Loading with Zippers

[smd719]

Hi! I'm new so bear with me please. My leaders have the zippers on them. How do you load the quilt with the zippers? Could someone direct me to a picture? I'm sorry if this has been discussed. Thanks so much.

[smorris]

Hi smd719

One way would be to take the half of the zipper that zips off and find the centre, then find the centre of the backing and pin backing to zipper from the centre out and do the same on the opposite end of the backing. Then zip them to the matching other halves. Do the same for the top.

Hope thats enough info, if not just let us know.

sue in australia

[ramona-quilter]

Hi smd,

Myrna Ficken has some great shots on loading a quilt with zippers. Here is the link:

Myrna's zippers

[Sparkle]

Hi Ramona,

I toy with the idea of putting zippers on my leaders at times, but I must confess after looking at the link you sent to Myrna's pictures of pinning onto zippers ---with the explainations I think I will stay with standing at my frame and pinning for the time being. I still after all this time and pictures and discussions can't see the real advantage of all that pinning that seems to go along with the zippers too.

I don't know why it has never sunk in for me that this is faster and easier. Just a few exceptions I can think of---and that is that if you need to take the quilt off the frame--then you could zip it off---Zippo!(that would be nice)--- or if you can't stand at the frame and pin then zippers would be helpful too---I stand pinning for approx. 25 mins. max. for most of my larger quilts. I float the batt.

I would like to think zippers are as great as everyone says they are! What am I missing from the overall rave about zippers?

I just don't get it I guess----- waaaah! Somebody convince me Zippers are great! Just one more time! please!

[ramona-quilter]

Hi Sparkle,

I don't use the zippers as much as I used to. I still like to use the zippers on my backing. But now I float my quilts so the top does not go on zipper. If I am going to be working on a quilt for a long time and think that I will be pulling off, I use the zipper just to save time on loading and unloading the same quilt

It's really a matter of personal pref.

I have gotten better about not sticking myself with the pins. Also, I am starting to turn more of my quilts to do the side borders in a continuous line. I like that better.

[The Crafty Unicorn]

For me zippers are mostly about time management. My only posted open hours are on Saturday afternoons. I know that if I start quilting, I stand a good chance of being interupted by customers dropping off or picking up tops. (Don't get me wrong, this is a good thing.) On Saturdays, I put a movie or mini-series in the DVD and pin-up the weeks quilts. I also measure so I can mark my the edges and chalk the top with for any stencil and finally cut the batting. Everything gets carefully folded and stacked in order in a cubby hole of my "waiting area" Then, when I get in to quilt, mostly after work, all I have to do is zip the quilt on and I am ready to go. I do pin the zippers on the top, but do what could be called a 3/4 float... I roll the top on the roller, but have about 24" unrolled and hanging down in front as if I had floated the top. This way I get the flexability of floating the top and don't have to worry about stepping on the part near my feet.

Yes, it takes about the same amount of time to pin on the zippers as to pin to the leaders, but You only do it once. I don't want to talk about how many times I discovered something unpleasant on a quilt back AFTER I had unpinned it from the leaders. One quilt I finally cleaned up the problems on the DSM beacuse I was not pinning that @#$%^% on for a 4th time!

[Sparkle]

Hi Ramona,

Thanks for putting some prospective to why I would want zippers---and maybe why I may not want zippers too!

Since I pin fairly fast and don't change out quilts I think I will just put the idea of zippers on the back burner for now!

However, I did order new Edgerider wheels today!

[quiltaholi_518]

Zippers are swell! I have 4 sets, so I pin up 4 at a time. Then when I am in the quilting groove, off I go! I luv 'EM!!!!!

[Judi]

smd719 - Welcome to the forum! Just to let you know, you can also click up

in the left hand corner and do a search for past topics, or see what others

my have said before on a certain subject. I am constantly looking up past

threads for info I have forgotten! (and to review photos too!)

I'm with Caron - I pin all of me sets on and it is SO easy and quick to start

the next quilt!

Not that I ever did this;) ... but it is possible to forget to go under the

back roller with the backing. Which is a big bummer if you pin right to the

leader.... with a zipper, off and back on!

Also - I am very tall, but do not like to lean over for pinning. I will pull up my

chair or even go in the other room for pinning if I am watching a good

show. Plus - I can do this at night, when my girls are sleeping. I can't run

the LA then - it is in the living room, right between their rooms.

[Myrna Ficken]

Gosh I love my zipper. Wouldn't want to quilt without them

Myrna

[shadows4]

Why don't most of you sew the zippers on? I thought that was part of the advantage to the zippers: not only to enable you to take the quilt on and off easier, but to save time when loading and unloading?

I'm confused!!

[Sparkle]

I'm always confused as well when the subject of zippers comes up. Zipp-Zipp! sounds wonderful!

Yesterday I pinned on a full size quilt to my leaders. I deliberately timed myself and it took me 11.5 mins to pin on my backing. Then I locked my wheels and stitched down my batt with a straight line to backing edge up near the take up roller. 1 min.

Then I let the batt float over the front roller and drop to the floor. Then I pinned on my quilt top to the middle roller. (maybe I need a batting roller too)

This took less than 5 mins. Rolled the quilt top onto the middle roller and then as the quilt top edge approaches the stitching line on the batt. I place a few pins to hold it in place and stitch the edge down using the previous stitching line on the batt. as a guide, less than 1 min.

I wear a magnetic pin holder on my left wrist and use 1.5 inch glasse head pins. Usually pin end to end which almost mimics stitching. Very close pinning.

time spent pinning= 18.5 mins.

Now the advantage of zippers for me would be that I could take off the quilt and install another quilt. Right? I would need more than one set of zippered leader?

---or if I had a problem with stitching that needed to be ripped out I could un-zip the quilt and have a place to sit and rip out. Then zip it back on. As it is now I roll and un-roll to rip out stitches standing at the frame. Smooth everything out and then pick up where I left off. I try to avoid ripping by by testing on a small piece of fabric that I put on the batt at the side of my quilt --testing my stitching and tension before I start out with my design on the actual quilt. I also use my Towa tension guage---and have switched to aluminum bobbins which I think are much better.

What I want to know is do all of you only use the zippers for the quilt backing? Do you put a zipper on the middle leader for the one quilt top edge to zip onto, and then to roll onto as well?

Do you still make the stitch line and float the batt, right. Roll the quilt top and stitch the top edge to the batt line as I presently do. ? How many zippered sections do I need to have. Isn't it better to have a least two complete sets of zippered ? leaders or what do you call the zippered sections? (I guess zippered leaders?) and maybe even more----How many "sets" of zippered leaders are needed?

I'm trying to justify the expense and time of installing zippers, and will it really be a time saver for me in the long run? working on an Ulitimate II. Primarily for my own pleasure, I love machine quilting! Occasionally I quilt for friends---and I donate a lot of time quilting community quilts that are then donated to various charities by our local community quilt co-ordinator. They are starting to pay me for some of this quilting now. Some of these quilt tops are a challenge as they are very uneven and not pressed well.

Thank you for your thoughts and opinions ---I really enjoy reading all the messages here and am learning so much from all of you.

[epprog]

I recently took a class with Darlene Epp and we timed the difference between loading a quilt pinning to the leaders, or zipping to the leader. I can't remember the exact number but it was unbelieable the difference in time. After reading alot on these posts I did find a Gibbs and Willcox machine on Ebay and can attest to loving the chainstitch as it makes removing zippers fast fast fast! But otherwise, I just used to use a huge zig zag on my DMS and cheap thread and then you can just rip the backing off of the zippers top and bottom and just run a rupper (surgical steel curved blade works great) through the huge zig zags and you are done! I am almost always working on larger quilts (100" plus) and pinning was to me just a waste of time. Even on a large quilt it only takes between 3-4 minutes to sew my zippers on and lots of that time is manipulating fabric on such large quilts. Yes, I use a zipper on the bottom of my quilt top. Lots of those that post here do full floats but I find if I do a full float I am fiddling with the top more when advancing and with a zipper on it when you advance the bottom of the quilt has just the right amoung of tension and is really even. I have two extra sets of quilt zippers so I can have three quilts on zippers at the same time. I have occasionally re-zipped on a quilt to add something or fix something. Yesterday I got another quilt top in; the lady had phoned and left a message with my husband last week already and he had apparently told me about it but I was in the laundry room at the time and didn't hear. So I have about two days to finish this quilt as it is for a birthday of a young man whose mother died recently. The quilt is a bunch of hand embroidered blocks that were made by his mother which a friend then took and put sashing around and sewed them very simply together. So; this is one time that it was extremely easy to zip off a quilt that was loaded and put on a rush quilt. The young man doesn't know about it and I understand that this quilt will mean alot to him and I am happy to help with this!

Hope that helps. I didn't put my zippers on right away after I bought my machine, maybe a bit intimidated, and wanted to get to know my machine a bit first. So I pinned for quite a few months and I will never go back, I love the zippers!

By way MONICA from BIG RIVER , I don't know if you read every post but if you read this one, I live at Dore Lake which is only 1 1/2 hours away so if you need some help or just to talk write me a note.

Cher

[Judi]

Sparkle - Just a thought here - I load my backing as you said. Pulling it

almost as tight as it will be later. Then I load my top, yes pinning to the

zipper and rolling it. I think this helps to flatten seams and keep the quilt

top nice and neat. One of my big pet-peeves is when dark threads shadow

through light fabrics.... I feel this helps keep that down to a mim. and all in

all is better for the top.

After the top is about where I want it, then I lay the batting on top of both

layers and adjust it to where I want it. Then I tuck it down between the

layers, pulling the flap of the quilt top over the edge to make sure I get the

batting all flat and correct. This is done with out stretching it out of shape

or anything. At this point I tighten the backing rollers to how I want them,

pin the top edges and baste around the top, with a up - down - up - down

one stitch at a time.... Takes awhile, but looks better and does not pull the

top out of shape.

