keeping sides of quilt even/straight

[bonbon]

Any suggestions on how to keep the sides of a quilt even?

When I'm doing pantos, I plan the beginning and end of a row, quilt the row, but when I roll the quilt forward, the sides of the don't always line up with the start and stop points. I'd like the design to line up and be consistent to the end of the quilt.

[Jhend]

I bought a zero tape measure and that really has helped me to see if my sides are rolling up correctly. Maybe your leaders are stretched, have you checked them?

[Guest Linda S]

I also have the zero-centered tape on my take-up leader, but the other indispensible tool I use is painter's tape! Once the quilt is centered, I put a strip of painter's tape on each side on the leveler bar, indicating where the quilt should end on each side. As I advance the quilt, I smooth it out to each side to meet that piece of tape, pin it, and then baste the edges down. I also wrap my leaders with a strip of tape (until I get to the point where they need to move away from the bar) so that they don't droop and sag on the ends when I have a smaller quilt on the table. I like to think this will help keep my leaders from stretching in weird ways. That tape is not very expensive and you can use it again and again!

Linda

[PattyJo]

Thanks for the tip Linda. I'll use that painters tape as you suggested. I also use that tape on the panto plastic cover to mark my start and stop places so that I'm not going off into outter space!

[Guest Linda S]

Yes, that's another good use for it. Gotta love that painter's tape!

Linda

P.S. you can also use it to keep your hair out of the way when quilting, or for other fabulous fashion statement uses!