leaders and enders to me please? Thanks!

small pieces of fabric that you use at the beginning & ending of your chain piecing.
They can be scraps - or you can use squares that you would eventualy put into a 4-patch
(yeah..ive been reading up on bonnie hunter LOL)

it's a scrap you use to start stitching on before you put your quilt piece in because sometimes the very begining wants to get stuck down in the hole= leader, and ender is for the same thing, it turns into a leader when you start sewing again, it also saves thread because you don't have to pull out a length to remove your project.

Go to http://www.quiltville.com

Bonnie Hunter is a quilter/lecturer and author. She has wonderful concepts about using scraps and turning them into quilts. Watch out you will get hooked. Also, she has a featured article in the Quiltmaker magazine. You can google those.

Oh sorry, it did not make a link. Let me check that web again.

Okay, maybe this update will make a link for you.

Love Bonnie Hunter and her website!!!

Are you talking about leaders and enders like Bonnie Hunter does in Quiltville? In her system when you are chain stitching a bunch of units for a quilt, rather then pulling the last pieced unit and cutting the thread, stitch a HST or two squares together. That is your ender. Next sewing session it is your leader and helps prevent those tiny corners from getting pushed down in the bobbin area. Hope this makes sense. The point behind them is you eventually end up with enough of these HST leaders/enders to make a scrap quilt out of them.

Just an FYI, a straight stitch plate makes leaders and enders unnecessary.

The ladies are correct but as I had a prob finding it on Bonnie's site here is the link for you: http://quiltville.com/leadersenders.shtml

BTW she is my idol for Scrap quilting :thumbup:

It's an old sewing technique to prevent the thread tangles and the machine from un threading itself when you first start sewing. On old machines the take up lever just stopped where ever and if it was down when you stopped and you pull your project off the machine and cut the threads then when you started the next line of sewing the take up lever would go up and pull the thread out of the machine. Even with the take up lever in the up position you always had to hold your thread ends or you would end up with little birds nests on the bottom of your project.

I called them "Blocks as I Go" because I sew them as I work on other projects.

Here is a tute I made explaining this and a couple of other things :D:D:D

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-38684-1.htm

learned something new again

ok thanks! I had the basic idea but one was wondering about the end getting caught.

sounds like a thread saver to me!

thread saver, fabric saver you name it. LOL I have made many quilts the leader/ender way. I have gotten so hooked on leader/enders if I don't have something ready, I sit there and look at my machine as if it is going to say something. LOL

as an addition to the above - you can make any block aas a leader/ender - you just start with 2 pieces and keep adding until your block is made

I think it's a lot like this video. I might be mistaken but I believe this is what you're referring to. It is a very hard habit to get into (IMO) but it does really make your stitches nice and saves thread etc.

http://thequiltguy.blogspot.com/2011...ead-saver.html

well now leaders and enders sounds like something I may try to get in the habit of! I hate wasting all that thread I have been. It also will give me something to do with those little pieces I don't save. Do you cut them a certain size or just use whatever?

Please tell me about a straight stitch plate? Only one came with my basic machine. {not looking at the electronic one}.

Thank you.

Here is a little post on my blog about them. http://thequiltguy.blogspot.com/2011...tch-plate.html

They were recommended to me by Kaye England, I haven't heard that having one makes using thread savers obsolete, but perhaps we aren't talking about the same thing. Cause she also talked about using scrap pieced before and after you start chain piecing.

Because even with a different stitch plate, you still have the issue fly away threads, and not having uniform stitches out of your first "bite" on the fabric. But like I said we could be talking about 2 different things. :) Perhaps "Beginners & Enders" are similar to thread savers?

But a straight stitch plate is nice, REALLY helps when you are doing triangles etc.

I use my straight stitch plate and auto thread cutter. So, no wasted thread and no eating of fabric. Though, I can see the usefulness of this technique if you can't get a straight stitch plate for your machine.

AhhHaaa! You have a auto thread cutter. Now that makes all the sense in the world for why you don't need to use the thread savers.

I wish more than the highest end of Bernina's had thread cutters in them. I love my machine, but that would be icing on the cake for me. :)

Yep, That's how I do it,too,saves time and thread :thumbup: :thumbup:

As an upholsterer for over 30 years, we've always called 'em "bunnies"

Oh, interesting. I thought most of the Bernina machines had autothread cutters.

Yeah, I have one of those. The problem is some people might forget that it's in place and then move the needle or try doing a non-straight stitch. Ask me how I know :-(

I always use leaders and enders. The leader really helps to get things started smoothly before I feed in my pieces. They're especially good if you're starting off with a point heading into the presser foot. Even with a straight stitch plate that can be kind of tricky...at least for me.

And they do save thread and all that fussing around with pulling threads to the back, etc.

My goodness, you learn something new everyday, that is, if you are on the quilting board! I chain, but never thought to start with another piece of material. I will have to try this.

It seems to be addictive to use leaders and enders, I can hardly sew anymore with out them!

I find the leaders/enders also help me keep my seams straighter - I don't accidentally tilt into a narrow seam when I'm at the end of my chain any more!

It's something I have done since I worked sewing sneakers for Converse in the early 70's. I didn't know there was a name for it. Neat.

When you use leaders & enders, you can make a quilt without even trying, along with the one you're actually working on. You can use anything you want. Right now I'm using 2" batiks as 9-patch & 1 1/2" for flying geese. See what I did in 2 days of working on a quilt & what I got done with the flying geese l&e. Look up "What can you do with 1 1/2 scraps?".

Thanks for the site. She has a lot of patterns for scrap quilts. I have some fabric that was hideous in a project this summer, so I put it in the "If I cut it into reeeeaaaallly small squares, no one will see how ugly the print is" basket. So now I have a resource for using my scraps and bad buys.

It reminds me of my mom's comment about dress shopping, "It looks better on the hanger."

This fabric looked better on the bolt. ;)

Excellent response. Very addictive. I find myself just working on my Enders and Leaders sometimes.

okay but doesn't the leader sometimes get caught up? or do you just leave an ender in and start up from there with a leader? Boy it wouldn't do to drink and quilt and talk about these! :-D

lol - never drink & drive your machine.

to start sewing I usually just use a small scrap, starting in middle, not the beginning. Or like you said, leave an ender ina nd start up with a leader. Either way.

sewing under the influence! lol!