Zipper Leaders - Help, please!

[ecmoore]

Hi All;

 

I'm back on the longarm - first time since my mom died a year ago, and I'm so very, very frustrated, because she's the one I'd call over this. I have a zippered leader set, I'm trying to baste my backing onto the tape of the zippers, and no matter what I try, the zippers are, for lack of a better word, curving. When I go to zip the backing onto the longarm, there's a really noticeable flare each of the corners - and the fabric is stretched so much I'm concerned about it tearing. This has, if memory serves, been a problem since I got the zippered leaders, but I don't recall it being quite this bad.

 

My setup:

 

APQS Millenium 2010, stock leaders. The zippers sewn to the leaders on the machine also "ruffle" a little bit if I zip any of the machine mounted ones together, especially near the middle. I figure they probably drew up a little bit while my machine sat for a year, and have sprayed them with water, zipped them together, and put the whole shebang under tension to try to get the leaders back to rights, while I fight with this, but my math indicates that this'll make the backing stretch worse, rather than better).

 

Bernina 440QE with Zipper foot. Pressure set at about 20 (but the issue persists no matter what the pressure is set at).

 

Aurifil thread (50 wt)

 

New needle

 

Kona fabric for the backing.

 

My attachment method is to mark centres, pin centre of backing to centre of zipper, then start from the centre and stitch out to the edge. (anything else resulted in all the stretch being on one side, at least this way, it's equal)

 

Flare when on the Longarm is 5-8", on each side. Backing is about 110" wide.

 

I've tried all of the following, one at a time, and the issue's persisted:

 

- Shortening the stitch from 5mm to 2.4mm

- Stitching closer to the zipper teeth (fabric started to tear out because it was only a mm away from the edge)

- Stitching further away from the zipper teeth (about as far as I could get)

- Not using the zipper foot at all, but attempting the walking foot instead (shockingly ineffective, but worth a try)

- Switching threads to a basic Gutermann Sew-All from Jo-Anns

- Tightening the tension on the thread (bobbin and top)

- Loosening the tension on the thread (bobbin and top)

- Changing the pressure on the presser foot - down to 20/21 from 42

- The issue's been persistent with different backing fabrics (muslin, stonehenge wide back, etc)

 

Admittedly, the Bernina's probably more than due for a tuneup, but I'm out of ideas and the waitlist for that for both local dealers is in the weeks - months range, which I don't have for this quilt or the next one. Has anyone faced this? How did you resolve it? (I tried searching both the forum and the internet and didn't find anything, which tends to indicate that it's something I'm doing wrong, I just can't for the life of me figure out -what-.) Any help would be so gratefully appreciated, I really don't know what else to try or where else to go.

[Zora]

I try to always sew the selvage edge of the backing to the leaders to minimize the stretch of the backing. I think wetting the canvas would make the situation worse, since the canvas shrinks.

[ecmoore]

Lynn,

 

My thought process, such as it was, was like stretching jeans - wetting would allow for stretch, and adding tension while it dried would allow it to hold that shape (which it appears to have done - the leader zippers are now flat for all but about 8" in the centre.)

 

That just exacerbated the backing's stretch, though. It's odd - the zippers for the backing lie flat when it's -not- attached to the backing, it seems like something in the basting / sewing process is causing them to draw up and curve. If I can't figure it out, I'll pin the backing tomorrow night, I was just hoping to have this process work, it'd go much, much faster and involve much less bloodletting.

[sewingpup]

HI,

 

For whatever it is worth.....I had a 440 for a while and traded it in for a 630....and I have had problems with both of them when stitching long seams...no matter what I tried....one side would always end up with 1/2 inch more at the end......until.....I used a walking foot and pinned the sides together checking to make sure no bubble was accumulating each time I reached a pin....now I always use a walking foot when seaming long stretches together....I don't quilt for others and pin the backing on....I keep a box of band-aides near...  Lin

[ecmoore]

So, I was so frustrated by the time Husband got home from work last night, that he pulled out his christmas present for me - a set of Red Snappers. So instead, today, I'm mounting those, and will no doubt experience a whole different set of frustration Thanks for everyone's help!