HUGE Mistake
 

I am longarm quilting a king size quilt that just barely fits my frame. It has three borders and 85 squares. I quilted the top three borders with matching thread, the 85 squares with contrasting thread, and then the bottom three borders with contrasting thread. My top border thread is opposite the bottom border thread! Before I can sew the side borders I have to remove the stitching on the top replace it to match the bottom. Three borders on a 110" quilt have to come out. I can't believe I messed up so badly. And, of course, it is time sensitive. Rip, rip, rip.

I feel your pain. Those little forgetful moments can bring on so much extra work.

Oh how awful. Just having that huge quilt on the frame is bad enough.

maybe you don't need to take it out.

if you do the same on the side borders it will form a 2-color "frame" and look intentional.
it might look a bit like a shadow box effect.

I don't long arm, but if I made that mistake, I like this idea better. Sometimes mistakes are made for a reason. Best of luck.

When doing thread color changes I put a post it on the machine to remind me.....when I do various fm designs on sashes, borders that get rolled up til the end...short memory...I use a magna-doodle toy I picked up at goodwill.....draw what I did and keep on work table as reminder when I get to other end.......have done much frog-stitching......

I don't even know what to say, but you have my complete sympathy. Maybe you can make it look intentional. However, if you really can't, I will come help rip. I will call after lunch and come over with my seam ripper. (This is my sister, folks, and I know where she lives. :) )

Dina

Thanks for the ideas. On another quilt it might have worked, but not on this one. I have ripped for 3 hours and an over half finished. A few more hours of ripping and then I can reload it on the longarm. I'll be glad to get this one finished!

Ugh. I feel your pain. I now snap a picture on my phone of the quilting in the first border and first row of blocks. Not only does it remind me what thread I use, it also reminds me exactly how I quilted it. There is nothing worse than having to walk away from quilting it for a few days, only to come back to find that you can't remember how you were quilting it!

Consider it a learning curve. Bet it doesn't happen again!

Great idea ... Using the phone. I made a goof in a Bargello top and didn't see it until I laid it out and snapped a pic. Thank heavens I did it before quilting

was this an " out of sight, out of mind" sort of thing.?

I don' t have a long arm, but is part of the process rolling what is done out of sight?

A detail check list is the only way to go when in doing quilting for money. Stop and check off one detail and double check the next one. Learned that when doing crochet for boutiques.

I personally like this idea...I think it would work very well and save you a LOT of work...

Oh--really have my sympathy--nothing like ripping out lots of machine quilting. And it always seems to be on really large quilts, too. Hope you have a"chick flick" or 2 that you've seen a gillion times to listen to in the background while you do this tedious chore.

Sympathy for your error, you probably won't do that again. You learn from mistakes so now your a better quilter.

Thanks for your ideas, suggestions, and sympathies. I ripped for 6 hours, reloaded it and got all 3 borders on the remaining 3 sides quilted. Then I realized I forgot to change the thread on one of the borders. More ripping. This has been quite the challenge. I ripped over 6 hours the first time and over 2 hours the second time. But, it is all ripped and requilted and finished!!! I like the ideas of making notes and taking pictures. You can be sure I'll take those suggestions! I usually do edge to edge. This was my first custom quilt so quite the learning curve. It is for a friend, not a paying customer, so it was a labor of love. And I'm loving that it is finished!!

sorry to hear of you misshap,but so glad it is finished now.
pictures please would love to see it finished