doodlebug Posted March 17, 2009 Report Share Posted March 17, 2009 what do i do???? i have a customer quilt on the frame quilting along, then i notice that it looks like my top thread broke, but picked itself up again, and started stitching again. (i wish) but no, on closer inspection, the fabric is scorched/dry rotted and just dissappearing around my stitches. i called the customer (not to happy) and explained what happened, but what to do now? for her to fix it means i have to rip out all my previous stitching (one and half passes) so she can replace the black fabric that is the problem. i am convineced that the fabric is scorched. she's says it's kona cotton. i feel like it's not my priority to rip all this quilting out for free so she can fix something that is in essence her fault. here's the kicker, when i was loading, i thought the fabric felt funny. i should have trusted my gut. i'm so upset im shaking. it's just in one spot, but after this, i felt the rest of the fabric (it's a inner border) there are places that feel 'crunchy' what's your opinion? i respect the experiences and opinions of all on here, so i come here first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted March 17, 2009 Report Share Posted March 17, 2009 Oh bless you sweet Shannon! Bummer to the maxxx!! Well, I think you should give the customer some options and she can decide what to do. 1) Customer can rip out your stitching and return to you after replacing scorched fabric; or 2) You can rip out the stitching (charge her $35 per hour) for your time and labor. Then you give the quilt back to her to replace pieces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Lily Quilting Posted March 17, 2009 Report Share Posted March 17, 2009 Shannon, you did the right thing by calling the client she must have felt something while putting the top together, we feel every inch of a quilt when we are piecing and if there is more than one spot I feel sure she would have noticed it at some time and decided to press ahead, a choice she made. It is not your fault and she should not expect you to unpick your quilting or be anoyed with you at all, your work manship is not the problem the fabric is. I would not be unpicking, give it back to you client to replace fabric if she wants... or behind the spots where the problem is put some iorn on vliesofix and if any white shows through use a marker to hide it , this option is the easy way out and the client would only have to unpick a small amount of quilting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollyc Posted March 17, 2009 Report Share Posted March 17, 2009 OH MY! You caught it as soon as there was a problem and notified the customer. The problem is the fabric, not the machine quilting the fabric, the machine quilter or the thread. If it is scorched, there is no repair that I know of for scorched fabric. Is it only the black or will there be other areas as well? I suppose she could cut a new strip of black and applique it over the black border that is scorched. It would be a bit raised, but otherwise not noticeable. She could then use her DSM to "topstitch" along the edges. It would allow you to finish, no one has to take out the stitching. and it should look OK when completed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nora123 Posted March 17, 2009 Report Share Posted March 17, 2009 Hey doodlebug, if it is just one piece or two get the fabric from her and remove just that fabric and applique in a new one. that way all you will have to frog will be that piece. Nora Millennium Washougal WA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted March 17, 2009 Report Share Posted March 17, 2009 What a mess! I bet if you give her the options above, she will take back the quilt, not fix it, not send it back, and you will be out whatever time/supplies you have in it. If she was "not happy" it's because you have inconvenienced her and she may not have the time or fabric to fix it. Just looking on the dark side! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Posted March 17, 2009 Report Share Posted March 17, 2009 I have a hard time believing it is just going to be scorched on the black border. I would be really nervous that maybe the quilt is scorched on other parts...she might have a deadly iron or be a deadly ironer. I might want to give it back to her and say "no thanks". That is one problem I never would have even thought of having! Hang in there girl and remember what a beautiful quilter you are, and that you did not do this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustSewSimple Posted March 17, 2009 Report Share Posted March 17, 2009 If it is black and is scorched it should be a slightly different "shade" of black in that area. Can you tell anything about the differece in color. Many times a black will change to a slightly purple/black or marroon/black. Cotton can be scorched and never feel crunchy. By the time it feels crunchy it is "toast." I'd be willing to bet it is not 100% cotton if it feels crunchy. If it felt funny to me, I'd not make another stitch! I would not try to patch it. I'd just take it down from the frame and have her deal with it. Show her how to frog it. She will appreciate you after she removes all the stitching. Good luck to you and just remember this is not your fault. