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Help for My Leaders, Please


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My quilts were sagging on both ends when attached to my leaders and tightened so I figured my leaders had stretched. I asked a friend who has a lot of experience with longarms what to do. She told me to pin my leaders together and mist them with water then tighten the tension and let them dry. She said they would shrink and tighten up. I did what she said and now my leaders are in worse shape than they were before. The canvas shrank so much that the masking tape holding them on the bars tore and is no longer tight and the canvas is unevenly stretched. My only thought is to take them off and steam and press them really good to reshape them then square them up and re-attach them to the bars. Will this solve the problem or is there an easier solution? Thanks in advance for your help!

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Zetter, I made my leaders out of strong upholstery weight half inch squares. They never sag or shift. I used pink and white for the top and blue and white for the bottom. You know country  calico checks. That way I can always see that the quilt is rolled up evenly. I bought 100 inch zippers and made them myself. Saves a lot of work and worry. I made three pair so I can zip them off and on when I want to change quilts to work on. I learned how to do it online. I sew the quilt backing on the top pink zipper with water soluble thread in the top and regular thread in the bobbin and just rip the quilt off the leader easily when done. No more taking forever to pin the quilt back nor do you get stuck by those large upholstery pins. I think they sell them ready made for about $100. Haven’t checked in a while. I bought my fabric at a mill end store. Any stripe would work too. I made several pair for around $50. 

 

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I rolled out the leaders to the bar and found that my machine had huge gobs of glue holding the leaders to the bar on one side, and none on the other, causing uneven rolling everytime of course.  I removed all the glue, and some paint, reattached the leader squared with duct tape, and rerolled.  I haven't had a problem since.  Dawn says to give the canvas a good stretch one way and another after every quilt is removed.  A habit I have now gotten into as well.  

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