Installing the Handi Quilter Moxie on The Loft Frame

Hey Creative friend, in my two previous posts, I told you all about why I decided to upgrade my thread painting machine and how I had to re-organize my studio to welcome the new machine. In this post, I’m going to share with you how Installation Day for the new machine went. So, let’s get right to talking about installing the Handi Quilter Moxie. In a later post, I’ll share my first impressions on sewing with a longarm machine with you. Ready?

Let’s do this.

So, as I told you, I left the Handi Quilter Moxie in it’s box untouched. So when the day arrived for the installation team to arrive from my local retail store, I was so looking forward to seeing it unboxed and installed. In order to get to me, Jessica and Gary had to drive an hour. Our appointment was scheduled for late afternoon. I didn’t do much most of the morning, while I was waiting for them. I was so anxious. 🙂

Unboxing The Handi Quilter Moxie

The first order of business was of course to unbox the Moxie. The feeling was like that of a child on Christmas Day waiting to open her gifts. The machine came in three boxes. Two boxes contain the quilting frame and the third box the longarm machine and a starting kit. The frame needed to be installed first since it needed to be in place so that the machine can be placed on top of it.

The folks at Handi Quilter have partnered with the app called BLT. You’ll find it in the App Store on your phone. When you download the app, it gives you step by step instructions on how to install the Handi Quilter Moxie.

Handi Quilter has different frames. The loft frame is what ships with the Handi Quilter Moxie. It’s light weight and easy to fit into a small space. The Handi Quilter Moxie loft frame is 8 feet in length. There’s an option to extend it to 10 feet if you want. Mine is the standard 8-foot option.

Setting Up the Frame

After the frame had been removed from he box, it was installed upside down. There are a ton of screws involved in this installation. We found out that it’s better to dump the screws out of the bags and sort them into the different types in plastic containers for easy access.

After the legs of the frame were assembled, the next thing was to flip the frame back into the right position.

Setting up the Carriage

Then, the carriage was installed on top of it. The carriage is the assembly on which the sewing machine sits. This is what gives the sewing machine the ability to move back and forth on the frame. The frame remains stationery, while the carriage moves.

Finally, it was time to unbox the sewing machine itself. While setting up the Loft Frame, there was really no need for the sewing machine. So it stayed in its box patiently or perhaps impatiently waiting its turn.

Then, the moment of truth came and the Handi Quilter Moxie was pulled out of its box for us to see it. It’s a beautiful machine. Light weight and not very big. It’s throat space is 15 inches which is almost twice the size of my old faithful. It’s budget friendly, not too many bells and whistles – a perfect transition to longarm quilting if you’re used to quilting on a domestic machine like me.

Setting up the sewing machine

The Handi Quilter Moxie comes with a useful accessory kit that includes a standalone bobbin winder, threads from Superior Threads, practice fabric. and bobbins, among other things.

When you look at the photos of the machine in the box, you’ll notice that the handle bars are separate from the machine itself. So after Jessica and Gary had placed the machine on to the carriage, they had to attach the handle bars separately. It involved removing that lime green rectangle on top, screwing in the handle bars and then screwing the green plate back on top.

After that, all that was left to be done was to assemble the poles, put them through the machine and then attach the leaders.

For anyone who’s new to a longarm machines like I am, let me explain. The poles are passed through the machine and held by the ratchet assembly at the two ends of the frame. If you watch closely, you’ll see holes at the end of the frame. This is where the poles will stop.

After, this then you can attach the leaders to the poles. The leaders are long strips of fabric that you attach to the poles with velcro. Then when you’re ready to load up your quilt on the longarm, you’ll pin each individual layer of your sandwich (top, batting, and backing) to to each leader( or cloth strips). That’s how your work is set up for quilting.

It was one long day

By the time we got to this point it was dark outside, we’d been at it for hours and we just couldn’t complete the installation for more reasons than one.

So, we decided to finish up and do the basic Getting Started on Your Moxie training the next day.

It was a long day. I was tired by day’s end. This wasn’t the last thing for me to do that day. I still had some previously scheduled video meetings to attend. I took a couple of photos with the Handi Quilter Moxie and that was it. The day ended with me not getting to play with my Moxie.

It was all good. I got my basic training the next day. I’ll tell you all about that in my next post.

If you’re enjoying these posts, please let me know in the comments and share with someone.

To see all the posts in this Handi Quilter Moxie series go to My Moxie and Me journal.

Warmest Regards,

PS: My installation from my local Handi Quilter reps was made up of two people. so that was great. Although, just one person can do the installation, it will take you a lot of time. If you’re planning on doing the setup by yourself, estimate about 4 to 5 hours for it.

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Also published on Medium.