you said: I'm having trouble with pinning the quilt layers to the leaders.
are you pinning all three layers to ONE leader?
here's how *I* do it - your mileage may vary
I pin the BACK to the front leader and roll it up, when I get close to the end, I pin to the back leader (now to me the 'front' leader is the one where the machine needle is when the machine is pulled forward, the back is closest to the motor)
Then I put on the batting - and float it - just pinning across the back (closest to motor) smoothing as I go and it hangs down the front
Then pin the top to the back/batting, smooth it over the batting and it hangs free...
smooth all, pin across the FRONT roller, attach the side clamps and go to work
when it's time to roll, take out pins, take off clamps, roll, smooth, pin, etc