Thread: Pinning to the quilt frame - hat pins vs T pins vs ...?

Hi! I have a long arm, encountered the same problem.....it took me forever to pin a quilt on....then I discovered "Red Snappers" sold at some quilt shops....they are long red "rods" for a better word, plastic...you sew a channel in your leaders and attach enough snappers together to go through the channel which stays there...then you attach the quilt, batting and backing by snapping a rod on top of all onto the channel...it takes only a few moments to attach a quilt and seconds to take one off. I found that I would make a mistake loading and after pinning one whole section going to the next one would have to take all pins out and it took me forever to load a quilt. They are expensive but well worth it! I paid $80.00 for a set and after I bought them, she went up $10.00 but it has made my life so much easier....I tried the zippers and did not care for that as well. Good luck!! Hope this helps and I'm not too late with a reply....

I have a long arm and I use flat flower pins. You can get thin ones that just slide through the quilt and leader. I bought my machine in 2004 and the pins at the same time. I have replaced some of them, but I am still using most of the original ones. I have tried the t pins and gave them away, and also the hat pins but they do not lay flat and let the quilt lay smooth on the rail. Good luck I hope you find what is best for you.

One more vote for red snappers!
They definitely make loading a quilt a breeze. I'm glad that Kelly at Jukebox Quilts recommended them!

I'm afraid I can't offer any other suggestions for pins, however, when the quilt shop I went to got a long arm machine, they wound up getting the detachable zippers, which were a huge improvement.

Handiquilter makes great pins for attaching your quilt to the leaders. They are sharp and strong. Recently purchased corsage pins at Joann's for a friend who just bought a new long arm. Pins were not the same- dull and bent easily. Tossed those and bought set from Handiquilter dealer. Much better. I've looked at red snappers but they are a little pricey for me.

I have a long arm machine on it's way so I was watching a video on Youtube - Handi-Quilter on YouTube and it shows you how to load the quilts. She used hat pins. Lots of good info on Handi-Quilter videos. Hope this helps.

I forgot I'd started this thread! I ended up installing Red Snappers on my old frame and I did like them for the ease of loading a quilt. So much so that when my longarm showed up a whole 2.5 months later (!?!) that I bought Leader Grips for it so they'd be there right from the start. I can load quilts faster than ever and I don't avoid it. In fact, I load them at night before I quit for the day so they're ready to go when I get to the studio in the morning. The only time I pin anymore is if someone's pillowcased a charity quilt before I get it. Those are pinned to my leaders directly after I take the rod for the leader grips out of the "tube".