This has never happened to me and was wondering if it's ever happened to any of you.

I have done a few quilts, I have come a long way, but have an even longer way to go. I do love it though.

With that said, I turned in my quilt to be quilted and the back of it looks horrible. it looks like someone folded the fabric in certain places and then quilted over it. She said I did something wrong when piecing the back.

Did I do something wrong? Or was it her fault? I am really curious!!!!
It cost me $100 to be quilted and I was hoping it would've looked much better. THe top looks great, it's just the back that is really bad.

I'm new to longarm quilting but... if their are wrinkles she didn't watch what she was soing and load botton square and watch for the wrinkles.

Here are some thoughts. If the pieced backing didn't lay flat (poofy areas) then some pleating can occur. Your quilter should have contacted you to let you know she was going to have a problem before she started quilting. The quilt backing can't be seen while quilting until it is being rolled as you quilt but the quilter can get a pretty good idea if the backing is going to lay flat or not when it is loaded onto the frame. Just MHO.

she should have been able to tell you up front that the back was going to be a problem.

even experienced quilters make mistakes with tops and backs so she really shouldn't blame it on your experience - she should have told you once she noticed the problem.

I agree with what the other's have said. We take our things to a professional, be it quilter, paint shop or whatever... They have the knowledge and experience to spot a problem...they should then call and let us know, let us make the decision to proceed or if we should just go and pick it up. I would rather pay a few $$$ for their time...than pay full price and not be happy with the end result...that is not good for their business's reputation either...JMHO also....

Thanks everyone for your opinions. You're right. If she spotted the problem, she should've called. I definitely won't be going back there!

I am a machine quilter and that should never had happened.
the backing was not pulled evenly with the quilt and it puckered.
I have a machine quilting business and would be happy to do your next quilts. email me and
i can get an information sheet to you.

I certainly would let her know about it and ask her to do it over if possible (free of charge).

wow, well I have hope to take one to the quilter soon, something for me to keep in mind!

I SOOO wish I had the guts to ask her to do it over. I just don't think it would go well. She was super nice, but said that I somehow stretched the fabric, so it was my fault. (that part still doesn't make any sense to me, you'd think if the fabric was stretched (it wasn't) then the chances of puckering would be less!

PV quilter, I live in Utah, how much do you charge for quilting? I don't know how to email you!!:-)

to PM pvquilter click her name <--- over there it'll bring up a new screen then find and click the PM button type in your message in the box and hit submit :)

and to check "your" PM's at the top of the page look for "Private Messages" and when there's a # next to it you have a new message click it and it'll take you to your mail box

[email protected] is my email address.
I can email you my pricing sheet.

I'm sure you are devastated. After all of the hours
that you spent to make a beautiful quilt...... honestly, I would fly back to the quilter and tell her that I gave the quilt to her in good faith and that I
would like it re-done. It really doesn't matter that she is very nice, $100.00 is a lot of money to throw in the garbage. According to the
quilters that have already answered you here on the forum you were
not to blame - and she did blame you - a nice person doesn't do that.
If she has nerve enough to say that it's your fault - you certainly don't
need nerve to ask her to do it over - at no further charge to you. Or, if she doesn't want to do it over you should get your money back.

I think you will kick yourself if you just let this go.

I do agree that if the quilter did see she had a problem with the back you should have been notified. Did she bother to tell you WHAT you did wrong with the back?

If you left selveges on the fabric would cause a problem. Did you have to piece the back? The fabric might have been off grain before you pieced it. There are tons of things that can cause a longarmer absolute fits.

If your longarmer is to busy to check for problems before quilting, then you need to consider using someone else.

The above is just my opinion. I am a longarmer, and if you would like please send me an email to [email protected] and I'll be glad to give you a quote for quilting.

Let's not forget, who is working for whom! I would be so in there, she can at least refund you 50%. That way it would be fair. I would think that she would be willing to work with you to keep a happy customer!

