How to Use Side Grips on Your Longarm: A Quilter's Guide
If you've ever finished quilting the center of a quilt only to discover the edges have drifted, flared, or pulled out of square, you already know why the sides of your quilt need attention. Side Grips by Leader Grips are a clever little notion designed for exactly this problem: a pair of hand-friendly clamps that hold the side of your quilt straight while you work on a longarm frame.
What Are Side Grips?
Side Grips are clamp-style leaders that grip the backing fabric (or a single layer of fabric) along the edges of your quilt sandwich. They give you a controlled, even tension point on the sides of the quilt, which helps keep everything aligned as the carriage moves. They come as a set of 2 grips, and they're designed to be easy on your hands — no fighting stiff clamps or cramping fingers to get them on and off.
Choosing the Right Size
Side Grips come in three lengths. Pick the one that matches the throat space of your machine:
- 10 inch: best with an 18 inch throat machine or smaller
- 14 inch: best with a 22 inch to 24 inch throat machine
- 18 inch: best with a 25 inch or larger throat machine
One helpful detail: the rod is 1 inch larger than the plastic snap-on piece, so size up based on your machine's throat rather than guessing from the quilt size.
How to Use Them
- Load your quilt on the longarm frame as usual — backing, batting, and top — with the leaders secured.
- Once the quilt is rolled and aligned, snap a Side Grip onto the backing fabric along one side edge of the quilt sandwich.
- Repeat on the opposite side so both edges are held straight.
- Adjust as you advance the quilt, repositioning the grips so the edges stay square as you move through each section.
Important Usage Tips
- These grips are made to clamp the backing piece of fabric, or just one layer of fabric. Do not try to clamp through the whole quilt sandwich.
- Do not use them on Minky or thick fabrics — the clips are designed for standard cottons and quilt backings, and heavy materials can crack or damage them.
- Be gentle when snapping the grips on and off. The clips can crack or wear over time with repeated use. The good news: replacement clips are sold separately for each size, so you can refresh them rather than replacing the whole set.
- Keep a spare pair of replacement clips in your studio drawer so a cracked clip never interrupts a quilting session.
Care and Storage
Side Grips need very little maintenance. Wipe the plastic snap-on pieces occasionally to remove lint and thread dust from your frame area, and store them flat or hung so the clips don't bear weight and deform. Avoid leaving them clamped on fabric between sessions for long stretches, which can fatigue the plastic over time.
Project Ideas
Side Grips shine on any longarm project where square, straight edges matter: full-size bed quilts where the sides can creep over hours of quilting, pantograph quilting where consistent alignment keeps rows even, and custom quilting where borders need to stay crisp and true. If you quilt king-size tops or work with soft, shift-prone backings, they are an especially handy addition to your frame setup.
Shop the Side Grips by Leader Grips (Set of 2) at Linda's Electric Quilters.
