Thread: Messed up quilt back from long arm quilter

If your quilt has white fabric the needle marks are probably going to show (at least that's what happened to me). You might try sewing on some scraps from your quilt and seeing if the stitches removed leave marks.

Originally Posted by Tartan

So sorry this has happened. 50 X 50 seems small for the LA to have problems with it to me. I would question her about it. Did you mention that you wanted to show it when you dropped it off? Not that it should have mattered because if this is the her best? I would be looking for another LA. I know sometimes there are problems with a top but before stitching the "problem" with puckers, I think a LA should call the owner! Now what do you do? You've got to try and fix it and sometimes the holes will close in if washed but as others have mentioned, on a light fabric I can still tell they were there. BUMMER!


Long armers on QB, do you call your clients before stitching in puckers on a quilt top?

I sure do. I want each quilt I finish to be my best work. Sometimes the puckers are easily fixed and sometimes the owner doesn't care. I have one client that doesn't care, her work is always messy.

Usually the reason a quilt winds up with a tuck on the front is that the quilt itself was not flat, and that usually is because the borders were wavy before quilting. I'm not saying that this was the case with your quilt, just that it's the usual explanation for a tuck.

I would ask the quilter for an explanation. We've had several posts like yours recently, about longarm quilting that came back with less than stellar results. One thing I've decided is that if I ever do start to longarm for others, I will talk to each customer about any problems with her quilt before proceeding, and if the final results aren't as good as they could have been, I'll discuss the issues with the customer. It seems to me that if the longarmer had mentioned the tuck to you, and discussed why it was there (assuming that she realized there was a tuck and that it was unavoidable, which may not have been the case) you would not now be questioning the quilting.

As far as removing the holes, usually that is successful. You might need to mist the quilt lightly and massage the holes to get them to close if you don't want to launder the quilt. Best of luck in salvaging your project for the fair.

Originally Posted by 1rottendog

Before I get too upset, maybe I goofed. My 50" x 50" wall hanging came back with puckers quilted in on the front. The back is fine. What would cause this? I squared up blocks before putting them together, pressed it very well so there would be no wrinkles or bulgy spots. This is a quilt I wanted to put in a show in January and, of course, now I can't. If I take out all the stitching, will needle marks show? Do I say anything to the lady who quilted it for me? Thanks for any advice/help.

Please let us know what your deceide to do, so we can learn from this. Would be especially interested in what the LAQ has to say about her work. If it was me I would take it apart as YOU will always see those puckers even if no one else will.