Last night I found a shop in Florida that had a few Rolaframe roller bars. I find it hard trying to work with the 18″ roller bars turned vertical (Pet All Dogs) and much prefer working horizontally.
The Rolaframe setup that I have, and love, comes in three floor stand sizes. The smallest size will accommodate a roller bar up to 28″, which is what I have in the floor frame I showed yesterday.
Here’s a great video of the Rolaframe with the guy who makes them. By the way, if you’re wanting one, contact a local needlework shop or Shepherd’s Needle in AR sells and ships them and they are super nice people. As I said, anything Rolaframe is hard to find right now so be prepared to grab whatever you want when you find it. Shepherd’s Needle is pretty much out of everything at the moment but they do have more on order.
In a comment, someone asked why I didn’t order longer roller bars so I could make it wider and it would fit over the recliner. First, for that small frame, I have the largest roller bar it can use. Second, the next size up is $200. Third, any Rolaframe anything is extremely hard to get. When I ordered mine, I got what I could find. I think the small was $150. I thought about it and figured I won’t be making anything larger than 28″, not in the foreseeable future.
But that comment got me to thinking and I contacted Dan, the Rolaframe man, this morning to see if I could buy the wider back bar for the small frame. He is amazingly responsive to questions and he wrote me right back. The back bar is what the various frame sizes fit into and the small frame holds a 8″ to a 28″ roller. The medium frame holds from 28″ to 38″ rollers and the large holds 38″ to 45″ rollers. The back bar is what actually determines the distance between the legs. Dan told me that yes, I could order the medium (or large) back bar but with the medium, I can only use 28 to 38″ rollers .. cannot use 8″ to 27″. I was thinking that wouldn’t work because I usually do smaller pieces but then I thought . . just because I have a 28″ roller (which I already have but will still need larger) doesn’t mean I HAVE to use it all. I could mount a 10″ piece of fabric on a 28″ roller. It’s like a longarm .. because your rollers are 14′ long, you can still do a 12″ (or smaller) quilt block. So, Tuesday, I’ll call the shop where I’ve ordered my frames and get her to order me an extra back bar. I will have to order a set of longer rollers so make sure the legs clear the recliner but I’ll measure before placing the order. In fact, I’ll measure twice to be sure because you know how I am with measurements.
So, thank you, Cindy, for making my brain think outside the box. When I first read your comment, I thought . . great! I can do that but then realized the 28″ rollers were the longest I could use but after looking at Dan’s video, I realized the only thing different is that back bar.
Pat says
Don’t want to be rude but when Vince get there he can make you all the rollers you want. They are only dowels. I am a do it yourself person.
Judy Laquidara says
Vince has no interest in making those sorts of things. I learned a long time ago that it’s better to buy the things I want than to hound him about making them. Vince wants to find a place on the water once he gets here and spend a lot of time there. I don’t think he wants to be making things for me. The rollers are just dowels but they’ve been cut in half lengthwise and have tiny little sharp nails every inch or so that grabs the fabric, and the top half fits back over it so there’s no pinning to do. I’ll gladly pay $25+ for a set of those and have them delivered within a few days.
Liz says
It looks like the end pieces limit the work area for your fabric. So, if you are ordering the longer back piece and rollers, you may want to check out your planned projects to see if you want to have a larger work area.
Judy Laquidara says
Actually, the end pieces on the floor stand are 12″. The ones on the lap stand are 10″ and I’ve ordered all 10″ end pieces since using both. There’s only so far I can work on front of me that’s comfortable and without my hands blocking my vision. In fact, last night when I ordered an extra set of bars, they didn’t have 10 but had 9 and 12″ end pieces and I chose the 9″. It’s one of those things I didn’t know til I used it and like you, I figured a larger work area would be better but it’s kinda like quilting . . there’s a comfort zone and for me, it’s 9 – 10″ in front of me.
cindy says
glad you figured out something you could use. love it when a seed turns into a full grown idea.
Judy Laquidara says
I would never have thought about doing that if you hadn’t mentioned it. Thank you!