Pennyhal

When you discover that the quilt is wonky, you could call the owner and tell her that she can take it back and fix it, or she can get a quilt quilted with puckers, folds, tucks. Or she can take it to a "professional" who has more experience dealing with wonky quilts.

anothernancy

This is a very interesting and informational thread! I learned a lot from this. Can someone tell me what IMHO means? Thank you

feline fanatic

IMHO = In My Humble Opinion

mckwilter

Are your friends paying you to quilt their quilts? If so, you need to tell them exactly what you need them to do to make your job easier. I had one LAQ refuse to quilt my top because I hadn't pressed all the seams open. Of course, she didn't tell me this was required when we were discussing it. If she had, I would have told her I'd find someone else (I have worked with two other LAQers who never required this). If you are quilting them out of friendship, you need to have them help you load the quilts on the machine. That way, they will see the problems up close and personal, and you can discuss what problems you will encounter as you do the quilting. Make it a teachable moment.

PaperPrincess

Well, as long as we are at it, here's one of my favorite YouTube Videos "You can quilt that out"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzoL7ddTEnA

it's hysterical (and true)

feline fanatic

OMG LMAO!! That was great! Thanks for sharing PP.

JustAbitCrazy

You already have a great detailed answer to this question. Here's the short version: You expect to get back from your longarmer a nicely squared quilt, with no pleats and toe-catching puckers, right? Then isn't it logical that she needs to start with a squared quilt to begin with? We longarmers work very hard to give each customer the very best result. The best way to insure that's what you get is to give us a top without problems to begin with.

luvTooQuilt

OH GOSH NO !! If its wonky to begin with im expecting to to be wonky when it returns.. NONE of my quilts are show quilts.. NONE of my quilts are perfect.. Im not a perfectionist so if my quilt is off a bit I personally dont care.. I know ive sent quite a few to LA's just because i want a 'different' design than what i can do.. Never have they said anything i HAD to fix.. All i asked is to have fun and surprise me. Ive been disappointed with one LA on this QB as the threads were coming apart at the beginning and ends of where they quilted.. they re-quilted it but even then never was i told i HAD to fix the wonkyness..

coopah

What a stitch! Oh, I meant, what a hoot!

Mamia

Thank you for this. I'm about to take my first quilt top to have it quilted. I've always made tops that I could quilt on my Bernina and am a fairly new sewer, 4 years. This top is a king so there isn't any way I can do this myself. I now know what to look for before taking it to the quilter. Yes, tell your customers what you expect from them so you can give them a beautiful quilting job. If you return their quilts less perfect then they expect you know who they will blame, because they don't know it was their work that was the problem. I'm sure it would also take the fun out of quilting for you also and if it's not fun and profitable why do it.

Happy quilting!
Mia