I have one that I used before I got my Longarm. Mine came not with dowels but with 2 narrow flat strips of wood. I attached the quilt with the heavy duty black metal paper clips. I had to take the silver colored handles off the clips so that the quilt would roll smoothly. That was a pain. I would think that making narrow leaders that would stay clipped on and then pinning the quilt to the leader would help. I then had clips that held the sides taut. I used my Handy Quilter alot in practicing and then in quilting a few small quilts.
I put my domestic machine on the platform that came with the frame. It was nice to be able to roll the quilt as you go since my machine only had a 9 inch throat. I really learned alot on practice muslin quilts and that helped when I finally got a longarm. You can do larger quilts by getting longer strips of wood and moving the quilt left to right as you go. I never did that.
Good luck with it. It is a fun little frame and provides some good learning experience. Be very careful with the rails that the platform rolls on. Even a small nick in the wood can cause jumps in the machine when quilting.
Best of luck with it! I still have it if anyone wants to buy it from me.