YES!! She should tell the LAQ that she's not happy and ask for her money back. Then she can have a "picking party" and her quilting friends can help her pick all the quilting out of it and she can have it redone or do it herself.

She was training a new quilter ON YOUR QUILT? And then didn't look at her work when she was finished, before giving it to you? I would say this woman is a liar, and would never use her again. She was going to see if her substandard work would "pass" or if you would complain, before doing anything about it.

For bad work I would refuse to pay, or ask for money back. I would take the bad sts out myself, because I wouldn't trust the quilter to take them out without botching my quilt, and making holes in it. Sad.

It is a pen size hair trimmer about 6 inches long that you can get at Wal-Mart or Walgreens. It runs on a AA or AAA battery. Sells for $9-20.00. Some have a pivoting head but I prefer the ones that don't. They are made to vibrate to cut but will not cut fingers and the way the head is shaped the material cannot slip into the slots and reach the blade but the quilting threads slip in with a little pressure and a gentle raising and/or tug on the backing. I can take out a an 8 inch strip of panto pattern on a baby quilt in a matter of minutes. I use a damp cloth to gently rub the quilt top to brush the threads loose and follow with sticky lint roller to clean up if I need it.

Ouch if you hired some one to do the quilting you do not expect work to be done by some one in training. Often when people start a business they do quilts for a small fee with the understanding that the LAQ is not completely trained. so as I understand it she took your quilts, left you to believe she would do the work and charged you as if she would do the work but then trained some one long arm quilting on your quilt? Did the other person pay her to be trained? Very strange situation.

As for the original post, yes, ask for the money back and take it out yourself then hire some one else.

I think you have just hit the nail on the head! So often folks just hang out their shingle without doing their homework with respect to actually owning and running a business!

We have a local LA'er who gave a presentation at our Guild. Someone commented that she wasn't very flexible in regards to how quilts come to her and what she will and won't do -and the associated costs. Some people were turned off. Me - I was thrilled that she was a buisnesswoman first and foremost. Made me happy to know that we were going to have mis-matched expectations of what was going to happen.

I am so glad to see this topic finally come up. Most long armed quilts could stand up in the corner by themselves! Just because you can quilt so heavily doesn't mean you should. This seems to be a growing trend since the advent of so many long arm machines and renders the quilts too stiff to feel cozy.

First, take plenty of pictures. Second, let her know how unhappy you are and that the job is not satisfactory and you want a refund in full. If she is a reliable LA'er, she will give you satisfaction. If not, time for the 'big guns' to come out and take a different approach. I personnally would have difficulty letting her work on it again.

I never thought of it that way. It always comes back to money doesn't it. :shock:

I am a longarmer and I really dislike it when other longarmers do not take the care and time on quilts.
I treat all quilts like they are mine. I do the best work.
If the quilt has issues,I tell the quilter and then I try to make it perfect however some issues CAN NOT be quilted out.
On your friends problem...yes ask for the $$ back,rip out the stitches and find a LA that is going to give the quilt the quilting that it deserves...the best.

One poster made the comment on quilting being too dense. That depends on the quilt,how the quilter wants it quilted,is is going in a show,every day use,going on a wall and never ever used. Heirloom quilting and the list goes on.
Bottom line..it is up to the customer on how she wants it quilted. If a customer tells me to do what I want. I have to let it "TALK" to me before I even start quilting it. However I do know in advance if it will be a show quilt or an ever day quilt.

I would certainly let the LAQer know how unhappy she is with the quilting and ask her what she suggests for a remedy. I don't think that i would let the LAQ take the stitches out!!

Definitely ask for the money back. Too bad there are people who claim to be able to do something like that, but have no ability. She shouldn't be advertising that she can do quilting if that's how it's going to look. I'd be too embarrassed to return something in that condition. It's a real shame.

I think I would take the quilting out myself rather than ask someone whose work I hated. Just my humble opinion. You can just do it like Nancy Zeiman teaches, just cut every third thread on the back, and pull on the front thread.

I would get my Money back and rip the quilting out myself.
OR Have a ripping out party.(A great way to get closer to quilting friends) :thumbup:
By the way, The Better Business Bureau will not be of any help with this. Providing the business is a member of the BBB, they (the BBB) really has no say in the problem if the business isn't a member.
Before you go off (half cocked) talk with her. Find out if she agrees with you and if so I'm sure that she will make every effort to make it right.
Just remember the BEST advertising is by word of mouth, the BEST way to ruin a business is by word of mouth... You will tell 2 friends and so on, and so on.... :)

I would ask for a refund and also to have HER remove the stitching. or pay for fabric. If she won't I'd be sure to share her name so no one else uses her

I would definitely ask for my money back

Well and think about it from her perspective- if someone is grumbling about preparing their quilt properly to send out to have it quilted, you probably don't WANT that kind of person as a customer! Those are the types who are never satisfied and always have something to gripe about.

