Originally Posted by
sewbeadit
Which do you prefer the Red Snappers or the Leadergrips? They look like the same thing to me, could someone please tell me the difference I am looking for some possibly. I have the Imperial Grace frame.
I own and use the Regina lead grips, but I've looked at the Red Snapper in quilt shops in use and comparing them both; this is what I noticed: Regina connects the tubing together with heat shrink "tube tape", Red Snapper uses a double ended screw. I thought that the heat shrink would cause bulk or be an issue, but it really isn't. Here's a pro for the Regina. Should you need to remove the tubing (On occasion there has been times that I wanted to use the leader without the grips) you can separate it and they go easily back together without damaging your connections. Red Snapper tubing is very flexible, Regina is very rigid. Not sure there are pro or cons to that. I've used Regina for years and never had them break. The actual snaps of both brands are pretty much identical. With that being said; when you used leader grips you will need about 2" more than normal backing fabric, especially when using a ruler base and ruler foot. If your leader system is lower than your leveler bar the ruler plate can catch the ridge of the snaps and keep you from quilting all the way to the top edge of your quilt, so having that extra 2" (total of 6") longer backing fabric eliminates that problem.