An acquaintance of mine recommended me to a friend of hers to assist with some antique quilt tops. I am in a guild, I love to make tops, not so much the quilting part. I told her I would look at them and give her advice or guide her to someone with more experience than I have. She was very laid back, made by a distant relative, no hurry, been on her shelf for 30 years or more. Needed batting, backing, quilting and binding. Ok, I can "wrangle" for her and get it done.
Wellll, she had washed the tops! Called to ask how to iron them! NO! Don't iron, press, up and down. Brought them to me on hangers and well pressed. Most of the mess of thread had been clipped. A few squares needed repair.
All four were string pieced on the bias! Some were large squares, some 3", Not a one was square! Borders were wonky and wavy and didn't match the quilts at all on one of them. (I had removed the really bad border on one before quilting, will have to remove another 2" border that is smaller than the quilt and caused puckers on another)
I took them to LQS and we picked out backing and binding fabric, then took them to Long arm quilter and she did the best she could. I am going to do the binding myself. She gave me money up front, gave me a $50 tip and said keep whatever money was left over if any. Well, she was VERY generous!
I would do this again, and I have learned a lot more about quilting!