Did you see People's Court this week?

[JustSewSimple]

Two ladies from Sew Many Pretty Pieces quilting made 3 T-shirt quilts for a man who auto races. He refused to pay after they were done because he didn't like 4 (like 4X4) squares in one quilt. They took him to court. They were not priced that high I didn't think. Anyway, the judge gave the ladies the quilts to sell and the guy didn't have to pay a dime. They will never sell someone else' t-shirt quilt! They looked pretty good on TV tho. Bad decision by Judge I thought.

[Quilting Heidi]

You're right they will never sell those quilts. Did they have a contract for the quilts? I wonder if they didn't if that would have changed the judges mind. If I were to do work like that I'd make sure I was very specific in my contracts and took a non-refundable deposit.

[JustSewSimple]

I don't have a "contract" just my take-in sheet so it got my attention!!! I am getting T-shirts by mail this next week to do a quilt and I think I am going to put EVERYTHING in writing in an email to her and let her ok it and email me back before I cut into a shirt. I do think it is different when it is a child's T-shirts. People tend to not want to let go of the memories. That man didn't care about those shirts. I felt like he didn't like the price he had to pay. The ladies only put 9 T-shirts per quilt and I like to use 16. I don't think the judge thought through how personal a T-shirt is that you have worn. No one else wants it. (if the ladies had just unsewn those 4 offending blocks and replaced them with plain white the "contract" would have been sealed - Gosh!)

[mamu]

I think the Judge has no idea what it takes to make a quilt like this. She really should have made him pay something. I often wonder what the assessor's on Road to Antiques are thinking when they look at a quilt...I have seen where they say it is only worth $50!!

[GeoTech]

I say get a deposit of half the agreed on price, right up front. If they can't afford half up front then they can't afford the quilt in the first place.

[vtquilter52]

I also get half the money up front as the deposit, and on the contract that tell the customer once the fabric is cut there is no refund. So far I had no problems.

[sammi357]

My first thought was 'bonfire', but my inner miser won out. I couldn't trash all that hard work!

I'd find out where he was racing, and the next time there was a race, I'd be down there selling raffle tickets on those quilts with his 'provenance' all over that stuff. They might even be worth MORE since they were on TV.

Someone in the same racing circuit might like to have them. One could do a free drawing and let someone that's into racing win them. Especially kids... they love winning stuff.

[ffq-lar]

I love the raffle idea! What a great solution! If the T-shirts were from specific events someone would love to have it--especially if the racer was at all famous. Nothing says they can't share the info of the original owner of the shirts. Brilliant!

Me being the b*tch that I am, I'd probably lay the whole story out when doing the raffle. The whole sordid thing about him being not willing to pay. That stinks.

[newmillie2010]

I saw the episode and it seems that the guy actually paid the ladies $500, took quilt home, decided he didn't like the logo squares, returned it, the ladies "fixed" it, and he didn't like the fix. THEY returned the money to him and then went to court to have the money returned ... Judge M loved the quilts and did appreciate the time and work that went into them. She asked him several times if he was sure he didn't want these beautiful quilts. He shook his head "no". And since he had his money back, and they had the quilts, she called it a draw. What I don't understand is why they returned the $$$ to him in the first place. Trying to be 'good' citizens? They should have kept the money and then had HIM take them to court. They would have won. I think ...