What do you do when the longarm quilting is less than ideal?
 

I thought I'd join a new group for Quilts of Valor. I had a gorgeous log cabin quilt with an eagle motif in the center ready to be quilted.
So I went to the first meeting and left the quilt with the volunteer longarmer. I just got it back and it's less than ideal.
Some parts of it are "scribbly". A lot of it she went over and over places more than once. But the worst of it is how loose the bobbin thread is. I fear it won't hold up.
There are some loose threads where the quilting just stops.
I almost hate to send it in. I'd hate for some soldier to end up with it and have it fall apart on them.
Should I contact her and let her know she perhaps needs to fix her bobbin tension?
I have no intension of returning to the group since my only reason for going was to have a longarmer. The group meets almost an hour from where I live.
It is so distressing.
SVAL

That is very sad. I hate to say this, as I hate to rip out, but that may be what you have to do to preserve your beautiful top. Such a shame to have someone doing quilting that is not skilled enough to do it! And I so agree that you do not want to gift it to a Veteran to cherish and have it fall apart!

Oh my gosh. It would take longer to rip out all the quilting than it did to piece the top. Also, then I'd be back at square one as to where to get it quilted.
From now on I'm going to have to pick patterns than only need SITD that I can do myself.

I guess I'm different. I would go back to the meeting and show the quilt and say why I was upset. If the volunteer long armer thinks this is okay then others need to know what she is passing off as okay work. She should be told what the problems are with her quilting. After all it's the whole group that is represented when the quilts are donated.

I agree and while it may be an uncomfortable thing I feel like its the right thing. It can be done with respect and regard towards the feelings of all involved. Also if this group is ok with the quality of the quilting you may need to find a QoV group that has standards more inline with yours.

I couldn't do that in person. I guess I'm too non-confrontational. I could write to her knowing I'd not have to see her again.

So sorry to hear about your negative experience.

My friend knows someone who has been in possession of a long arm for several years and she has yet to fix her tension problems! Even more astonishing is that this long arm quilter doesn't believe her tension problems can be fixed!

I would rip it out (UGH, I know) and investigate other long arm quilters by meeting with them and asking to see samples of their work before handing it over to have the quilt properly finished. Hopefully you're not on a deadline...

Good luck to you.

I think this is unacceptable. There is no way I would voluntarily put that amount of work into a QoV and have it wrecked (in my opinion) by the volunteer LA'er. I'm not confrontational either, so I would probably rip it out and re-do it myself. Even if the quilting is done simply by you, you can then be proud of your quilt donation.

I do agree though that it should be brought to the group's attention. Whether I would do this or not would depend on how comfortable I am with the group. Maybe the group is unaware of the cr*ppy job the LA is doing on these quilts, so it should be shown to them first.

Good luck!

If the tension is truly off and the bobbin thread is loose, it won't take a lot of effort to rip out the quilting. You most definitely could do it in less time than it took to piece the top if the tension is bad. However you may have some difficulty ripping the areas that were "over and over places more than once". BTW this is called travelling or back tracking and is sometimes the only way a design can be quilted continuously which is the lesser of two evils when compared to locking the stitches and clipping threads to restart. Most quilters try to travel in places it won't be so obvious like over an existing line of stitching and in the ditch.

Before you rip (if this is what you decide to do), take pictures. Detailed closeups of every section you think is subpar and email those pictures to the group. The group may just agree with you and get together to help rip. They may also speak to their volunteer LA or perhaps have another. QOV themselves will match your top up with a volunteer LA quilter, just go to their website and contact them. You will probably have to mail the quilt off. I know that QOV LAers are volunteering their efforts and get no compensation for the quilting just as you get no compensation for making the quilt top and finishing the binding on the quilt. It is an unfortunate fact that this is how many beginning LA quilters learn how to LA, by doing donation work.

I too think the group should know about the quilt.

You can bring it to the next meeting as a "show & tell" finished item and have them decide if there's a problem with the quilting....
by simply not saying anything about it...just let them all look it over closely as a "pass around",
you can say, look, I just got this back and wanted to share it with everyone and have it turned to the quilting side

If no one says anything about the quilting, you could then mention (as if you just now saw it) the loose stitches. It may sound underhanded but it would avoid a direct confrontation to the other volunteers. They really do need to be aware of the problem so other quilters aren't left with the same issues you face.

Exclaim... oh my, how ever can I remove all these stitches by myself? Maybe several of them will whip out their froggers and start helping with the project of unquilting it then and there.

Laying a quilty guilt trip on you now....if the soldiers have to "confront" their fears and dangers, what's the worse that could happen if you "confront" the longarmer? You made a beautiful quilt for a thank you to them so give them a fair chance at giving you a silent thank you for the recognition of their services instead of you being embarrassed to pass it along. (off soap box now...btw, my son has been deployed 3 times so I feel strongly about this, it case you couldn't tell ... thank you for your efforts!!!!!)