Here's a picture of end of my leaders

i'm laughing, but, yes. it makes sense. i pin on the sides, not sew. i can't manage to keep those stitches within 1/4", so the heck with that. i don't know - everyone i talk to does it a different way, it seems. i know someone who takes off the leader and bastes the backing for totally even tension. to me, that seems over the top. i got this to make my life easier, not harder.

i do clamp, but i do it the sharon shaumber way. she pins a strip of fabric to the sides. the strip has a tunnel through which a tube is inserted. the clamps clamp around the tube, giving even tension. i saw that on youtube. since i leave my backing extra wide, i just fold over a metal rod and clamp that. but it makes a big difference.. did that make any sense?

i'll have to try again to float the top. if i take my time and pin the sides more often, maybe it will work this time.

what's the biggest size quilt you make? mine are between 92" and 98". the best size is 96". i make mine for use and we all have queens. i hang mine for a while to look at it and enjoy it and then it comes down for use by someone. sooner or later another one goes up. also, since this is purely a hobby and i do other things, i'm in no hurry, they get done when they get done. in between, i do other things(my dd is waiting for me to reupholster her chair, my dh and i travel, etc.)

Thanks for the tips. I've seen the Sharon Schamber videos on racking a quilt and I like how she has velcro on the pinning edge of the leader, and the has a small leader with velcro on one edge that she sews the backing to the other edge of.

I have the Grace Start Right leaders that have measuring lines all over them and they velcro to the poles. I lined up one of the marks on the center mark on the pole and I mark the backing and top centers and line them up to the leader lines. I just pinned my backing to them and floated the batting. I tried floating and basting the top but I didn't like how it came out so I will pin them.

Someday I'll get around to making the other leader parts as Sharon shows, especially the side leaders.

i find the pinning a pain, but not enough of one to change the method. adding more of a leader doesn't negate the use of pinning. so unless i take one off to put another one on, it doesn't matter to me. i don't do that. it's just always going to be a pain in the neck.

i hope you're all plugged into the yahoo! group for tin lizzy users. even if you just lurk, you should definitely go there. you can learn a lot from other people. i would give you the link, but that would link you back to my own membership, not yours. find in online as yahoo! groups
joining or creating

Well my longarm is set up and feeding my crew a ham dinner. I'm so excited and grateful. Now I noticed my leaders dont have a hem on them so that I can use the Renae's Red snappers. The leaders are glued on. Is there a way to sew a hem on the leaders with the longarm?

I rent time on a Gammill at a LQS. We use zippers and they make loading the quilt very fast. I have to admit that I am not an expert by any means, but the zippers make loading the quilt very easy which means rental time is spent quilting.
Sue

even if you use the zippers you still have to pin the backing to the one part of the zippers that are not attached to the machine. there are red snappers if you really hate to pin check it out

I use leader grips. They're wonderful. No more pinning for me. There are You Tube videos out there on how they work.

I know this is an older post but I have a tip.. I usually take the leader off ( which is Velcro onto the pole) and take it to my sewing machine, baste my backing on starting in the middle of each leader basting my way out. flip it over and start in the middle again working my way out. this works great, I just have to pull it off and it doesn't rip the quilt or the leader.