My wonderful husband purchased me a Grace EZ3 frame. Does anyone here have one?

I saw in the directions that a cloth leader is suggested for a pieced quilt. I wanted this because I DON'T like to work with leaders.

Does anyone have this frame and use it without a leader? Please help.
:shock:
purple

Hello,

I have a Grace Table and my directions also called for cloth leaders. I have never used as they are a pain :-). I have had no problems not using them. I have quilted everything from baby to queen size. Hope this helps.

my apologies...i was thinking of the cloth side anchors...those are what i don't use. I made the cloth leaders out of muslin and permanetly fixed the to the rods. My instuctions called for some side pieces to be made to anchor the side of the quilt to the table, which is what I have never used. Sorry for the confusion, I don't think I have had enough coffee yet..LOL

Thanks for your response.
Did you draw all the lines on your cloth leaders?
I'm just confused about what they want me to do.
I don't want to buy the canvas leaders, my friend has those and they are too thick to work with well.
Thanks again,
purple

I made the leaders out of muslin (use the best muslin you can get). All that I marked on mine was the center line and it seems to work well. I hope this helps.

Hi ~ I have an HQ-16 Handi quilter long arm machine. The leaders are made of muslin and the only marks I've made are the center marks. This, of course, is vital. I would think that both machines operate on the same basic design. Yes, it is a bit of a pain to "load" your quilt sandwich onto thos leader cloths. BUT, the pay off is no more basting!!! Well worth it. Have fun with your new toy. Do you have a laser light to use pantogram quilt patterns? That is an easy way to get fancy results right off the bat. That's about all I can do, other than meandering. The custom quilting is still beyond my reach, but maybe someday, after alot of practice, I can master it.

Oh, and I forgot to mention the side anchors. Instead of cloth, my machine uses very large clamps attached to strips of velcro. There is a strip of velcro(the opposite of the "hook & loop") secured to the side frame. That way, all I need to do is release the clamp when I want to advance my fabric forward to work on a new area. Using the clamp with velcro strip means quick & easy adjustment for any size quilt. I took a long arm machine quilting class and was told that it was very important to stabilize the sides of the quilt. Howver, ONLY the backing gets clamped/secured on the sides, not all three layers of the sandwich. I hope this helps. Very hard to explain in words. Wish you could come to my "Sweat Shop" (that's what hubby calls it) and see for yourself :lol:

I made muslin leaders for mine. At first I just serged them to finish the edges but the muslin seemed too stretchy when I pinned my quilt to it. So I put a 1" hem on the long edges which kept the muslin from stretching and gives me a straight line for attaching my quilt. I also marked the centers with permanent marker and use clamps for the sides.