Longarmer messed up

[zenkitty]

Please help....I had my quilt sent to a friend who does longarming and I have never had any problems before but when she returned this quilt she showed me some major mistakes in the quilt. She said she had trouble with the tension and clicking noise, etc abut never once called me to tell me what was going on. So..I look at it and there are thread nests all over the back...the tension is so tight that the color from the front is looped to the back and this is a gift. I didn't pay her...she understood, which tells me she figured it would fly.

Anyway, now I am in the process of ripping out the stitches in the entire quilt. The sides have already been cut and I was going to fold over the back for binding. Is it still possible to take it to another longarmer with the sides that way or am I going to learm FMQ and do it myself??? LOL...maybe so. This is a gift.

Also, if I decide to FMQ, should I just take out some of the stitches, so I don't have to pin it or just take it all out?

I'm not too happy right now.

[GrammaBabs]

that is a shame.... and she is wrong to have finished up the whole thing with such a problem... i would not use her again... my friend that does long arm has ripped out whole sections, just because the tension was bad...

i wish i were there to help you... i'm no pro, but i'll bet i could make it look ok and i'm sure there ;may be someone near you that could help... i hope for your sake... can you post pic? or would it be too hurtful...

[debinmalaga]

Oh, this is a catastrophe, I can't tell you how bad I feel for you. Totally inexcusable behavior on her part, I'm sorry to say.

When did this gift have to be completed? If it wasn't a gift, I'd suggest clipping out the thread nests and the worst of the quilting, and then either taking it to another longarmer and see if she'll fill in the now empty spots, or jumping in and learning FMQ yourself. Since it's a gift, though, I guess you really do have to rip the entire quilt. If you can hang in there are do that, you're one tough cookie, I think I'd give up in tears and send a gift card. And maybe take the longarmer to small claims court!

Well, at least you can fume here... we're here for you. I'm really interested to see what everyone has to suggest.

[zenkitty]

I will take it to the local shop here and see if anything can be done. My feeling is it is not something I want to give as a gift, and I am not a picky person, but when it comes to sewing, at least put some love into the work. There's no love here. I don't understand why she continued. And yes...I will no longer use her. Some of the shops here will let you rent their long arm machines. In the meantime, this gift was for a friend's little girl who is 18montha old and is having a hard time sleeping at night, so I thought a quilt would be nice for them both to wrap up in and be comforted. It was for the 25th of this month, but I already told her I ran into problems with her gift and she is fine with it.

how do I post a picture from my phone?

[Jean Sewing Machine]

Too bad, I've talked to other longarmers, and that is the problem with doing quilts for others, if you mess it up, you are liable. I would love to have a long arm quilt machine and frame, but couldn't justify it for just doing my own quilts, and I'd be too scared to do one for someone else, after they do all that work to piece the top. One lady who does it at our local quilt shop said someone made a wrong decision on what color thread she wanted the longarmer to use, then the lady didn't like how it turned out, and the longarmer had to do the ripping. Longarming sounds great, until it doesn't work right.

[Dragonfly]

Starting from the top, ripping out that mess should have been her responsibility, she should not have had to even think about it, she should just have done it and then requilted it or returned it if she was unable to do it. Next I can not for the life of me understand why she has trimmed the sides knowing that the quilt would need to be unpicked and redone, she must have known it would have to go back on a frame. I do longarm quilting for people and my conscience and sense of integrity would never have allowed me to let this happen without remedying it at my expense.

Next to answer your question about putting it back on a frame yes it can be done. Simply take some calico/muslin strips about 4" wide and using an open/large stitch (ie easy to get out later), attach them to your back. If it doesn't line up quite right on the frame you may need to sacrifice a small amount of your border to square it up, assuming you have a border that has room for trimming. Talk to the staff at your local quilt shop if they do longarm quilting, they will be able to advise you.

[zenkitty]

Here is the back, which is riddled with this type of looping and nesting. The back thread should be navy blue. The top is varigated.

She offered to take out the nests and resew it but I declined. If that machine is off, the redo will be also. I don't know...my gut sense is something is wrong here with her about this quilt. She knew it was bad.

Moving on...I will go talk to someone who knows what they are doing and see what we can do. I just may use this as my FMQ leap!! Something good comes from something bad.

[Dragonfly]

One lady who does it at our local quilt shop said someone made a wrong decision on what color thread she wanted the longarmer to use, then the lady didn't like how it turned out, and the longarmer had to do the ripping.

In my opinion if this was the thread that the customer had requested then this is the customers problem. If at the time of setting up the job she had been advised that the choice may not be good, and it is the job of the quilter to give this type of advise, and she had still wanted it then it is not the problem of the quilter. It's a bit like telling the hairdresser you want all your hair cut off, the choice is yours and the result, if you don't like it, is your problem. Fortunately quilting can be fixed, short hair takes a little longer.

[zenkitty]

It's hard being a longarmer. I bow to those who are conscientious and take pride in their work.

[K. McEuen]

If it was just the small loops from the front coming through I'd say wash it and it will look okay. The big nests are a whole 'nuther story. I'm wondering if she ever bothered to check the back before she trimmed it.