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Thank you to all of you for your valuable insights. I just sanded, stained & assembled my grace frame. Planned to make & add the leaders this week. You gave me valuable information I shall use. Thank you for the info before I even asked, right on time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fabric_fancy

put them on with velcro.

put the hard side of the velcro on the pole and the soft side of the velcro on the leader.

Oh, that is a great idea!

If you take the actual leaders on and off the rail, how do you make sure it stays centered consistently?

On my machine, the leaders are duct taped to the pole, so the center never moves. I have zippers on the other side of the leaders. I pin or sew the back of the quilt to the zippers. I can unzip, hang the quilt to inspect. I also use this for the 'Stand and Stare' part of a custom quilting job, but only after the quilt has been stabilized.

I purposely try to not get pictures with the hanging rail in my pictures, so I had to go back a bit to find one with the zipper. The rail is on a pulley system, wrapped with fabric and the same side of the zipper as is on the machine. The other side is on the top of the quilt. When I first got the machine, I bought about a dozen 144" zippers, so I have lots of ways to use them.

http://wheatridgestudios.blogspot.co...rose-lane.html

I'm actually going to be replacing my leaders tomorrow, along with new rails and a major upgrade to my CompuQuilter. This should be an interesting project!

Mine are also on with duct tape but I have seen on YouTube where they use the Velcro. Just didn't want to change it until I needed to replace the leaders in the future.

[quote=Shelley]If you take the actual leaders on and off the rail, how do you make sure it stays centered consistently? [quote]

I have drawn a line with a Sharpieat the center of the leader and the poles so I can center it perfectly everytime.

[quote=cheryl222][quote=Shelley]If you take the actual leaders on and off the rail, how do you make sure it stays centered consistently?

Quote:

I have drawn a line with a Sharpieat the center of the leader and the poles so I can center it perfectly everytime.

I bought my machine used and thats what the previous owner did. The marks are still on the poles which made it easy when I put the new leaders on a while back. Wish I had know about the velcro thing then.