I am shocked at this!!!
Upon receiving the quilt, she should have inspected it and told you of any problems that may arise from the top piecing to the backing that you have chosen for your quilt and included the batting to get the desired look you were going for with your quilt.
This person should have contacted you if there were any questions or doubts on anything...
That saves her 'butt'
If you said go ahead, then it is on you...
I would want at least half my money back...I would tell her what I would have expected and stated it that it is why I want my money back...
Good luck and I am sure you will find some great longarmers on this board. I did!!!
Kirsten

Things like that are what keeps me scared of sending quilts out. There are some hugely talented longarmers on the board here, but if someone messed up my quilt or lost it, I'd be heartsick.

I would take it back. The one I sent out befor it got lost. I had a hard time squaring it up and she did it for nothing. But she called me and told me she was going to do it for me.

Send me your email address and I will send you my information. I also use punch card when full you get a $20.00 discount on next project. I also have a quantity discount program, and also if you book now for Xmas I am giving a $10.00 discount.

this happen to me once on the quilter (my quilt, thank heavens) I had rolled down to do a certain area and then unrolled to do above that design and had a major wrinkle....didn't check and keep back taunt...will pay more attention next time....did she roll and unroll your quilt????

I am so sorry you had a bad experience and think that there
should be some recourse.

Frankly, this is one of the main reasons that eventually I want
to learn to do my own quilting. You spend all of this time putting
together your quilt and then hold your breath that the LAQ does
justice to all of your efforts. The longer I quilt the more particular
I'm becoming and sometimes the quilting (that I paid for mind you)
just isn't up to par. So, I have much sympathy.....

You guys are awesome. But why am I so scared to say anything to her?! I think I did a bad thing yesterday though (before all of your responses) and I cut the edges of the batting down so I could find fabric for the binding. Do you think she'd still be able to fix it if I already cut down the extra fabrics/batting? Dang....I wish I hadn't done that though! I was just TRYING so hard to like this quilt! I am just so disappointed. You live and learn, I guess.

Thanks for all of your help everyone!

After your hard work making the quilt, i'd definately take it back to her and show her what she did.. I'd make her either give a full refund or one heck of a refunded amount...how bad is the puckered areas? can you rip the seams there and smooth it out any in those areas? did she totally ruin it? as a paying customer, you should get what you paid her for!

I went to a shop about an hours drive from home. We decided on lambs quilted in every other block with clouds filling in the rest...it was a baby quilt btw. Anyway, a couple of weeks later I go to pick up the quilt and she had followed a pantograph. The lambs fell wherever they wanted. But that wasn't the worst part. The tension was off so the back had loops whenever she did a curve. Lambs have lots of curves. The owner was gushing about how great this woman was and what a wonderful job she did. I paid, took it home, and ripped it out and did my best to requilt it myself. I understand your reluctance to ask for your money back. I wish I had spoken up. Since you are no longer going to use her services you have nothing to lose by asking for a refund. She obviously didn't tighten the backing, or if it was out of square she would have seen that immediately when she pinned and rolled the backing. It is not your fault, it's hers. SHE should have offered you a refund.
Whatever you do, the best bet is to rip it out and do a simple quilting of your own to salvage it. If it's going to be a wall quilt you can leave it as is because no one will see the back, but you'd always know. I'm so sorry.
There are wonderful people out there, some have already contacted you. Let us know what you end up doing.
bev.

That should not have happened!! She did not square up the back..or maybe she did it in a hurry and did not pay attention to what was going on with the back..I have been Longarm Quilting for many years and have never had that happen...I would either ask for a refund or get a discount on the next quilt...if she dont agree, go to some one else next time...

Minimum, she should know what you are thinking and feeling now and you have new information you didn't when picking the quilt up. It's never what you say, it's how you say it. You are problem solving. The right reponse from her would be just that. Anything else isn't your fault.

I agree with Deedum, get back 50% of the cost. She should have called you and let you know there is a problem with the backing. A lady I know had a lab robe quilted, got it home didn't like the quilting and she took the whole thing apart and then took it to another quilter to be done over. The second quilter did a great job, I saw both jobs, first and second. She didn't go back to the first quilter but told everybody under the sun how unhappy she was with the first job. Things can get nasty.