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belquilt Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 Shannon, Its not your fault!!! I agree with Sylvia, let her frog it. Everyone knows you treat your quilts like babies, so do not worry!!!!!! Kona???? I don't know about that. I have quilted many quilts with Kona and have never had a problem with it. You hang in there girl!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 Shannon it sounds to me like this fabric is dry rotted not scorched. That can happen from the dying process or being left in the sun. It is clearly not your fault that she used faulty fabric and I would let her know that. I can't imagine anybody thinking that you should stitch it and frog it for free. I hope it all works out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramona-quilter Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 Kona black is the most solid black I know of. It does not feel like regular quilt shop fabric, that is, it really does not have a nice hand. It is a bit stiff and heavier than regular fabric. I bet she was pressing the Kona and left the iron on too long and Mac1 said, she just continued on. If I were you, I would look very hard for other areas on the quilt that feel the same way. If there are other places that feel scorched and have not been quilted, I would point them out to her as this will place the blame on her and OFF you. Good luck and let us know how it goes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rebelette67 Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 What a horrible situation! I started shaking while reading your post. I am still in the infant stage with my business and I don't envy what you are going through. I think you have done the right thing by notifying your customer immediately. After you offer her some viable options to solve the problem it is then her decision as to what she wants to do. If you resolve this with both of you being satisfied then hopefully she will have learned a valuable lesson and you may still have a quilting customer. My thoughts are with you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boni Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 My condolences to you Shannon. I don't like confrontation either. Scorched fabric can be brittle, but I would think it would have to be pretty burned to break like that. I would almost think there was polyester in the fabric that melted. Hopefully by now you have resolved the issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 Originally posted by Boni I would almost think there was polyester in the fabric that melted. I think so, too!!! I don't think cotton would break and crack like this!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anita Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 Oh, my...what a terrible situation. Makes me think of some antique quilts I saw on display at the school of textiles, local university. Everywhere a black fabric was used, it had deteriorated away because of the dyes that had been used. I think of that every time I use black fabric...even though rationally I know that it isn't something to worry about with today's fabrics. Let us know how it turns out... Anita Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted March 18, 2009 Report Share Posted March 18, 2009 If it is poly you can do the burn test on it. If it turns out to be poly I would contact the company that manufactures it. I recently had a moda that felt odd. It was thinner than normal cotton but it passed the burn test. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgia Posted March 19, 2009 Report Share Posted March 19, 2009 I know the heartsick feeling. This happened to me several years ago and, you guessed it.... it was on BLACK solid fabric!! I believe the culprit is probably dry rot, but no matter what it is, the result is still the same. I'm sure if your customer was brave enough to try, she could put her fingernail through any of the other black fabric pieces in the quilt. I'm guessing that the easiest fix for her (if she is in love with the quilt) is to applique another black piece over the bad area. If it were me, I would chalk it up to a painful lesson learned. I don't believe she should expect you to rip out the quilting if she is not going to pay you to do so. It was her choice of a poor product. I'm sure we have all quilted something for others that hardly seem worthy of the good batting and thread we are using, not to mention the effort we put forth, but everyone is different. I would be very empathetic toward her and the loss of her time and effort, in the hope that she will return as a customer, but if you are in this for the business, I wouldn't "eat it" for free. Just my two cents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doodlebug Posted March 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2009 thanks to everyone. seriously- thanks! regretfully- it hasn't been resolved yet (GRRR) the problems just seem to be compounded. the customer doesn't have a computer, so i can't email a pic to