Originally Posted by Gennynut
What kind of pernament fabric do you use for leaders? Do you just use regular pins to attach? We have always attached right to frame with tacks. it is rather hard on your thumbs ! Sometimes the tacks are very hard to remove, have to use a kitchen knief or something. There are large headed tacks that help with the problem but they are hard to get here. I've found them online in the States but they don't ship to Canada!
I just used regular fabric that I didn't like anymore and doubled it for strength. You could also use pillow ticking fabric (the kind with narrow stripes); it has a heftier weave. You don't want to go too heavy on the fabric choice (canvas) because that would make it hard to pin or thread baste through the leaders. You can always replace leaders if they wear out. I just used long regular straight pins with big heads (to make them easy to find).
Now that I think about it, I think I stapled the leaders to my frame instead of using tacks. Stapling was really fast.
What is your frame like? The only reason I can think of not to tack permanent leaders to a wood frame would be if it is constructed in a way that the leaders would limit the size quilt you could mount. With my four individual pieces, I was just careful about how I positioned the leaders. For example, the side boards would be positioned with the leaders on top while the top and bottom boards (which would be rolled) would be positioned with the leaders on the bottom of the boards. That way, when I unrolled the quilt, the leader was on top for the quilt to be pinned to. (Sorry if that was as clear as mud...... Much easier to do than describe, plus once you do it wrong you realize why you need to unpin and do it this way.)
If your frame is fixed (you don't roll the quilt), I can't think of any reason not to tack leaders to the wood and leave them there.