So, should I say something like:

"Hi (so and so)

I have really tried to not let the back of my quilt bother me, but it really does. The more I think about it and the more I talk to people, I feel that I should get some sort of refund. I wish you would've called me when you knew there was a problem, I would not have "okayed" it to be quilted this way. "

I would let the resolution be her idea, but you can certainly lead the way by letting her know how you feel and what you are thinking about the process, ie. no phone call, etc. and paint the picture of how things could have been different. If an acceptalbe solution isn't offered up after that, I move to a more frank statement like, I'd really like a refund on this one, followed by a sincere compliment like, I know you meant well, because I'm sure she did, something may have happened in her life that day and she may have felt she didn't even have time to call you. Life happens and so do mistakes, but that's the beauty life, it's never too late to say I'm sorry or correct and learn from an experience. Mistakes don't make the person as much as the corrections do I think. If something comes from your heart, it's hard to go wrong. Give yourself peace by speaking your mind. You and your quilt are worth it.

I would love to have more information on your quilting business: cost, how long do you allow etc...thanks

Alex Anderson is on HGTV's web cite. I watched her on how to pin a quilt to do machine Quilting. The bottom has to be tight and smoth pinning the sandwich has to be pinned every 2" a part. After I watched her I have had no problem with my back. On quilt frames the back has to be tight. If there is some pleating on the top it is from your sewing I have found that out. From doing my own Machine quilting. Check out the web cite. She has a lot of stuff on quilting.

Well, I have heard that if you are not happy with her work, your word will spread and she will end up with no work at all. You should take it back and have HER remove all the stitching and then either have her redo it or just get it back, with your $$. Take it somewhere else. That is not good business at all. Load it right and there really should not be a problem. Wish you good luck in what ever you decide to do. :)

Really, I LOVE you people:-) Amazing support here!

I wish I wasn't so scared about it though! I just don't know how to START the conversation!

Hi cent - You start the conversation with "Mary, I am SO Unhappy
with the way you did this quilt." and then if she says something dumb like
"what's wrong with it" you will have reason to get your dander up and tell her what's wrong with it and what you'd like her to do about it.
Your quilt is unusable as it is - so you have nothing to lose.

Please don't let someone get away with this behavior. The next person
certainly won't.

Thanks Pal!

SO, if I start out saying I'm unhappy about, she is going to tell me it's my fault again. She knows I am not a pro. quilter by any means. What do I say to her to let her know that I know it's her fault and not mine?

Tell her that you have discussed this with professionals. Because you have. These ladies know what they are talking about.

I also took a quilt to a "professional" quilter and she messed it up. It had tucks, puckers and pleats on the back. It couldn't have been my backing fabric because I used the wide backing and it wasn't pieced. She charged $60.00. I picked every stitch out of the quilt and took it to another long arm quilter and she did a beautiful job. I didn't say anything to the first quilter about her mess, but I learned my lesson and won't be taking anything else to her. It was an expensive lesson, but I learned from it.

I'm so sorry you had bad results in having your quilt, quilted!
Is it possible for you to post photos of the pleats, and the entire back? Sometimes if they aren't quilted in, they can be steamed out with an iron....
If I lived anywhere near you, I'd come and check out the results and hopefully be able to offer a suggestion.
Did the longarmer give you and definite reason on what you "did wrong" that she says caused the problem?
Did she give you any guidance on what to do in the future (besides not hiring her) to avoid the problem again?
Do you live in central Illinois by chance?....I'd come and offer help if I could!
I think it, if not a voilation of board policy, posting the names of bad longarm quilters could keep a lot of quilters from having the same experience.
It is such a shame that she didn't respect the time and effort you invested in your work!
Sue

She said that I stretched the fabric when I sewed it. I don't remember doing that, but as I've said before, I am still in the learning process. I've taken a couple pictures, I'll post some tonight to show you what happened.

See, when I picked it up she said "because you stretched the fabric on the back, the green fabric "puckered"." I thought it was no big deal 'cause I like the puckered look. But when I got home and saw it, it wasn't what I would call puckering, there were areas where it looked like she folded it and then sewed it, ya know! It's not all over the back, but enough to where it stands out.