How to Use Red E Edge Snapper Clamps: Even Side Tension for Longarm Quilting
The centre of a quilt can be loaded perfectly and still finish with a wavy border or a tuck on the back — and the sides are often where it happens. If your backing is pulled tighter in one spot than another, that uneven tension works its way into the finished quilt. Red E Edge Snapper Clamps hold the sides of a loaded quilt evenly, so the whole side stays smooth.
What Are Red E Edge Snapper Clamps?
Red-E-Edge clamps are lightweight side clamps used to hold the sides of quilts loaded on any longarm machine. This 12-inch version comes as a set of two clamps, made of plastic and elastic. Red-E-Edges are also available in 16-inch and 19-inch sizes, each sold as a set of two.
Unlike a single small clamp, which grips at just one point, a Red E Edge clamp holds securely and evenly across the entire side of your quilt — evenly spaced tension, instead of all the pull coming from one small spot. The updated design snaps shut easily and opens easily, while still holding your backing fabric with the right level of tension.
Why Longarm Quilters Use Them
Red-E-Edges are described as the best way to ensure you never deal with tucks on the back of your quilt or wavy edges again. Using just one small clamp may leave you with uneven tension, causing a wavy border. Using no clamps at all risks a tuck on the back. Holding the full side evenly helps the backing stay smooth as you quilt — less time fussing, more time quilting.
How to Use Them, Step by Step
- Load your quilt as usual. Attach your backing, batting, and top to your longarm frame the way you normally do, and smooth the layers out before you add any side clamps.
- Position one clamp on each side. Place a 12-inch clamp along each exposed side edge of the loaded quilt, where the backing needs side support. With a set of two, you have one clamp for each side.
- Snap the clamp shut over the fabric edge. Close the clamp so it grips the side of the quilt. The updated design snaps shut easily, so you should not have to force it.
- Check the tension along the whole side. Run your hand along the clamped edge. It should feel evenly held from one end of the clamp to the other, with no single spot pulling harder than the rest and no slack sections in between.
- Quilt, then reposition as you advance. As you roll the quilt and move to a new section, open the clamps — they are designed to open easily — move them to the new exposed side area, snap them shut again, and re-check the tension before you continue stitching.
Practical Tips
Match the clamp size to your work: this set is the 12-inch size, with 16-inch and 19-inch sizes also available if your quilting area calls for a longer hold. Always re-check side tension after advancing the quilt, rather than assuming the last setting still holds. If one side feels tighter than the other, open and reset that clamp instead of pulling the fabric by hand, so the tension stays spread evenly across the clamp's full length.
Care and Storage
Store the clamps flat with your other longarm tools, keeping the pair together in a frame-side bin or drawer. Keep them clean and dry, and check the elastic and plastic parts before loading a quilt — if a clamp no longer snaps shut securely, its hold will not be even.
Project Ideas
Use Red E Edge clamps on any longarm project where a smooth back matters. They are especially helpful on quilts with borders you want to keep straight, on large quilts where side slack is harder to manage by hand, and on backings that tend to tuck as you advance.
Shop the Red E Edge Snapper Clamp 12in at Linda's Electric Quilters.
