You can buy any heavy fabric, like canvas, to use as leaders. I have leaders that came with my frame and are already marked. I have loaded my quilt by pinning it to the leader with straight pins and I have red snappers too. Both work well and depending on the thickness of the quilt I will use one or the other. One 'trick' I have learned was to purchase a long tape measure - 120" and fasten it to one of the take up roller to help center your quilt. You might want to check out nancysnotions.com or ericas.com for leader cloths and tape measure as well as other tools to help you. I think they are less expensive than Grace Co.