LFQuilts Posted May 4, 2011 Report Share Posted May 4, 2011 Backstory: The mother of the groom thought the quilted chuppah looked wonderful. I shipped it to the mother of the bride last week. It arrived on Friday. Tuesday of this week, I get an email saying that it is beautiful but she is worried about some of the stitching on the back, afraid it will come undone in the wash. Would I please repair the quilt after the wedding? Mother of bride is on travel this week and will send me pictures next week. I need patience to wait for the pictures. The quilt is nothing but cc'ing for which I used a ruler. Stitching on front is gorgeous and looked good on back - not perfect. Left to right looks great; right to left quilting wasn't always great but it passed my sniff test for not needing to frog. (Would I live with this quilt? Yes. Would I allow my daughter to be married under the quilt? Yes. Will it fall apart? No! ) Mother of Groom confirms that it will be used for chuppah (so it clearly doesn't stink). Here's the professional part and this is hard since I don't have her close up pictures. 1) I'm willing to do limited frogging and requilting for free if I agree that there is a real problem. 2) What do I do if she argues that a sizable part of the quilt needs to be redone? (My high res pictures don't indicate large scale problems.) Frog the whole thing (days) and requit? Frog and let her find someone else to quilt? Refund all or part of the cost of quilting? I take pride in my work but know that I'm good, not perfect. I appreciate any help in striking the right note between customer satisfaction and my sanity. Lynn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anniquilter Posted May 4, 2011 Report Share Posted May 4, 2011 Lynn Who commissioned the Chuppah & who paid for it? Just trying to understand how Groom's mother got to see it before Bride's mother. If the groom's mother commissioned etc then if you think there IS anything to re-do I would advise the bride's mother of your charges. If the bride's mother etc... this changes the picture a little. However, first of all you need to see exactly what the bride's mother is criticizing and I think that will be hard to do from a photograph anyway. For now, take a deep breath & have some chocolate :-) and let it go. Who knows, by the time the wedding is over they may have forgotten all about it. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LFQuilts Posted May 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2011 Anne, Chocolate sounds good - and I agree I need to let it go until I have further info. I need to change the worrying energy into positive, work energy. I know the mother-of-the-groom - she lives here in GA and is a neighbor. Mother-of-the-bride lives in Connecticut. It is a joint commission and to be considered a gift from both mothers. However, the check is signed by the mother-of-the-groom. Lynn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted May 4, 2011 Report Share Posted May 4, 2011 Yup Anne gives you excellent advice! If you are anything like me I would keep worrying about it until I had it resolved but really it isn't worth it! I'm working on changing how I handle this type of stress. It may just be one bad section that you hadn't noticed and easy to frog and repair. You will find out soon enough! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farmland Quilter Posted May 4, 2011 Report Share Posted May 4, 2011 Listen to everyone here and take a deep breath. Listening to everyone got me thru the meltdown over the client who complained online. And that turned out ok. If you do what you feel is right when the opportunity presents itself then that is what is important. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted May 4, 2011 Report Share Posted May 4, 2011 I think you are jumping ahead and getting worried about something you shouldn't...so wait!!! Just tell both customers that no worries at all... after the wedding you will take a closer look at the quilting and see if it needs any fixing, and if so you will fix it. Easy peasy. Don't say anything or get into details or make decisions on what might be frogged, how much is refunded, what requilting would be free and what is not free... Wait! Just look at the quilt first. Customer satisfaction is your goal. Chances are there is no problem at all with the quilting and that this was blown out of proportion. From your photo, it looks pretty fabulous to me!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted May 4, 2011 Report Share Posted May 4, 2011 Originally posted by LFQuilts Backstory: The mother of the groom thought the quilted chuppah looked wonderful. I shipped it to the mother of the bride last week. It arrived on Friday. Tuesday of this week, I get an email saying that it is beautiful but she is worried about some of the stitching on the back, afraid it will come undone in the wash. Would I please repair the quilt after the wedding? Lynn Shana is so wise!! Don't do anything. Perhaps respond that if there are problems after the wedding, they can be addressed after all the excitement is over. She is not a quilter and cannot know if any of the stitching is bad nor whether it will come apart "in the wash". (Another thing--aren't chuppahs kept as heirlooms and used at other weddings? Why would it need to be washed? Is it destined to be a lap quilt?) If some stitching comes out "in the wash" then offer to repair. But I wouldn't offer to "fix" anything until it can be shown to be actually "broken". But that's just me...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zora Posted May 4, 2011 Report Share Posted May 4, 2011 Non-longarmers have an unrealistic expectation about how the quilting will look on the back of the quilt. She may mean the starts/stops, which non-machine quilters don't expect to see. It may just be a matter of educating her about the machine quilting process. Relax and wait until you see what she is complaining about. Aside from that, have you tried Magna Glide classic bobbins? My back tension issues are totally gone now that I have switched to these. No front front to back or right to left railroad tracks anymore, ever! They are worth every penny! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Linda S Posted May 4, 2011 Report Share Posted May 4, 2011 I think it's a natural reaction for all of us to get our guts in a knot when someone expresses any displeasure with our work. Wait until you see it and then decide what to do about it. While being patient and not worrying is not as easy as it sounds, it is a complete waste of energy to fret until you see it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LFQuilts Posted May 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2011 Thanks to all for the reminders via forum, U2U, and phone to just chill and for the magna glide bobbin suggestion. I spent some time today enlarging the few pictures I took of the back. I see a couple thread tails that need to be clipped, but that is about it. I really will have to chill and wait until I get pictures, or better yet the quilt, back in my hands:) Until then, off to the next projects - one of which is to make chocolate chip oatmeal cookies:cool: Linda - this chuppah is so personalized for the couple that I doubt it will be used for other weddings. The mothers' thoughts were that it would be used as a coverlet or throw draped across the foot of the bed or the sofa with what we think of as the quilt back actually showing and the personal messages underneath. In truth, the couple will use it as they wish. The oven is heating - I need to go make those cookies . . . Lynn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrandmaLKB Posted May 5, 2011 Report Share Posted May 5, 2011 After being "Mother of the Bride" several years ago and knowing many other Mothers of the Bride, she is probably freeked out about everything and wants it all to be perfect. Most likely after the wedding is over and she has calmed down and the sky didn't fall in, things will be better. Also, maybe once the Mother of the Groom gets with her, she may tell her all is just fine. Until then..............don't fret about it. Being Mother of the Groom as much easier...........just kept my mouth shut and did as I was told. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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