unpicking quilting
 

A friend and I are going to unpick the quilting on her lovely quilt... the quilter has not done a good job at all... it is king size so will take quite a while... absolutely beautiful and well worth doing again... she was going to use it and put a blanket over it !!! Any suggestions please... unfortunately she didn't wash the materials first so that could be a problem as I think it would have to be washed to get the sewing marks out... is there any other way instead of washing it please?

There is no fast way, but I find taking thread out from the bobbin side is easier. Do not wash the quilt top until its quilted, washing the top only will create another bigger mess.

What kind of sewing marks are there? Some can be spritzed out with a light spray, some come out with heat, others must be washed but only in cold water... you really need to know what made the marks before doing anything that could possibly set them. It is a lot of work picking out a whole quilt, but hopefully the quilting is not too dense or the stitches too close together. Best would be if the tension was terrible, which would make it easier to pick out. Some people refer to this as "skinning" a quilt, and you can find some possibly useful techniques if you search for this term. Good luck!

What a bummer! What is it she doesn't like about the quilting? Hope the quilting comes out easily for you. Good luck.

Good luck!!! My sympathies are with you both and hope you can find enjoyable moments of friendship in this task. I agree that washing would cause all kinds of problems you don't want to deal with.

Why do you say not to wash the top before having it quilted again... it would be just a soak in warm water... to close the needle marks... I am worried about the fabric colours running as she didn't wash the fabrics first...

Why do you say it would make a mess if washed...the top and backing would only be soaked in warm water to get the stitching marks out... she wouldn't want to wash it with the batting in ...

If you try to wash a top before quilting you will usually find that the raw edges fray like crazy. Also you will have to press again, and it is extremely difficult to avoid pressing in creases when the whole top is unpressed and wrinkly.

I do my own long arm quilting, so I've had lots of experience removing quilting! As mentioned previously, try clipping the stitches from the back every inch or so, pulling the small pieces of bobbin thread out as you go. I alternate this with 'skinning'. After you've removed a section of bobbin stitches and you can separate the layers, try clipping the threads from under the backing. Basically between the backing and the batting. I would also just ignore the needle marks. She will probably need to press the top before quilting. Often the holes will close if you use steam. I would hold off washing the quilt until it's re-quilted.
My other question is how is she disappointed in the quilting? Was the pattern used not to her liking? If it was poorly done, I would return it to the quilter. She probably paid quite a bit to have it quilted and she should have gotten her money's worth!

I didn't look at the length of the stitches... hope they were not too small... she had stopped in several places... and didn't keep going as she had to go around some squares... just stopped..... and continued elsewhere... there was jagged sewing occasionally... not smooth even lines and showed up badly...