Sagging Leaders

[Barb OMelia]

As a new LAer I've been doing lots of smaller practice pieces and several charity quilts for my guild. Now I'm noticing that my canvas leaders are stretched out in the middle. I've been pulling them each time I put on a new piece like is shown in Dawn's training video and releasing the tension on the top when it has to stay on the machine overnight.

Does anyone have any tips on how to fix this or what to do when loading a quilt to compensate for the bowed edges??

Thanks

[quiltjunkie]

I have never seen Dawn's video so I don't know what her instructions are but I never pull on the leaders. I have had my machine about 3.5 years and done a lot of quilts and have only a slight distortion at the center. You could roll out the leader and draw a straight line from end to end and pin on the line, this would get the distortion out for you. I never pull on the quilt or leader when loading. I roll the quilt a full turn and then I run my hands, starting at the center over the roll to smooth out any distortion, I do that in both directions and repeat until the backing is completely on the roller. This takes extra time, probaly takes me 30-45 minutes to load a full size quilt. But this avoids strecthing the quilt and gives a real smooth backing and avoids puckers. The only thing I ever really pull on is if the backing has a center seam because this will roll tighter, so I grab the seam and give it a gentle tug to keep it from being to tight . Hope this helps, it takes a long time to learn all the tricks and this list sure helps.

Hester:D

[Darlene Epp]

Hi Barb,

When I got my first machine almost 8 years ago, I stretched the center of leaders terribly within the first year. I had to sew a "dart" in them to keep them straight. I then learned that I was putting too much tension on the quilt sandwich, which was stretching not only the quilt, but also the leaders.

I upgraded to a Millennium from an Ultimate 1 and have never had stretched leaders again. For one thing, I hemmed the leaders by folding back the selvage edge and stitching it down. I then installed the zippers, and now I baste my quilts to the zippers (long, wide zig-zag stitch) and zip them on. It used to take me 45-60 minutes to mount the quilt. Now it takes 15 minutes, even for a king size. AND no more stretched leaders.

Back off on the tension on your quilts. If you're stretching the leaders, which are a lot stronger material than the cotton quilt top, you can imagine how much you're stretching the quilt top & backing itself. This not only stretches the leaders, BUt it also accounts for poor tension, and sometimes even running out of backing fabric when you should have had enough. We tend to stretch the top more than the backing.

Darlene Epp

[KathyA]

I just installed the zippers and can tell you how wonderful they are. Being a newbie they allow me to zip on my practice piece quickly any time - and even take off the quilt I'm working on if I lose confidence and just want a few more practice passes on the muslin. This was on my Christmas wish list so asked for an extra set - and of course Santa was nice to me.

From another group I lurk on - one of the gals said she will zip the canvas to each other, tighten, spritz lightly with water then let dry. Canvas will shrink so she did recommend 'lightly'. This would put them back in shape.

Kathy A

[Guest Linda S]

Love those zippers! Being the slug tha I am, I sewed mine on before I even loaded my first practice piece! No standing and pinning for me. I've never been sorry I did it. The quilts are on and off as fast as you please.

Linda