lizziesgirl Posted April 11, 2009 Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 I have had quilts that no matter what you do you can't get them to lay flat and you have to take a tuck. Well I get them to lay flat with a tuck when the BSAS doesn't take it all down. I blind stitch the fold after I take it off the machine. Most customers are thrilled that I got their quilt to look like I did and the tuck doesn't bother them. I tell them how to apply their borders properly and usually the next quilts are considerably better. Now the dilemma: I did 3 quilts for a customer. 2 laid nice and flat the 3rd, which was mostly done on the bias didn't. So I did what I needed to do to get the quilt done. This was during the Christmas rush and mostly quilting late into the night. She had to have surgery and had a friend pick up her quilts. She just called last week complaining about the quilt and had just noticed the tucks. She is coming by today to bring me the quilt and wants to know what I can to to fix it or some other solution. She apparently took it to another quilter and they told her that I did what I had to do to get the quilt to lay flat and that I did a good job. She's not happy with that. So what do you do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimmiequilts Posted April 11, 2009 Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 I've had more than a few wavy borders and I usually take digital pics to show the piecer how high the waves were. Whenever I get one of these 'friendly' quilts I strongly suggest an all over design, not a panto. I can do a lot of easing from the front of the machine with meandering. My best guess would be to have her do the frogging if it's a border. Then she can remake or cut down the wavy area and you can re-do the quilting. This is a difficult situation since it's been months. You can offer to help her fix the problem areas, piecers just don't get how careful they need to be with bias. I especially love the roadrunner quilters sewing away at the speed of sound just to get it done! Maybe a discount on the next quilt will make her happy? I'm sure there is someone who has had to deal with this and has a better idea than mine. Good luck Sheryl and keep us posted! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted April 11, 2009 Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 That's a tough one. Kim gives good suggestions to take pictures. I recently had one from a great piecer and the middle was just not behaving. I stopped and called her and let her make the decision. Option was for me to stop and she could frog the half of the quilt that was done (98 sq) or I could quilt it down and have one of the borders not be straight or I could make the border straight and risk pleates. She told me to use my judgement and that she knew it was her problem not mine. I ended up making the border straight, starched and steamed and not one pleate or pucker! she was thrilled and so was I! I don't think I would change the way I handled this. I know it is a pain to stop and ask but it was worth it to me. I also have zippers so I could have just started the next one until she came over. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnie Posted April 11, 2009 Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 Totally echoing Heidi on this one..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sspingler Posted April 11, 2009 Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 WOW, what a dilemma. When I have quilts that "wave" at me, I steam the heck out of it, usually that will take care of most of it. If it's not too bad, I'll place another piece of thin batting under the area and quilt the heck out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted April 11, 2009 Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 Originally posted by lizziesgirl She just called last week complaining about the quilt and had just noticed the tucks. She is coming by today to bring me the quilt and wants to know what I can to to fix it or some other solution. She apparently took it to another quilter and they told her that I did what I had to do to get the quilt to lay flat and that I did a good job. She's not happy with that. So what do you do? I love the options offered here! She can--- Live with it. Frog it herself and you can requilt it (but realize all that will do is rub her nose in her poor piecing and how will you fix it when your first instinct was correct?) Since another quilter agreed with your solution (bless her!), I bet your customer was miffed she didn't bad-mouth your quilting and now she has no ammunition to use to get her money back or a nice rebate. Her bias piecing caused the problem, but she doesn't want to acknowledge that fact. Go gently and hope she sees it from your perspective. Hmmm---good luck and let us know what the final outcome is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheryll Posted April 11, 2009 Report Share Posted April 11, 2009 Tell her to bind it get over it and give it away if she doesn't like it. Just kidding. It is way too much trouble to do all that ripping. Who wants to waste time like that after is is all quilted. I say try to get her to understand that sometimes quilts don't lay flat. Whoever gets it will never know it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizziesgirl Posted April 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 Well, she came by but didn't bring the quilt. She brought another top and was wondering how to measure it to see if it is square. So I showed her and this quilt from the top to the bottom was over an inch off. Not too bad but she could see how that would affect things. I went over instructions on how to properly attach borders and so she is going to go home and fix this quilt and bring it back to me. Guess I wasn't all that bad. She took the instructions really well because she had never taken a class before. Sometimes that is better because then they aren't having to defend their favorite teacher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted April 12, 2009 Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 Sheryl, I'm so glad that it turned out well for you! If she is bringing another quilt then she knows she has a skilled quilter! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimmiequilts Posted April 12, 2009 Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 Big sigh, so happy that it worked out well for both of you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted April 12, 2009 Report Share Posted April 12, 2009 Wonderful outcome! Sorry that you had to stress over this. It sounds as if she understands the problem and now thinks you are a miracle-worker--which you are! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltaholi_518 Posted April 14, 2009 Report Share Posted April 14, 2009 Good job! I waz gonna tell you to lock your door when you see her coming!