I am referring to those grippy u-shaped thingys that help hold your WIP to the right of the needle, so your quilt doesn't unroll while FMQ or SID...

Just curious if anyone else uses them? I bought a few pairs because they seem like a good idea... trying to finish a UFO, and the rubber coating on them seems to "grab" the surfaces of my machine bed ... a little frustrating! (I am doing SID at the moment on my Sapphire 850, which has a wide 10" throat just for quilting large quilts).

I bought some years ago, but did not like them. Learned to simply loosely accordion fold the quilt to the right of the needle -- actually easier than rolling.

Most people here say that "bunching" works better - and so far that's been the case for me. However, an old quilter told me of a better "product" to roll quilts in the throat --- plastic headbands. Little quilts = girl's size headbands. They will slide easy too.

yeah, I'm having a little "steering difficulty" now that I'm getting to the middle of the quilt... that's why I got the clamps out. I bought them on sale when I worked there, so not an option to return them... ya know, these problems only happen at midnight when you have a few hours of peace-n-quiet to sew... :roll:

I will try the accordian fold and see if that works for me... once I'm past the 1/2 way middle, I'm home free... until I start FMQ'ing that is...

never use them. When i use my tabletop machine, I just bunch up the quilt.

I make the accordion pleats roughly the height of my machine's underarm space.

I've never tried them. Seems as tho the quilt would be hard to maneuver with such a solid "tube". I use the "bunch" method.

Part of my problem is that the quilt is set on point ~ so bunching was getting on my last nerve (thin bunch to thick bunch to stress relieving thin bunch, was making steering straight difficult). I have 4 pairs of these, if they were the metal only, I think they would be fine... I may take one tomorrow and pick off the grippy outer layer and see if its better.

Bought them because they seemed like a great idea. In theory maybe, but in practice I find they are more trouble than they're worth. It is quicker for me to fold or roll my project as I am quilting. The only way I can see them being helpful is if you are quilting a design that runs the entire length (or width) of the quilt bfore you have to turn your quilt. Hope that made some sense-lol!

I have some exactly like the ones in your picture as well as the ones with the red coating. I don't use either one. Maybe I'm doing something wrong but they don't stay on the quilt. Plus I've since found that I like the bunching method better than rolling. There's less bulk to the right of the needle and I don't have to manage that big log.