HandiQuilter Moxie Longarm Review
HandiQuilter released the Moxie introductory longarm in October 2020, and was almost immediately sold out. The Moxie seeks to be a high quality yet affordable longarm for the new longarm quilter. Is it worth the hype? Spoiler: YES, and I’m going to tell you why.
(This post contains affiliate links)
For years, buying a longarm and learning how to use it has been intimidating and expensive. It’s often difficult to access longarms to learn on without buying one, but investing thousands and thousands of dollars in a large machine that you don’t know how to use yet, can feel enormously risky. Honestly, the number of quilters I met who have told me about buying a longarm only to let it sit unused (sometimes still in the box) for months or years is heartbreaking.
Enter: The Moxie.
The Moxie is high quality but affordable. Designed to be compact, but able to sit on a full sized frame, too. With the release of the Moxie, HandiQuilter has made longarm quilting accessible to so many more quilters. As a free motion quilting teacher, this makes me enormously excited because this is an excellent machine for Free Motion Quilting Rockstars who feel like a longarm is the next right step.
The General Specs
The Moxie is designed for new longarmers looking for a more efficient and affordable way to finish their quilts at home.
The Moxie itself has a 15” throat space (practically speaking, you can quilt about a 12 inch block comfortably without having to roll the quilt back and forth), includes stitch regulation, and is quite user friendly to operate.
You can get a 5’ Little Foot frame or a Loft Frame (8’ and 10’ options). I recommend choosing a frame that will allow you to walk around at least three sides of your Moxie. I access the back of the machine the least, so I have mine set up so getting behind the frame is a bit of a squeeze, but you’ll definitely want plenty of room (think 3 to 4 feet or whatever you need to face the frame and move back and forth while quilting) at the front of the frame. For example, the literal footprint of my frame is about 2 feet by 10 feet. The functional foot print, however, is more like 5-6 feet by 12-13 feet.
The base price for the Moxie is about $5000 USD, making it one of the most affordable longarm machines on the market.
What’s included?
The “standard” Moxie kit that retails from $5-6K USD includes:
The Moxie Longarm
8 foot Loft frame
3-Piece Leader Set (“leaders” are the pieces of fabric that you use to attach your quilt to the frame for quilting)
How-To-Quilt Kit
Accessory Kit with 5 bobbins, 20 needles, Pin-Point Oiler, Needle Threader, and Side Clamps
Quarter-inch Ruler Foot and Open-toe Foot
Decorative Decals to Personalize Your Machine
Stand-alone Bobbin Winder
What You Should Know About Assembling the Frame
As I referenced above, I have one of the Loft frames, and here’s the scoop on putting it together: It has a lot of screws, but it’s not actually very hard.
HandiQuilter partnered with the app BILT to provide 3D instructions. Personally, I liked the paper ones that came with the frame better.
If you’re able to get up and down and around on and from the floor pretty easily, you can build this right in the space where your machine will live. If not, I recommend using a large table to assemble as many of the pieces while standing up as possible.
Take your time. I put my frame together in several sessions over a week. Most of it can be done by one person, but you may find a second person helpful for putting the machine on the frame.
What do I think about the Moxie?
I love it! Here’s a few of my favorite things:
It’s affordable
It’s made by a major machine brand (this makes buying it, servicing it, and potentially trading up some day so much easier)
It’s sturdy and has excellent stitch quality
It comes with the option of a full size frame
It’s a pretty straight forward learning curve. I think learning about the stitch settings is the hardest part, but once you figure out what you like, you can stick with it for most projects.
I think the only thing I don’t totally love is the throat size— I would have really liked to see a 18” throat on this machine instead of 15”. But, for the Moxie’s ideal customer— a quilter finishing their own quilts to the tune of 2-10 quilts a year or so— it keeps the footprint smaller and the price down. It should be noted, though, that I don’t recommend the Moxie if you’re planning to start a longarming business. If you want to quilt for others, the smaller throat space will become a pain fast.
The Verdict
If you’re in the market for your first longarm, and you’re planning to use it to quilt your own quilts, I highly, highly recommend the Moxie. Confession: I screamed when HandiQuilter told me about the specs and price point on this machine. A truly quality and affordable longarm, especially one from a major manufacturer, has been a huge gap in the marketplace, and I’m so excited to see this little machine fitting the bill perfectly. In the recent past, an affordable longarm either didn’t exist, or you had to cobble together a jerry rigged system of a frame and machine that weren’t really made for each other. Now, though, HandiQuilter has created an ideal beginner longarm!
I always recommend shopping with your local dealer first if you can so that you have ongoing support with your machine, but if you’re interested in the Moxie and don’t have a local dealer, you can order one online with my affiliate link:
Additional Resources
Some of these resources are cited above, and the rest are additional that I think you’ll find helpful
FREEBIE: Confident Longarm Quilting Workbook
ONLINE COURSE: Longarm Preparatory
BLOG: Tension on a longarm
BLOG: Towa gauge
Share this blog if you found it helpful:
