Prism99

When dh rehung my canvas leaders for me, he did a great job in terms of getting a really straight edge on those round rollers; however, while doing it he managed to stretch the canvas edge out-of-shape. I need to take these leaders off because a quilt will not roll evenly anymore.

Anyway, I need to take the canvas leaders off. I have two options: (1) wet the canvas and see if I can straighten it and get new straight edges on the leaders, or (2) make new leaders.

With option #1 I will still need to add fabric to the canvas because I want to use Poor Man's Red Snappers (thank you, cheryl222! http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...s-t234134.html ) and the canvas is too thick for the snappers.

Anyone have advice? I'm afraid I will spend hours struggling with the canvas only to find it's not worth it. I am thinking of going through my stash to find a long length of muslin instead. I am thinking of ripping the muslin down the length to get straight pieces, then doubling it and sewing a casing in the folded edge for the snappers. Not sure if I would serge the raw edges together; figure it might not be as straight then. Dh would duct tape the doubled raw edge to the rollers for me (making *sure* this time not to stretch the edge as he does it!).

Sure seems like a lot of work either way. Anyone have advice for me??

btiny36

I'm going to be replacing mine also and stalling my new red snappers....Personally, I would just make new ones...lots of work but I think less in the end as opposed to trying to reshape the other ones....Do you happen to know the hem one has to make to fit the snappers?
So I went in search of my answer to my question and found loads of info on this lady's youtube channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/renaequilts/videos

Stiffchick

Thanks for the links, I have to make leaders for my frame. It didn't come with any. I had no idea where to start, but this will help!!

DogHouseMom

I just finished making new leaders with zippers. I used pillow ticking and made use of the woven lines. Make sure the ticking you purchase is woven .. not printed (ask me how I know ... call me ticked off!), also suggest leaving it unwashed. I suspect (but don't know) that washing it might pull it off grain. I also made sure that the stripe was in the same place across the selvage and I test measured the stripes in a few areas as well to make sure the strips were indeed straight (I did this at the store ... let's say THEY were a bit ticked off <g>). Then I just used the lines in the ticking to sew on my zippers and attach the other end of the leaders to the rods on the frame.

I used a pretty ingenious method to attach the zippers but since you're using the red snappers I won't bore you with it.

dunster

I'm surprised that the fabric stretched with your DH handling it. After all, we handle those leaders a lot while quilting, including sticking pins in them and tugging on them. Regardless, I think it would be easier to just make new leaders. If you try to salvage the old ones and it doesn't work, you will be making new ones anyway. I don't know if anyone has successfully used muslin for leaders - it seems to me that it would be too lightweight and might stretch more than the canvas. I don't think the new canvas/cotton duck would be too expensive. I remember buying some to make leader extensions, back when I was trying Velcro extensions (didn't like that much) before I bought Red Snappers.

cheryl222

I used a tightly woven fabric that was given to me. It wasn't very thick like canvas but it held it's shape. I also sewed heavy duty velcro to my leaders and put velcro on my rollers so I can take the entire leader off. It sure makes it easy to attach the quilt pieces to the leaders. I can lay them on my table and use my poor man red snappers and have them ready to go in a few minutes/

JustAbitCrazy

My advice to you is to wash the leaders first in hot water in a bathtub. The reason I say that is that canvas shrinks a lot when wet, and if you prewash them they will be spot-cleanable in the future. A few years ago I spot cleaned my leaders, and what I mess I had when they spot SHRUNK! I never dreamed they weren't preshrunk by the manufacturer. The last foot of each leader was so impossibly wrinkled from my spot cleaning, I had no choice but to remove them and wash in a bathtub. It's a lot of work---they need ironed FOREVER to get the wrinkles out, and they are huge! I think I lost about a foot in length on each leader, but now if they ever get smudge, I can spot clean without worrying. Regarding stretching the edges when reattaching them: I was told to glue them back on with Elmer's glue, and found that the wet glue, which takes forever to dry, saturated the leader's edge, and did tend to make it stretch easily. My leaders had a wide selvedge, which did not shrink, and ended up very wavy. I just glued the leaders down, wavy edge and all, because I felt if I cut off the selvedge the glue-wet edge would be able to stretch even more. I tried to work fast and careful not to stretch, then duct-taped the edges down to hold the leader in place while the glue dried. Before I removed the leaders I had the insight to put painter's tape along the edge to have that to line up with later. I never did take off the duct tape--why bother? Good luck--it's a really big job, but well worth it in the end, I think.

lfletcher

I'm not sure if this is a solution or not, but maybe worth a try. Could you remark the center on all the leaders to line up and then I don't think it would matter if one of them were stretched as long as you always work from the center out when attaching your quilt.

Prism99

Thanks, everyone! I took off one of the canvas leaders and started measuring it. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me as I could measure only 1/4" distance off from center to sides, yet when rolled it was off way more. I took a closer look at another leader that is still on the machine and had exactly the same problem -- at least an inch off at each side. I think it is the result of a combination of issues -- dh stretching the edge too much when he duct-taped the leaders to the roller, the taping possibly off a bit towards the edges, additional stretching of the canvas (on the bias) towards each side, and the manipulations I have done sewing zippers onto the edges while they were still on the frame.

So, I am biting the bullet and making new leaders. Thanks, DogHouseMom, for the ticking idea! I went online to Beverly's and found woven ticking in a nice pink and cream. I will test it when it gets here to see if my poor man's snappers will work with its thickness. If it doesn't, I will sew fabric casings to the leaders *before* they are hung on the frame. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the stripes are actually even and on-grain.

DogHouseMom, what was your ingenious method for sewing on zippers? If the ticking is too thick for my snappers, I plan to sew zippers to the ticking so I can zip on fabric casings for the snappers. (Honestly, if I hadn't just written that sentence myself, I would have to read it several times to understand it!)