Squaring Leaders

[DoryJM]

Okay, you all asked for it. Tina Collins sent this to me...here you go:

Requested: Squaring Leaders- "How-To"

*I had previously posted this in another forum and was asked to repost the info here. The original post was about quilts not rolling up evenly..

Have you squared your leaders? Even if the machine is new... the leaders may not be perfectly square to your table. Also, if you have had your machine a while, maybe your leaders have stretched or been skewed by improper rolling... For example, if you advance the quilt without making sure to pull the leader tightly back to the right side after quilting right to left. When you quilt in one direction the quilt may migrate a little. This small distance of migration will be compounded dramatically over the length of the quilt, eventually resulting in leaders that have been stretched and skewed.

Here's the way to check:

1.) Pin your pick-up leader to your quilt lining leader.

2.) Roll the leaders all the way onto the pick-up roller keeping the tension between the leaders fairly tight.

3.) Then roll the leaders back all the way onto the quilt lining roller, again keeping the tension between the rollers tight.

4.) Now roll back to the middle, where the pinned leader edges are in your sewing field.

5.) Using your channel lock, stitch a horizontal line (on the pick-up leader) as close to the pinned edge as possible.

6.) Move your needle below the pinned edges and sew another horizontal line (using your channel lock) on the quilt lining leader as close to the pinned edges as possible.

These horizontal stitched lines on each leader will be perfectly square to your table. If you see a difference in length between the stitched line and the edge on the same leader, then your leaders are not square. Here's how to fix:

7.) Unpin your leaders.

8.) On each leader, turn down the edge, so that the stitched line is exactly on the edge of the leader and sew down.

9.) ADDITIONAL NOTE ADDED TO POST LATER :

P.S. Whoops! - Thought I had better add that I also stitch a new center line across both leaders using my vertical Channel lock while they are pinned together.... just to be sure!

After you have confirmed your leaders are square, then you can check to make sure the problem is NOT in your pick-up roller by simply placing a 90 degree square tool to measure the height of your pick-up roller from the table. Also, if you look at the eyebolts that hold the roller, you should see the same number of visible threads exposed. You can also place a level on each roller and adjust the eyebolts. This will only work IF your table is perfectly level.

To make sure your leaders are rolling up squarely every time, you can repeat steps 1 -6 and measure the distance between the stitched line and the STRAIGHT SQUARED edge to see if the distance remains the same across each individual leader.

I never use my quilt top leader, so I didn't mention it. If you do not full float, and are using this leader, you will have to square it as well (pin to the pick-up leader and proceed with the squaring process)

I place a piece of painter's tape on my quilt top leader right above both edges of the quilt to visually confirm that my quilt rolls up straight each time. Simply look to make sure the tape remains at both quilt edges after each advance.

I know this all sounds complicated, but it is really easy to do. Hope this helps!!

Tina Collins

APQS

Jackson, MO

tina@apqs.com

(573)576-3160

[Georgene]

Thank you. I REALLY need to do this.

[PattyJo]

Thanks Tina and Dory too. I've printed off a copy to keep on hand cause I know that I'll need these someday.

[KathG]

Thanks so much Dory and Tina, added to my favourites for the future .

[Linda G. Craig]

Oh, I was hoping you'd post the info. Thanks so much!