BellaBoo

That is bad! You have every right to be upset. I would let the one that recommended her know how disappointed you are. I know I would ask for a refund. If she gets upset or huffy I'd would tell her fine, I'll let everyone know I am a very dissatisfied customer and keep the quilt and show them why. I don't mind confrontation when it's my money being spent for shoddy work.

Ruby the Quilter

What is amazing to me is that she thought it was fine. She must have never looked at it. It really is a bad quilting job, with the odd shapes skipped stitches etc.

Nanamoms

I also hate confrontation but in this case, I would HAVE to let the LA know how unhappy you are with it. I'm no expert by any means on sewing but I would be very unhappy with the job she did. She needs to know that it is not an acceptable job...just think you may be saving someone else from the heartache you are experiencing. Take a good friend with you to see her to bolster your courage...your friend doesn't need to say anything, just be there. AND do let your LQS who recommended her know that you are not satisfied with the quilting and show them. Their reputation is on the line, too, when they recommend her. Good Luck with whatever you decide to do.

GramMER

I am curious how it was ruined. Is it puckered? Is it too tight or too loose? What happened?

While we were in the US this spring, I sent out two quilts to be done by an "unknown" LA quilter. I too was very disappointed in the results. My guess is that the machine tension was out of whack. As the pattern went one direction, everything seemed fine, but as it went the other direction the stitches were huge and loose--just lying on top of the fabric! The bobbin thread literally lay on the top of the cloth just under loops from the top thread. I believe she may also have pushed the quilt too fast for the machine to catch up if that makes sense. For sure her stitch length was not right. My fear is that the loose top thread may allow things to catch on the bobbin thread and actually pull it out.

I showed the work to another LA quilter and she was appalled. She offered to do it over for me if I wanted to have it done, but I could not afford to pay for it twice. She also asked me who did it and I refused to say because I am not into the bashing business. I am hoping that I can gradually do a few places by hand if they come out.

I did quite a bit of research before I contracted with my quilter. I got recommendations, went to her shop and looked carefully at the quilts she had on display. What more could I have done?

Silver Needle

I see your point. I would never have given it back to a client in this codition. As a longarm quilter I hate to hear about incidents like this. It is always good to ask to see some examples of someone's work before committing your quilt. It's one of the reasons we maintain a website. Another good question you can ask is what training or classes, if any, have they had to advance their skills. I have taken 45 hours of private training on using our Intelliquilter from Suzanne Moreno and other group classes. This can give you an idea of how dedicated the person is to their craft.

I would also like to give you Kudos on your post regarding this regrettable situation. You stated the problem and your sorrow but didn't "rip the quilter" to shreds. I wish we could all come over and have an unquilting bee to help you. She won't really need the quilt til colder weather so even if it's a little late: I suggest...Put on a good movie, get a LARGE box of Godiva chocolate and rip it, rip it, rip it. And I would speak to the quilter about it and about a refund. Good luck if you decide to try it yourself.

w7sue

It's been many years and many quilts ago, but I sent a quilt off to a LAQ recommended by a quilt shop I went to on a regular basis. The LAQ had done several quilts for me before doing this particular one and they had all been just fine - pretty well done in fact. This one had a lot of "eye lashes" on the back side of the quilt - very noticable. I contacted her several times asking to talk to her - she never charged me for it, nor did she ever return a call or email. I was so disappointed that she wouldn't talk to me. I have the quilt over a chair and my daughter said it will be going with her when she moves out - she loves it. I made another quilt for my niece's daughter and sent it instead - she never knew about the first one.

I am new to longarm quilting (doing it for just the last six months). I have only done quilts for a group that gives me their charity quilts to practice on. I have found that pantographs are not my thing - I have difficulty making them look nice with smooth lines - I really enjoy freehand quilting and am happy to say each one is nicer than the last. However, I have spent some time unquilting because I have to be proud of it before it goes out the door - charity or not - it needs to look its best. Sometimes that hasn't been easy given the quality of the piecing, but I have been given a lot of positive feedback on the ones I have finished so far.

I took two to a customer today - she paid for the batting and I did everything else for free. I did have some issues in my meandering loops on one of the quilts and she gave me some tips on what to try - I was so thankful for her help. They will probably wash out once the binding has been sewn down and it can be tossed into the washer/dryer. The second quilt took me over two hours of stitching (on the longarm) and I was pretty happy with it and so was the customer. I have found that taking more time nets a better product!

I am in no way ready to charge a customer for my work yet! I have only taken one class so far and want to take some more before doing a quilt for someone for money. I would feel horrible if they didn't like it -

Edie

I think that the LQS should be informed about this work. I think the LAQ'er should be informed about her sloppy work. It doesn't matter whether your niece likes it or not, it doesn't matter what the LQS thinks. It matter what you think!!!!! If'n it were me, I would inform the LQS about her shoddy work (new at LAQ'ing or not) and demand your money back and you should be paid for having to take out the stitches). You know, we sit there and sew something very very special for a niece, or a mother or a sister or brother or friend or special neighbor, whatever. We put our love into it, we put our time into it, we put our heart in to it and to have someone completely annhilate a beautiful piece of work is totally unacceptable. I wouldn't wash it and "hope" that it would look better. It probably won't and then it'll be twice as hard to remove the stitching and besides which the shop and the quilter should see what it looks like before you do anything to it. I am not being nasty by any means. I am standing up for YOU and the work YOU put into to it and the anticipation YOU had waiting to see how it was going to turn out and the sadness and anger YOU felt when you did see it.

I do not put up with that kind of work and I do not accept that kind of work. You have learned a lesson from all of this. But you shouldn't have had to.

I would take the quilt back to the LQS, show it to them, tell them what you expect them to do as far as recommending her as a quilter. I would take the quilt back to the LAQ'er and tell her that you want your money back because it is sloppy, shoddy (and from the pictures it is - no quilt should look like that) and that she has to pay you for having to take all the stitches out and take it to another LAQ'er because you don't want her to touch it!

My quilts (the ones I make - whether they are for our home or for gifts) are made with love. I have such good feelings when I make them. No one has the right to take that away from me and it sure looks like the quilter did it to you.

If you are angry with the woman tell her, don't be wishy-washy. This was a very important quilt for you to make as well as give. You lost the true joy of giving of this quilt and you probably may not get that feeling back unless you totally make everything right for YOU.

I hope you are able to get the stitching out, because I do truly feel that this could become a gorgeous quilt and a loved quilt, but to think you have to make another one and use the original as a dog bed is soooo sad!

I don't apologize for being blunt. I apologize for carrying on. I do that when I feel that someone is hurting and there isn't a whole heckuva lot I can do, except vent my spleen, which I do think I did a pretty darn good job of doing - spleen venting, that is!

Do what your heart tells you to do, but come out of it feeling good about it.

Edie

coopah

Lots of good ideas here for you. I just hope you can "fix" the quilt, that the LAer doesn't do any more until she has more experience (on her own quilts), and that you only have good experiences with LAers from now on.

Hoarder

Instead of mourning - stand up for your quilt! What happened, why is it "wrong", why did you pay her, why didn't you confront her, and the referring party should know about it. Especially if it was your LQS (Local Quilt Shop) as they should see the work, and realize that they are hurting themselves if sub-standard work was provided. They stand to lose customers (you and others in the future). About taking lessons, maybe you will learn if your workman ship was at fault, and you will need hours of work on a rental machine until you feel comfortable working a long arm yourself.

sherryl1

How about some pictures.Maybe it isn't so bad.