jclark Posted October 25, 2008 Report Share Posted October 25, 2008 My husband and I spent all afternoon attempting to square my leaders using Kim Brunner and Tina Collin's instructions. We pinned the backing roller leader to the takeup roller leader, put the channel locks on and sewed a straight line on each leader--my leaders were obviously not straight. We then used that sewn line as our fold line and sewed it down. My backing roller leader still has waves and the edge is crooked, longer on each end than in the middle. What did I do wrong?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted October 26, 2008 Report Share Posted October 26, 2008 Yikes! I need to do this so I will be watching this post! I have seen recommended to pin your leaders together, dampen thm, roll them back and forth to distribute the stretched canvas, and let them dry with tension applied. How does that sound? Also, Bayside sells leader fabric--striped canvas in several colors if you want to replace one or more leader. Please post whatever works for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jclark Posted October 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2008 Linda: I am hoping some of the experts on the forum will chime in--last night I ripped out all the stitching I had put in and re-pinned the two leaders together, will try to re-sew them this morning and see what happens. The instructions posted by Tina and the ones on Kim Brunner's video are really easy to follow, I must have some really skewed leaders! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted October 26, 2008 Report Share Posted October 26, 2008 Janna, I'm sorry nobody is replying. The board is pretty quiet on the weekends. I'm no expert on this and in fact have never had to do it. I have zippers on my leaders so every 3 or 4 quilts I zip my leaders together and roll back and forth and wind it really taught to get them all lined up. If I were you I would pin them together, roll back and forth a couple of times and then run the stitching to straighten them. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junebug_one Posted October 26, 2008 Report Share Posted October 26, 2008 Hi Janna, Sorry about all of the frustration your having with your leaders. I certainly can empathize with you. I also had this problem My wonderful DH and DS help me with mine. First we took a piece of heavy twine and held it from one end of the rollers to the other to make sure the rollers them self were not warped and then we measured from one end of the take up roller across to one of the front rollers to measure the space between them. We did this on both ends of the rollers and then in the middle, to see if they were equal on all three measurements. The left side of my take up roller was an inch and an half back further then the right side. We also measured from the top of the roller to the table, to make sure it was of even height on both ends. It was not there either. So no amount of trying to square up my leaders would have helped the situation. They called my dealer and were able to find out why this was happening and fixed the problem. Then we took the leaders completly off of the poles , because by this time they were strecthed out and made sure they were square. WE then put them back on with duck tape, making sure they were lined up in the middle of the rollers. Boy, I don't have to tell you what a difference this made. It took a little bit of work, but well worth the time. Good luck and I hope this helps. Carolj. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitaR Posted October 26, 2008 Report Share Posted October 26, 2008 Carol J. thanks for the info on the poles.. I'd not thought of all that.. just checking to make sure they weren't bowed.. I'm printing this off and putting it in the manual. Many thanks, Again, RitaR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jclark Posted October 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2008 Carolj: I am going to try all the things you said, I was afraid to take the leader off the roller but I may have to and I was going to call APQS in the morning. I did re-pin this morning and re-roll a couple of times, re-stitched and it made no difference, I still have crooked leaders and waves in the canvas. I thought it was just me being new that was making all my quilts and practice pieces not be square but guess not! Thanks for your help. Heidi: I figured the forum was quiet because it was the weekend, tomorrow is Monday. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lyonden Posted October 27, 2008 Report Share Posted October 27, 2008 Janna--Don't forget that side seams on the leaders take up room and will show longer because they roll tighter. Just like a seam in the center of a backing will leave the ends wavy. Make since??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jclark Posted October 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2008 Problem solved, Amy at APQS is sending me a new canvas. Thanks for all the input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacksong Posted October 27, 2008 Report Share Posted October 27, 2008 Someone mentioned on this forum before that they do the following periodically when they are not quilting for a few days or on a trip. This is done when zippers are attached to your leaders. Zip the back leader and the front leader together. Spray with water to dampen, tighten up as you would a loaded quilt and let it dry. The cotton leaders will shrink up nice and straight. This might be a preventative maintenance procedure if you continually have problems. Is the person that mentioned this procedure still with us to clearify? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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