so that the wheels down here or what I was resting on.

But you can see the other set of ball bearing wheels here so that you can twist it this way and have those down so that that sets. Closer to the table for if your machine is down, um, on your table. So it's really adjustable for your machine, what you're using, and the legs. The the height adjusts really easy too. So to adjust the height of the legs when they're like this, you just push and then you can.

Pull these up or down. To adjust the height so that The hoop and your fabric is sitting as close as it needs to sit to the bed of your machine to do your free motion quilting. And Sandra may have just answered your question, but can this work with any domestic machine or do I need a specific brand or throat size? No specific brand needed. No specific throat size.

Although, if your throat is very small, your quiltable area is going to be quite small, and, um, it might be. A little bit, it will take you a long time, you know, to finish your project, so let me pop this back on. Real quick. Because The smaller your, um, Your throat space. So when the hoop is pushed all the way back, you're going to lose even a little bit more.

So your throat space is not necessarily your quiltable size. You're going to lose a couple of inches here and you're going to lose a couple of inches here because your needle can't reach exactly to the edge of the hoop. You're going to lose a little bit here. So, if you have a 10 inch throat space and you lose, you know, a couple of inches here and here. Your quiltable area gets a little bit small.

Um, but all of the other benefits of this hoop still apply. It's easy to re-hoop. It's easy to move your project around as you are quilting, and it just, it makes it a little bit more accessible. I feel like to free motion quilt, especially something larger. So send in those questions if you have any questions um I really have enjoyed learning on this hoop and I have only free motion quilted some smaller projects before I got this hoop to try and then I was able to um to expand into something larger.

And it's really fun to be able to then. Quilt your own projects and you know finish your pile of to be finished quilts um rather than. Um, either having to send it out to a long armor or having to try and think about, oh, how can I rearrange my sewing room to fit a frame in here, this takes care of that problem and it sort of combines those things as long as you have your table um that's large enough for this mat. And then you need a little bit of space at the back of this mat too for the for the butt of your machine or for the excess behind the throat to sit on. So that is all you need and it's really easy to learn how to use like I said not only um.

Do we have a really thorough manual, but it's just kind of intuitive once you. You play around on it and you, you get the hang of it. It is really easy to use. Um, Linda asked, how does the hoop stay in place while quilting? So when I had my.

My project hooped in here actually let me throw this back on. So, I'm going to just slide this over here in no particular place, but we have these clamps. So, I like to keep my. Uh, my Velcro, uh, clips here right underneath my clamps. So your clamps snap on.

The rails So we've got our 2 up here, 1 on each side and then 2 on the front rail. So I'm thinking that's what that question meant. How does it stay in place while quilting? So our. Our project stays in place while quilting with these clamps and then.

We use our Clips To Come over and clip onto the clamps. So if you have a lot of excess, like I was talking about earlier. It keeps it out of the way. Where did my clip go? There it is, and my clip.

I missed it with my clamp, but I can just slide it around like that and it still clips. Roll this one up. And that clips. So, Your quilt stays in place, it stays taut. Sometimes it takes me a couple of different tries when I'm re-hooping things to make sure it stays within the quiltable area.

I have, I might have to adjust, um, bringing my project either up or back to make sure that I can get this upper edge. And then it might take a couple of tries for me to, you know, fidget with it a little bit here and there to make sure it's taut in the hoop. And like I said, I can twist these a little bit this way or this way if I need to add a little bit more tension or decrease it. And then our project stays really nicely clipped in. So everything is just super easy to control.

Linda says this just made it onto my Christmas list. It looks like a game changer for free motion quilting. I love that. Yes, this is a fabulous Christmas present for, for a quilter or someone who has been wanting to get into free motion quilting, um, because it does give you a lot of control. So sometimes if you're, you know, working with something large like we've been talking about.

It is hard to To get control over exactly where that thread is laying down because you're struggling, you're struggling to move this thing around, but you have so much control with this hoop just sliding around super, super easily with those ball bearing wheels. So it is, it's a game changer not only for for that control um for making it easy, but for the space element like I mentioned because you don't need a lot of space to set this up you just need your table and you know this mat rolls up into a little tube so you can set that in the back of the closet. The the hoop doesn't take up any space at all. You could just slide that somewhere when you're not using it. So, really easy to break down.

And then get back to your regular sewing when you're done quilting your project. So, Um, this has been super fun for me to learn how to work on, and I'm using the Little Rebel from the Grace Company which has a nice big throat space and you know light underneath the arm, um, and that stitch regulator which you may have seen here, let me pop this off again. But the stitch regulator sensor, even if you don't have that, you know, this hoop is still super easy to use and actually. It might be, you know, of even more benefit to you if you don't have a stitch regulator because it is so, so easy to then move the fabric around under the needle. My stitch regulator senses how quickly the fabric is moving and adjusts the speed of the needle to hit the stitch length that I have specified on my machine.

So, that is right here. It's just this little. Uh, this little clear window so that it can see and sense how quickly the fabric is moving over it. But if you do not have one of those. This hoop helps you um.

Have the utmost control over the speed at which your fabric is moving. With these ball bearing wheels. So I actually, yeah, I really think that it is even more helpful if you do not have that stitch regulator. So, I'm just going to check if we have any other questions coming in. So the product is, um, is really a kind of a simple idea like an embroidery hoop uh cross between a uh a frame and a hoop and free motion quilting.

So, um, I just think it is, it is fabulous for the beginner quilter and for the experienced quilter alike. So if you have any more questions, last call, type those in. And make sure you download the PDF um that is below this video too, um, if you are interested in my, the full instructions to create my bookshelf while hanging, which was super fun for me to design and to quilt using my. My hummingbird hoop and I actually the the larger project that I made and quilted on this hoop was a kind of a sized up version of my bookshelf wall hanging. It was 30 by 45, um, and with my little rebel it gives me um about 10.5 inches this way and like 15 or so inches this way.

Of quiltable space so it just it made quick work of it to quilt that jumping from zone to zone. I just started in the upper left and I went across and then I went down to the next line and it just made such quick work of it. And it was fun and it was really easy to um to get the hang of but when you first start working on something like this um and even in the manual they they prompt you to do this to practice to to get you know uh a little scrap of something and clip it in here and just practice moving it practice the motion and it really. It comes really quickly. And you can do any sort of quilting motion.

I was just doing the simple meander, but you can, you know, get a little bit more fancy with it if that strikes you. So, it does not look like I have any more questions coming in. So, I'm going to start wrapping it up. If you have any last-minute questions to fire in while I am signing off, get those in and um if I miss it, um I can get that answered in the chat afterward. But Thank you so much for tuning in to watch the demonstration of the hummingbird hoop.

Um, like I said, it's just, it is a super easy product to learn how to use and to help you finish your projects. Quilts are super fun to make. I love doing the piecing on the front, uh, and then, you know, the actual quilting of it. Is it's almost its own discipline, it's art in and of itself. And I like to be able to.

Finish the whole project myself rather than sending it off so I have complete control over how that quilt looks at the end because I have an idea in my mind of what the quilting lines should be. So even for big projects, even for a small space, the hummingbird hoop fits your needs. Um, Shirley asks, where can this hoop be purchased? Great question, Shirley. Um, there should be a link below this video that will take you to the Grace Company website and the landing page for this.

So, there'll be more information there, um, the purchase price and how to buy it, so. Thank you again for watching and happy quilting.