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Beth Posted April 14, 2009 Report Share Posted April 14, 2009 Great! At least she is getting an education If/when I encounter a quilt like this, it is usually right in the middle of quilting. I always, stop and make the call. Then let them tell me to tuck and go Usually, you can't see the tuck when I am finished, but it is there. Now I try to lay the quilt out flat in my livingroom floor when they bring the top in. I can show them that it is not laying flat and usually send them home with instructions on how to fix it. Nothing makes me more mad at myself, then to start quilting a quilt and wave get bigger and bigger. I know to check it before I load it...I just get excited to get going on a new quilt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTL Posted April 14, 2009 Report Share Posted April 14, 2009 Well, haven't we all been there?! I also take photos and teach lessons, but as some have said, you often don't discover it till you're loading or, worse yet, quilting. The solution I have found when I really must deal with it: I ease the extra border across the width (or length) of the quilt, pin, and baste. Then I quilt the you-know-what out of the border. Lots of close quilting takes up the extra fabric. I just choose a pattern that's really busy for the borders, and it often works well. Happy Quilting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judi Posted April 15, 2009 Report Share Posted April 15, 2009 Sheryl - We all have that bad habit of pointing out the little problem areas in our quilts... Love that saying about a person riding by on a horse - if they can't see it - let it go! Glad everything worked out well for you - keep up the great work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltfarm Posted April 15, 2009 Report Share Posted April 15, 2009 It certainly pays to look closely and measure beforehand. I never used to comment on the piecing. Another friend who quilts is straight to the point about any flaws in the quilt. I learnt the hard way that to point out the flaws is correct. I was always frightened of being viewed as the 'quilting police'. That was until I had a lady bring me two throws for the back of her lounge, both identical, both pieced with wavy edges due to incorrect fitting in of triangles in the piecing. When I had finished quilting them according to how she asked for them to be quilted I was really pleased that I was able to achieve such a good result considering what I had started with. When the quilts were delivered the customer was thrilled and gushed over how gorgeous they were. Two weeks later she was ringing up to complain about the quilting (her exact words). Trouble was she had taken the quilts to her local guild and had a big gripe about them before contacting me. I tried to explain it is extremely difficult when working with non flat quilts that are not rectangular in shape (these ones had pointed ends). The gripes she had was my stops and starts were visible on the back (even though it was a busy backing fabric, a thorough search with a good light would have shown starts and stops) and the stitching in the ditch was not perfect. Now I nearly always knot and bury all threads at starts and stops and say no up front to stitching in the ditch unless it is for one of my regulars who I know doesn't flip seams and do wavy edges. It has made me a better quilter, but the complaint could really have been handled better by both of us if we had exchanged more information up front regarding the quality of the top and the expectations of what quilting would do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferret Posted April 15, 2009 Report Share Posted April 15, 2009 I noticed a pattern with my customers. The ones who are really pretty good will point out faults and ask if there is a problem. Their quilts are usually fine, but if I do find ans issue they are more than happy to fix it before I quilt it. Then there are the very experienced quilters who tell me how perfect their work is. Sadly it usually isn't, it's generally a complete pain. They won't believe there is a problem, they won' fix it (there isn't a problem why should they) and they won't accept less than perfect. I've concluded the only way to deal with these is not to work for them. I've not had to put a tuck in yet, and I am very glad of it. I suspect none of my customers would consider that acceptable, Ferret Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brenni Posted April 15, 2009 Report Share Posted April 15, 2009 Refer to them as clients and not customers for one day. You may begin to feel more comfortable with giving advice. I only used long armers once if they did not engage me in a discussion when I dropped off or picked up. I always appreciated any advice they give. One lady had to take a tuck in a quilt of mine. She only does pantos. But she took the time to explain why when I picked it up. (It had to do with the design I picked, not my piecing. That is my story and I am sticking to it.) I would go back to her in a heartbeat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kijabequilter Posted May 3, 2009 Report Share Posted May 3, 2009 Does anyone have specifics on how you steam the borders to make them shrink? Do you go through all 3 layers, even though the problem is in the top layer only? I am in real trouble with a customer's quilt. I took 2 tucks but she noticed right away. Now I have unpicked most of the area, but am no closer to a solution then before I tucked. The problem extends through 3 borders. Honestly, I often struggle going down the sides borders, they often wave back at me and I usually can work in the excess, but this time it didn't work. So I guess I need help in 2 areas, both fixing it and how to prevent it from happening. How do you quilt your quilts. I use the channel lock and make sure the top is one straight and pin baste it. I then quilt that area and advance the quilt. But as soon as I roll the quilt, the side borders never look as flat again. Likely these issues are discussed in detail back somewhere, is there an easy way to find topics? I don't have time to look through all 157 pages, I have more unpicking to do. By the way, this is a king size quilt. And the tucks were noticeable, especially in the bright light. I didn't think they looked that bad the night before in my studio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IBQLTN2 Posted May 3, 2009 Report Share Posted May 3, 2009 bonnie Botts is the professional on this problem. She has made a dvd on the topic. if you search for it you will find lots of info on it or just do a u2u and ask for her help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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