Before you begin:

The quilt top and batting are attached to the front (lower) roller, the quilt backing is attached to the middle roller, and all three layers are attached to the back roller.

You may want to practice the mounting technique with a small sample quilt sandwich to assure that you understand the directions.

• Remove the lock pins and raise the front roller.

• The backing layer is attached first. For best results, trim selvages.
• Cut your backing at least 8" longer than the top and at least 2" wider on each side. If possible, the seams in your backing should run parallel to the rollers.
• Standing at the front of the frame, with the aprons hanging, match the center of the front edge of the backing fabric with the center of the edge of the apron on the middle roller, making sure that the right side of fabric is facing down.
• Pin the edge of the backing fabric to the free edge of apron, working from the center out to either end. (see pic)
• Roll the backing fabric onto the middle roller, so that it rolls with the wrong side up. Smooth out any creases as you roll.
  The Black Knobs may tighten as you roll. Loosen them as necessary.
• If the backing is rolling unevenly, unroll it and reposition the edge to correct it.
• Pin the other edge of the backing to the edge of the apron on the back roller, again matching centers. Make sure the tension is even all along the length of the roller.

• Lay the batting across the rollers. Align the front edge of the batting with the edge of the apron on the front roller.
• Lay the quilt top on top of the batting. Align the front edge of the quilt with the front edge of the batting.
• Attach the batting and quilt top to the front roller, again matching centers and pinning from the center out with the right side of your quilt top facing up.
• Roll the top and batting evenly onto the front roller, making sure to work out any wrinkles as you roll. Roll until the edge of the quilt top reaches the edge of the rear roller apron.

• Centering the free edge of the top and batting over the backing fabric, pin the layers together. Pin through the quilt top, batting and backing, again starting at the center and working out to each side. Do not pin your quilt top and batting to the rear roller apron. You may be quilting in this area and accidentally sew through the apron.

• When you are in position to begin quilting, remove the lock pins and drop the front roller. Secure the lock pins again.
• Begin quilting on the back edge of the quilt and work toward the front. The aprons on the front and middle rollers should be long enough to allow the top edge of the quilt to move up into quilting position.
• Use the ratchets to keep the tension of the top and backing even.
• Drop your feed dogs or apply tape over them so that they are inoperable.
• Set your stitch length to 0. Even though the feed dogs are not being used, they will continue to work. This saves a lot of wear and tear on your machine.
• Always bring your bobbin thread up through the quilt with each start.
• Lock your threads with tiny stitches and finish in this same manner to ensure good results
• With larger quilts, after you have stitched a large portion of the quilt, you may find that the quilting area is limited and you can no longer quilt in the manner you desire. At this point, baste the remaining part of the quilt. This is easily done by running long stitches parallel to the rollers. Once the quilt is basted, remove it from the frame, turn the quilt end to end, and remount it using only the center and rear rollers. In this position you can continue quilting from the area you stopped to the remaining end.