I'm with Quiltnutt on this. Definitely ask for money back. I would frog it myself as I probably wouldn't trust her to do it....then I would send it to a different quilter. Stories like this give us long-armers a black eye. Did the long-armer not ask the customer what type of quilting she wanted? Sorry this happened and good luck with it.

I have a quilt top that I plan to use, and I have dogs. I'd be glad to let someone learn on that quilt or practice something they're trying to perfect. I have another top that will be a baby gift. That quilting better be nearly perfect, especially since I'm paying money for it.

As a new LA I have spent more time taking out stitches than putting them in on a friends quilt. I can't believe someone would see such a beautiful quilt top come in then go out so bad. Ask for your money back and tell her what is wrong. I would want to know. I bought my LA for myself but my friend bought a couple of groovy boards so I owe her. Will be glad to get it done. I have 2 charity quilts to do.

Ask for money back. I hope it wasn't ruined.

i had this happen to me on one of my first quilts i took it home laid it out to check out the quilting and wound up holding it and crying i never took her another quilt and made sure anyone looking for someone to quilt knew why it seemed too hard to take it out so i just left it thank goodness it wasnt a gift for anyone it was a class i had taken at a local shop and my second quilt.
carla

Ask for her money back.

Ask for money back. Buy two good seam rippers, one for you and one for your friend. Take plenty of pictures and if the quilt is very damaged after removing the stitching, consider small claims court.

Ok, I've seen many replies stating how bad the quilt looks, but not one photo.
The quilt should have been inspected before accepting it back...if it was sent to someone, photos of the quilt should have been taken before shipping & requested (I always send progress reports) before payment made.
Several reasons for a quilt not staying square are:
1. Not securing the quilt as it's being quilted. That's a basic for any longarm quilter...wether it be with pins, or basting stitches...you measure and keep the quilt squared as you go.
2. Uneven quilting...the quilting done was denser in some areas, and sparse in others.
3. If the longarm quilter also bound the quilt, she/he may have not have gotten the binding on evenly (another sign of a new longarm quilter).
4. If the quilt had blocks that were to be quilted individually...or if the quilt needed stabilizing...and it wasn't done...that can throw the quilt out of square.
5.. Was the quilt blocked after quilting? Sometimes they have to be, depending on the quilt design(s) used.

Your friend could ask for a refund, but she accepted the quilt back...and if she didn't let the quilter know right away, she may have a hard time with any recourse. She could ask the quilter to fix her/his errors, if there is time.

Another solution would be to remove the quilting & tie the quilt with ribbon or yarn, every 4" or so. This can be a beautiful fix, if done properly. The quilt could then be rinsed and dried to remove holes caused by quilting.
Marge

So sorry, I would ask for my money back.

I am so sorry for your bad experience. Def ask for your money back.

The woman would NEVER touch anything of mine again. If she didn't care enough about the quilt to do quality work, she sure wouldn't do quality stitch removing.

Yes, she should ask for money back. If the LAQer cares that little about the results I wouldn't ask her to rip the stitches out --- she'd probably rip the fabric. There's no excuse for that with a small baby quilt. Large King size even shouldn't have a problem with crooked sashings IF the quilt is straight on to begin with!!!! As a LAQer, I'd want someone to contact me if they're unhappy --- however, NONE of mine have looked that way -- not even my first one!!!!

I have a friend who had the same thing happen with single bed size quilt and she got her money back then undid the quilting and quilted it herself on her domestic machine

I'd be afraid to let her take all the stitches out, if her quilting was bad there's no telling how she'd do picking them out

If she refuses to refund your money, please report her to BBG. I hear to many stories of these ripoffs. Hard to beleive a quilter would do this. If they can't quilt, get out ofthe business.But it should be confronted.

Tell her you want a full refund and see if you can remove the stitching yourself. If it's ruined, I would have her pay to replace the fabric so you can make another one.

So sorry of your incident. Good luck.

Yes! We've not seen a pic so what condition was it in when the LA got it. One of my worst quilts to work on was 7" off square. That's hard to make it look perfect when finished (which it won't). That said, you should have been told up front what could be done if yours had any issues (which most quilts do).

this is just a terrible thing to happen to your friend, and the nerve of the long arm quilter even wanting to present this quilt in the condition she did is outrageous!! Of course, she should definitely get her money back

I'm curious to know what the final result of this complaint was? Any up-date for those of us following it? Would like to see the picture of it. Thanks
Beach Girl