The longarmer and the QOV group should be made aware of the problem so no one else encounters the same situation.

I would think the hair clipper would work. I have a $10 beard clipper from Freds and it works just fine. I keep it next to my ironing board all the time. You do have to be careful to cut at just the right angle tho, otherwise you will clip your fabric.

Since she did offer to fix the problem, I would give her the chance. She seemed to have been, by what you said, not aware there was a problem. Although, she should have checked it over before returning it to you. I would give her a chance to make it right. If this is a learning process for her, she may be thankful you pointed out the problem & will be more apt to really watch her tension from now on.

She's been longarming for 10 years. Seems by now the learning curve would be over.

I've been sewing since I was 12 and I just reached the double nickel. I've been quilting for 15 years. I think I know when tension is off.

What a nightmare... as a non-confrontational person, I applaud you for bringing it to her attention. And I would give her a chance to fix it. Is it possible for you to see other quilts she has done so you know how typical this is of her work? She may have rushed it and would do better next time - especially with this one since she knows you'll be checking.

As for washing before sewing on the binding, I have done this once and had no problem. I machine sewed it on before a long car trip to the house of the recipient. I had to wash it before leaving and then hand-sewed the binding in the car. It worked out fine.

Good luck and thanks for the work you do!

Although she did the 'right' thing by saying she would redo the quilt, I would be hesitant to return it to her. She should have noticed the quality of her work. Since she didn't, it would seem to me that she either doesn't know good quilting or doesn't care. I wouldn't trust her with your wonderful quilt again.

To the longarmers that suggested letting her know... I agree. I have had problems with two professional quilters. The first one completely ignored my instructions for my completely handpieced first traditional bed quilt. She wrote all the notes down and then obviously didn't read them. I cried when I saw the artsy fartsy quilting on churn dash, bow ties, etc quilt. She didn't apologize and charged me a fortune. It sits in the closet since. The other did a fabulous job and attached the binding for me to hand sew. I had a hard time because the bidning was on a bit crooked. Called her and she ripped it off, replaced it and sewed down the binding by hand. She has had my business since.

Thank you for your quilt and for your concern about it being the best it can be.

What an awful experience for you! I realized since this happened how fortunate I was that the one and only quilt I've sent out to be quilted was done properly and gorgeously. It cost $500. It could just have easily come back like my "nightmare quilt". And what recourse do you have? Sounds like you found a gem.
Never again. I'll just stick to things I can quilt myself.

I really think this needs to be handle by chain of command. First you need to talk to the LAQ and go from there. I also don't think you "go after" this person in a group setting.

I don't think that I would continue with the group ( not right away, at least )and I would not return the quilt to the person who originally messed it up - too stressful a situation and wondering if it will happen again. I would give myself a cooling off period before I decide whether to return to the group and would definitely find someone else to quilt it.