I would wonder and worry about "pulling" the batting to much while rolling

up the top the way you do it.... maybe thats just me.

I don't always run the stitch line across the top before pinning the top.

Depends on the quilt top and also the quilt maker!! I am lucky to quilt for

some really great piecers who have nice square quilts - but ever now and

then - that really does help to do that!

Also - as Dawn C. taught us down at the classroom - I did mark my zippers

with inches. This helps you keep an eye on the size of the quilt and keep

things centered and going correctly.

I use the big long corsage (sp?) pins from hobby lobby. Don't get the ones

from walmart - they are junk!! I just pin about 1/2 to 3/4" on each pin and

there is a gap between pins, about 3/4 to 1". Maybe you are pinning to

much and more than you need to, I was at first! I used to take 2 sections

on each pin - and had them right next to each other, all the way down the

quilt. Pin head to point...... solid! That is TOO much, and just not necessary.

Is that as clear mud? Trying to help - not trying to confuse - really I am!

[matildanme]

Zip a dee doo-dah, zip a dee ay

My, oh my, what a wonderful day.

Plenty of sunshine headed my way.

Zip a dee doo-dah, zip a dee ay

I just sewed on my zippers...not very pretty but they are attached!

No more ripped/pricked hands from pins

Yet another accomplishment for this newbie!

Zip a dee doo-dah, zip a dee ay

Wonderful feelin'.

Wonderful day.

Cheers Satu

[Mary Beth]

Oh that's what you think!! I posted a picture about a year ago of my poor fingers all covered in band aids from pinning a quilt in...then I attached my zippers and life was to quote you. "my oh my, what a wonderful day!" I was using my Singer Touch and Sew to chain stitch my zippers to my quilt...then one dreaded day, my T&S pooped out. Now I am pinning my zippers to my quilts...Saturday, while pinning - get this - I turned around to set my pins down and caught my elbow on the pins in the quilt back and ripped a big gash in my elbow part of my arm...

I danced....not a happy dance!

[shadows4]

Okay, Ladies: Exactly what is this "chain stitch" you all are talking about??? Is it something special or just the plain stitch my Janome stitches? I'm lost.

[quiltaholi_518]

The zippers do wear out faster when you chain stitch to them as opposed to pinning them on. I use the flower head pins, they are easy to grab, especially when removing. here is a link to a webshots of someone with their zippers..... http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/1273107243047869408ZNvsIF

Also, one cool thing is you can zip the backing leaders togethher and spritz with water and clamp them, and it helps freshen them up and straigten them out. They can get wonky after a couple of years.

[Mary Beth]

Jeanne,

Ya know the chain stitch string that is in the top of a bag of dog food?? You pull on one end and it is suppose to unravel?? That is the same chain stitch we are talking about. Not all machine do the chain stitch. I found out that some sergers do, and I need to find out if mine does. The Singer Touch and Sew does - 600 & 700 series, and Linda S. has the sweetest Wilcox & Gibb (I think that is the name) that does a chain stitch. Other than that I don't know. I do know my Janome doesn't.

[MaryLou5740]

Ok, if the leaders get "wonky", you zip them together, spritz them with

"HOT" (?) Water, roll back and forth? Or roll them to a certain point and let them dry?...I'm one of those people who needs details, details!

And then....what happens when the quilter gets "wonky"? I'm about to that stage right now. ML in Mo.

[PJDavis]

Well bought the zippers, I think they will work great if

I can get them sewn on. stitched over a tooth and sheared it off.

Then did not know my right from my left.

it has been quite a project. i'll let you know how i like them when i get them on.

[Mary Beth]

I have two sets of zippers. One set is on DH's quilt - the one I have been working on for 2 years The other is on my machine and goes on the current quilt I am working on. I was stitching the zippers on with my chain stitch machine, and I loved that. It was easy to load an unload and I'm done. However, my machine went kapoot...so now I am pinning to the leaders. I absolutely hate those pins!! Words do not describe how much. I posted a picture last year of my fingers all bandaged from pinning a quilt in. The other day I just got my practice muslin pinned in and turned around, and was standing too close to the pins, and hooked my elbow...my elbow of all things...Ouch!! Of course I bled everywhere...I swear I am buying stock in Band-Aid...

Anyway, I say all of that to say, I can't seem to get away from those pins. I will be happy when one day I can be like Linda Ramona...() and not stick myself so much.

[The Crafty Unicorn]

Mary Beth,

Have you tried safety pins? I use #2 size. I also have some of the bent "basting pins". They are easy to hold on to, I space them about 1 in apart and very rarely stick myself. When I used the T-pins I caught EVERYTHING- fingers, elbows, shirts, you name it... One suggestion- don't bother closing the pins when you take them out, re-opening them is a real pain.

[Mary Beth]

good idea...I'll try it. I have some left over from the days when I thought I would hand quilt.

[pigletaz]

ok, let me get this straight, pin/zip backing to leader/roller, then batting, then float top on batting. I was shown how to "float" the top. One person floated the batting above. Otherwise we've got backing/batting hanging over the front and top pinned then stitched down. Am I thinking right here? thanks.