MartelliGripper Rings - 8" and 11" Free Motion Quilting Hoop Set - Made in The USA

This should be a 5 star review. It is intended to hold fabric in place and flat whilst free motion quilting, it does this beautifully. However, the bag holding the screws (for adding the handles) was split and consequently one of the four screws was missing. Furthermore one of the handles was incompletely bored, the hole for the screw was too small for the absent screw. So why did I keep this item? I kept it because it was too much of an inconvenience to send it back and I can still use it. Amazon simply aren’t set up for requesting a single screw, everything or nothing goes back.

These gripper rings are a game changer for my free motion quilting. I was having the hardest time moving my large quilts around smoothly. To say I was beyond frustrated was an understatement. I came across these rings when doing research. I was impressed by the reviews so I decided to try them out. My free motion quilting is fun again. These rings grip nicely without pulling. I'm able to move my quilt around at any speed allowing me to quilt with more precision and confidence. Moving to the next area of my quilt is super easy, just lift the ring and move it appropriately. Amazon had the best price so that was an added bonus plus if these did not work out...easy return policy.

I bought these 3 months ago and love them. I find that I can relax my shoulders and arms more compared to just using gloves. They give me great control with free motion quilting. My hands don’t get tired either. I bought the set of large and small rings. My sewing machine has a larger throat and an extension table. If you don’t have this I think that the smaller hoop size would be better. I have used both but prefer the larger size

I have had trouble getting started on FMQ, as I can’t seem to hold the layers in place while moving them at the same time. Gloves are inadequate for me. The small plastic semi-rectangles that are supposed to hold the layers are small and don’t work well. I came across these when searching for hexagon shapes mentioned in a quilting YouTube video. They seemed as if they might fit my need. I have now tried them and they do the job! You must be careful in placing them under the presser foot—in fact, removing the foot first might be best. Once you have arranged your Martelli hoop, put your foot on, you really can do all the adjusting you need to do to comoplete your quilting. Yes, a bit of an investment, but one that was worth it for me.

The rings work really good for gripping the quilt when doing free motion on. Sit down long arm machine. I was hesitant at first because of the price.....but they are well worth the investment if you have lots of quilting to do.

So much nicer than having to wear gloves. Every quilter should have this! It's rather spendy, but once you get over that and receive and get used to using it, it's great!