lindasewsit Posted November 9, 2008 Report Share Posted November 9, 2008 For Tina or whoever else knows about this....HI!! I copied the post that you had written on march 17 on how to square your leaders. I have zippers on mine. Do I just zip them together? I haven't worried about it to much before, cause I haven't done any pantos, but I am getting ready to try one on a customer quilt. The ends of my leaders are getting shorter as they roll up. Does that make sense? Both sides on the same roller are doing this. All of my rollers are doing this. I always put my top on the leader. How do you "float" a quilt? I hear you all talking about that all the time, but really have no idea what it is. If you don't have your top on the leader, how do you make it taut? Thanks for the info! linda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitaR Posted November 9, 2008 Report Share Posted November 9, 2008 Hi Linda G. I also am eager to hear the answer to the leaders.. Mine also are pulling in at the ends.. and this is the third set of leaders on Penny, and two on the HQ and the DM I had before also did it. I suspect it's because we aren't using the whole length of the leader, and that pulls the weft threads more and makes the distortion. No idea how you'd zip the leaders together.. sounds like you have a slightly different set up than I. I have leaders on both sides of the zippers.. lolol, don't ask why.. When I "float" or "partial float" a quilt. it just means not attaching to the leaders.. I lay it on top of the backing and batting after it's all squared and snugged onto the backing roller, and machine baste across the top and part way down the sides.. starting in the middle of the top, and going each way. Then I do any border work, sashing or quilting I want to do, and again machine baste down the sides as I go. I think what is considered a partial float is only attaching the top of the quilt to the backing and batting or leader, at the top, and working without basting it down.. and I'm probably wrong.. so waiting for others to pitch in, also. RitaR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoryJM Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 I've just pinned my leaders as Tina described to square them up prior to attaching my zippers. My pinning has the quilt back leader being almost 3/4" shorter than the take-up leader on either side. For those of you that have done this before, should I unpin and re-pin from either side in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yeoldeforest Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 A full float refers to the quilt top - the quilt top is not pinned to the top roller leader and/or lower quilt top roller leader. Yes, you still baste the sides. A partial float is where the quilt top is either pinned to the top roller leader or the quilt top roller leader near the bottom but not both. Yes, you should/would still baste the top and sides to the backing and batting before you start quilting. If Tina hasn't chimed in yet, you might want to send her an email and let her know she has a question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maree Posted November 10, 2008 Report Share Posted November 10, 2008 I too had off centred canvas. I attached my zips matching their centres to the canvas centres, but always had pulling to one side of my backing,. When I zipped my backing canvas roller to my takeup canvas roller, there was about 1 1/2 inch difference. I took off my back zip and centred to my takeup canvas/zip and resewed on and remarked my backing canvas. Now everything is rolling up square and no more pulling. My end of the canvas are coming in and will not stay even with the end that is glued to the roller, but it doesn;'t seem to affect anything. I only pin my quilt top to the backing fabric and batting near the take up roller and hang the remainder under the top roller and onto the floor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoryJM Posted November 11, 2008 Report Share Posted November 11, 2008 Linda, for whatever its worth, as I recall you would zip your two leaders together, roll them fully onto each take up bar and then leave them in the middle. If they have some extra fabric, I believe you're just supposed to spray them with water and allow them to dry over night. This will apparently tighten them up. I've just pinned and unpinned my leaders again. This time instead of going from the center out, I pinned each end together and worked my way across. I still have over 1/4 extra on the take up leader on both sides, once everything was nice and tidy and straight. I sewed a line across using the channel locks and it turned out exactly as the first line did, so I'm assuming everything is square. I also sent a private e-mail to Tina to have her look for this message. Hopefully she will see it and post shortly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VictoriaG Posted November 11, 2008 Report Share Posted November 11, 2008 Linda Are your zippers set up so you can zip the pickup roller and the backing roller together? Then spritz them with water and let the center shrink back up. It is your center that has stretched out. (not the sides shrinking). Then you will have to also do the water spritz for the quilt top canvas, when it is zipped to the pick up roller. This will shrink them but it does not mean they are "square". I assume you want to try to float the top because you want to stitch off the edge of the quilt top because you are using a panto. Attach the backing to the pickup roller zipper. The batting should line up at the top with the backing too. I attach both to the zipper. Down about 2 inches from the zipper stitch a horizontal line across the backing and batting (channel lock) to use as a matching line for your quilt top. Center the quilt top along the stitched horizontal line. The quilt top has to be pinned on (and eased in if the top border is too wide). At this point you may want to loosely baste the top edge (of the quilt top) from the center out to each side so it will remain stable. I use adhesive spray lightly on the sides between the top and batting so I can panto stitch on and off the sides without the fabric flipping back up. But some prefer to baste the sides. If your quilt will have extreme use, you may want to start and stop on the edges so they will not unravel under the binding. Hope we get to see pictures later. vg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindasewsit Posted November 11, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 11, 2008 Thanks you guys! I love this place for help!! You're the best!! My DH and I checked things out this afternoon. ( I zipped the leaders together.) There is only about 1/8 to 1/16 difference in the middle of my leaders. (side to side) The right and left sides are the same..(even_ I am thinking that that will be ok. ?? linda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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