If you block it and don't move it until it is completely dry, hopefully, it will lie flat and look smooth and beautiful. So sorry this happened to you.

Really?
 

That sentence doesn't even make sense. If I understand you correctly, you mean, "If it lays flat on a flat surface but not when stretched between clamps would indicate it's not really flat".

Is that what you meant to say?

bkay

I will let a new or mediocre LA quilt my utility quilts but when the quilt is a gift or a special one I go with the pros. They can't afford bad work or bad reviews.

Talk to the longarmer and bring it to her attention . If she gets a little nasty or defensive don't use her again. Most would want to know if something isn't the way it should be but they also take their time and watch closely their work.

I also long arm and think I understand what Patchwork was saying. Especially with a bed quilt (although I know this was not one)when we lay it over a bed or flat on the floor and don't smooth and fasten to the surface, the fabric can look flat and not be. Good case in point was one of my own bargello quilts--laying on the bed it looked perfect, but once on the frame it was obvious that it wasn't! It was like an acccordian with all those seams.!

I've had quilts that were pressed flat but when on the frame there were were not really square because the seams hadn't been pressed right and they had a little overlap so as the quilt was rolled it was hard to keep it square as it was rolled since these little overlaps added up every time the quilt was rolled. Not quite sure I'm explaining it right but that little crease can throw off the sashing if doing sid.

I agree with patchwork. I long-armed a quilt for a friend. When I got to the bottom the border was a good 1-2 inches longer than it needed to be. Thankfully it went across the entire quilt, so I removed the border and sewed it back on. I told her about it and how to hopefully prevent it from happening again. She was grateful for the suggestion. But then that is not to say that the long-armer did stretch it too much.

The density of the quilting can also have an impact. I did an all over pattern in the field, and then a more tight pattern of feathers on the border. This caused the border to lay out flatter than the field, and gave me a bit of a ripple when I hang the quilt. I LA only for myself, and run into enough "interesting" issues I'm not brave enough to try to quilt other people's tops.

This quilt was square. I felt more sure about it because I had one on one help with it at our local quilt shop. I left it at the quilt shop, and they gave it to a quilter who could complete it in one week since it's a Christmas runner. She used free motion quilting and it stretched the sashing. I blocked it and put the binding on. It looks better but not perfect. I appreciate all of your input. I'll learn to select my own quilter.