her. she doesn't drive 'out of her comfort zone' (i'm NOT in her comfort zone) the lady that drives her out of The Zone is in the hospital, so i'm driving to her house on Sunday for her to see the quilt and we'll discuss options from there. i'm not keen on the idea of doing this at her house, but i do want to do this in as much as a professional way as i can. the uncertainity of the situation has me frazzled. i've decided to move on to the next quilt and try not to think about it til this weekend. thankfully Davis has volunteered to go. him being there will give me moral support. *sigh* i'm not fond of confortation, but have decided that it is part of the territory. i'll post afterwards to let everyone know what went down. Same bat time, same bat station- *giggle* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbigailE Posted March 19, 2009 Report Share Posted March 19, 2009 Sounds like you gots your big girl panties on. You've been very professional and I know that will ultimately carry the day. Supportive thoughts are with you and prayers for courage, strength and with wisdom to know how to say it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnie Posted March 19, 2009 Report Share Posted March 19, 2009 As already stated, I would lift up the quilt and see if you can cut some excess from the back and do the burn test...if its 100% cotton, I would lean more towards Dry rott as already stated... If her iron was getting that hot it wouldn't just be the black that was scorched but the whole quilt. Now regardless of the fabric quality of poly or 100% cotton,I would pick back past the damaged area....get some BLACK interfacing and with a chop stick or a needle whichever will fit in the area...work the interfacing inside the hole and go out at least 1/2 to 1 inch away from the opening. (REMEMBER: the nubbies need to go up as you are wanting to have them iron to the back side of the top)...then I would just continue to quilt. The interfacing will hold the damaged fabric together and the hole will stay shut. (You may need to do a whip stitch to really secure it because you might not be able to get your swirl exactly back where it was) Also if you need more reinforement in the damaged area, you can sprinkle a tiny bit of 007 Bonding on the hole opening and it will seal it back 100%. The 007 Bonding powder will take on whatever color the fabric is, but you can also take some snips of threads and break it up over the opening and the bonding agent and the snips will seal the hole to the point of maybe not even seeing it. I have had to repair several quilts in this manner and as far as I know they are still hanging in there even with washing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boni Posted March 19, 2009 Report Share Posted March 19, 2009 Uh, Bonnie, could you include that repair sequence on your next video? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnie Posted March 19, 2009 Report Share Posted March 19, 2009 :cool: Already ahead of you....that and a couple of others as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoryJM Posted March 19, 2009 Report Share Posted March 19, 2009 And I'm assuming this is the invisible CD that no one has seen yet??????:P Where is this thing, Bonnie??? Shannon, I'm with you on the confrontation. I can tell anyone off at my day job that needs it, but that's because I'm not personally vested. Having to talk with a customer will be challenging. IMHO, the best thing you can do is figure out what you're willing to do before you talk to her and don't compromise. Try role playing (since you'll be doing this with yourself, be sure no one is around to overhear and call the loony bin:D:D) and figuring out what she might say and your response. The fewer surprises you have to deal with, the better you'll deal. Seems that if she's not comfortable with driving to you, she may also be the kind that isn't comfortable throwing anything away--she may have used really old fabric. My mother-in-law was raised by a very frugal parent, consequently, she doesn't throw anything away..and I mean "anything"! I found a can of sardines in her fridge the other day...she'd dated them: 1992. Keep in mind that she moved to Quincy in 1998, so not only did she date them and keep them for six years, she packed them and moved them to Quincy, too! Good luck, Shannon...you can do this. And I'll be tuned to the bat channel to find out what happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnie Posted March 19, 2009 Report Share Posted March 19, 2009 Originally posted by DoryJM And I'm assuming this is the invisible CD that no one has seen yet??????:P Where is this thing, Bonnie??? Yee of little faith....There are 6 heading to Louisiana right now and there are three heading to Washington....just waiting for the finally approval from the testers before I package up the rest for mailing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witha'K'quilting Posted March 19, 2009 Report Share Posted March 19, 2009 Bonnie. Why I am not a tester for your new CD? I want one. Where is mine? Can I be a tester? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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