And if a quilt is being quilted for any of the big shows, it is quilted within an inch of it's life! That's what the judges are looking for right now and that has permeated the mindset of LA quilters so they are doing that more and more on all their quilts. Karen McTavish tells LA quilters that we are to be humble and not try to over-shadow the piecing of the quilt. I know I work very hard to enhance the beauty of my customers' quilts and not have my quilting be the star of the show - I'll save that for my wholecloth quilts!!

I have taken out machine quilting. I am very new to longarm quilting and I tried to do some fancy stuff on one of my "good" quilts. It was so bad that I took it off the frame and starting "skinning" it. I use a razor blade and cut the stitches between the batting and the backing. If I get a cut in the backing, that's fine.

As for how long it takes? I'll have to let you know when I finish skinning it. :D

I totally understand this. I did a quilt that I was pretty proud of and I wanted to enter it in shows. I had it machine quilted, I didn't have a long arm myself yet, by someone who is very good at it. It is gorgeous and it really "made" the quilt. I'm sad to say that the quilting does overshadow the piecing and that's seems to be all that people notice.

I went to a sewing night with someone from the board and there was a woman there who did LA and she said that there was this woman who asked her to not do so much on her quilts, just keep it simple, because that's all people see. The woman telling this said it in a way like she was insulted to be told this. I didn't say anything about how I felt about my quilt being used as a canvas for the quilter.

Don't feel to bad, I had hand quilted a double bed size quilt and it was really a joy to look at. Well some time later I decided to wash the quilt. To my surprise I found out that I had used wool padding and had dried the quilt in my dryer. You can guess what happened next. It took a long time ripping out the hand stitches and re quilting with cotton padding. That was the last time I used wool padding.

Thats exactly why my wife as a machine quilter picks out patterns for each quilt depending on what the pattern of the tops looks like. So as NOT to take anything away from the quilters artistry.

i've done it and it known as skinning a quilt. its easiest to do while the quilt is on the frame.

if you're unhappy with the quilting i would give the quilt back to the long arm person and have her skin it on the frame and at least get some of your money back if not all of it.

here's a video on how to do it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyDwPPU_1jw

Great video. Thanks for sharing.

I would rip it out! You wouldn't be the first!! Depending on the stitch length and tension quality it may or may not be an easy job. If you don't hand quilt it, find a LA who does quality custom quilting . . . your work is beautiful and it would be so worth it!! As far as the backing/batting goes, I'd suggest (if you are sending it to a longarmer) that you get new backing and batting (reuse what is on it on a smaller project). I'm a longarmer, and can tell you that it's a beast to work with backing/batting that is too small. Good luck with it. It is a beauty!

the easiest way to remove stitches is to break every 5th or 6th stitch with a seam ripper on the top side, then pull the bobbin thread out on the back side. You'll find this goes faster then picking one stitch at a time. It will still take a while that's for sure.
By the way, to remove needle holes that don't go away on their own, use a steamer and brush as you steam or scrape across them with your finger nail. I've also heard of putting the quilt in a dryer with a very well wrung out cloth. Also, the first time you wash the quilt any needle holes should close up.

Good luck.

I'm an excellent de-stitcher...better at that than sewing, I suppose because I do so much of it!