MargeD

I do use leaders, particularly if I'm piecing triangles, as my machine has been known to chew/bite the fabric from time to time. I know if I changed my throat plate to the single hole plate it would happen less, however, I frequently switch from straight to zig-zag stitching, so having the larger throat saves needles and my patience.

caspharm

Have you seen Bonnie Hunter's website (www.quiltville.com)? She makes quilts out of those and has a book called "Leaders and Enders."

teric

My Janome 11K does not bite/chew....it goobles...even with a straight stitch plate..I forget to start with my leader until the mess is made than remember...I now keep a sticky note on machine to remind me....

Just Barb

Yes, I use starters and enders. They save me a lot of thread and if my machine decides to act goofy, it saves my fabric. I had never heard of them until I was in a class that was taught by my local quilting store owner. She asked were my "thread bunny" was. I just looked at her...duh? She said that she had dust bunnies under her bed, so she used a small piece of fabric at the beginning of sewing and end so that she wouldn't have to clean up by her sewing machine. So, yes, I use my thread bunny for sewing. Hugs

Raine54RN

What's a leader and what's an Enders and how does a machine bite? I sewed my finger once and that bit but otherwise I'm confused!

raine

littlebitoheaven

My Pfaff and my Brothers both bit...bite? I bought a single-hole plate for my Pfaff. It helped but then I forgot and tried to zig zag and Oh, boy! So to answer your question. I call them "starters" and "stoppers". They are a tremendous help to me. Great question.

Pepita

I have heard the term leaders and enders, but I heard 'hugs' first and that is usually what I call it.

jmoore

Alright, I'll bite... what is a Bob starter? I am always learning something new on the QB so I'll be anxious to hear what it is.

misseva

I think Bob is another name for starter/ender if I understood the previous post.

mckwilter

I called them all leaders, because as someone else said, the ender for the group you are stitching now becomes the leader for the next group you start stitching. But I am a secretary in the "real" (as opposed to quilting) world, so started using the terms headers and footers, which are word processing terms for the top and bottom margins of a page.