extreme puckering!

[thequiltqueen]

HELP!!! I don't know if it is me, or the "customer" (luckily my mother). Every time I do one of her quilts I end up at the end having one corner that is way out of whack and no amount of manipulation can overcome the puckering.

This does not happen to quilts I do for other people, only hers. That makes me think maybe her quilts are not square, but I want to KNOW if it is something I am doing or not. Is there a way to spot this potential problem BEFORE the quilt is loaded?

[LindaN]

It probably is her quilt top. If you're working on getting three sides straight, then the fourth (in this case the part attached to the top roller) is the area where the fullness will be sent.

Try marking the middle on the sides next time and see if they align straight. If they don't, then you know its not rolling "straight".

Some quilt tops will never, ever be straight and square. In that case I try to get them flat... and then I advise the piecer to square up her corners. I just finished a very small first quilt that was dreadfully out of whack. I made it flat, and it will be square with only a little bit of dog-ear in the border after the piecer puts a square-up ruler on the corners. Normally I don't do the squaring unless I'm doing the binding. But I do instruct my customers how to do it.

Caveat: Multiple borders can cause a huge problem. In that case you need to be careful about rolling and should distribute your fullness as you go. Sending all the fullness to one area will result in a terrible finished product in this case that cannot be fixed with a square-up ruler. JMO.

Linda Norton, Indiana

Ult I/IS2K

[Mary Beth]

I am having the same problem...only the quilt I am working on has multiple borders - thank you for mentioning that. I have been out of my mind trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. I even unloaded the quilt and took it to the customer's house to show her the problem. It took her a year to make the top, and it is absolutly beautiful, I sure didn't want to do something to mess it up. I also didn't want the quilting to look terrible and be a bad reflection on me. The customer took one look at it and said that she didn't care. It was going to be on her bed and no one else would know - "so just put pleats in where ever you need to". Yikes!! That was not the answer I was hoping for. I don't even want to reload the quilt. I have finally decided that this is one of those cases where the customer is always right...she also told me that she didn't follow the direction for this quilt and she had a lot of problems getting it to go together correctly. Next time I will be more carefull when a customers brings me a quilt to work on...if the borders look strange - we will talk!! I'm learning - maybe slowly - but I'm learning!!

[suzakel]

I have an extremely hard time pointing out flaws in customer quilts. I received a stack n whack style quilt last week, that wasn't pressed. After the customer left I found places where the seams didn't come together, leaving holes in the quilt! It is now pressed and the holes are fixed but it still doesn't lay flat. I will do my best and charge her for the time, but I've got to get better about dealing with things like this up front.

This woman was clearly embarrassed about her quilt and couldn't leave fast enough. I just couldn't make her embarrassment worse. The quilt already looks better than when we she dropped it off and quilting it will only improve it.

[Mary Beth]

I find it hard to tell the customer that they need to make "corrections" on their quilts also. I have a tee-shirt quilt hanging in my customer rack right now that the customer did not clip one, single, thread at the end of her stitching - so there are long threads at the end of each row of sashing. Her seams are all 5/8" and unpressed. I cringe everytime I look at it. I should have said something when she dropped it off, now I have to call her and tell her that I will do it or she can come back and pick it up. Since I have that top where I can see it often I have determined that I don't care what the customer thinks, I have to tell them. Also, I have typed up a page on how to prepare your top for longarm quilting that I intend to send home with every quilt. I also will mention it to the customer, just to make sure they read it for future reference. I am just so new to this that I keep thinking that I don't know enough about it to be that forward....but I am suppose to be the professional here. I think I am afraid I will lose the very few customers that I have, but I really think they would be happier to know their quilt was done right, then to know that the reason it looks bad after the quilting is done was due to the fact that I didn't tell them what they needed to know. I am learning everyday. I sure am happy this web site is here!!

[LindaN]

Ladies... invest in some Polydown batting for these "fluffy" quilts. Loose quilting, some polydown, and a flexible thread is all you need to get them quilted. This is not the time for 80/20, W&W/W&N, or QD! For us "panto princesses" there are a few which look pretty good with fluffy quilts. Popcorn and Sprung (Jodi Beamish) and Fleurs (Roxanne Teague) come to mind. You don't want to use a flat batt or go dense on these beauties... they only look worse. First time customers will depend upon you to figure out what their quilt needs, and I usually recommend that they NOT purchase batting until we discuss their quilt.

As for quilt top preparation... you can do a lot on the intake phone call. Here's a suggested conversation:

"Mary, before you bring your lovely quilt to me, will you please look it over to see if all your seams are caught? The foot on my machine "hops" and it can get caught up in your piecing if it comes un-done. Also, I do need you to press your quilt well, with seams to one side. If you don't have time to do this I can bill you for it." Be prepared to quote an hourly rate. I give my customers one "Freebie" grooming. After that they have to do it themselves or be charged $20/hour. Most don't want to pay that much for pressing or snipping threads.

Now... when Mary shows up with her lovely (NOT!) quilt top, and you see some issues:

"Mary, I really like the colors/shirts/sashing in your quilt. Have you made many quilts and sent them out for quilting? {Mary resounds that its her first/second quilt} With these big machines there are some little hints that might help you. Thread tails really need to be clipped as they can get caught up in the foot. Things that get caught in the foot can tear and ruin the fabric... I'd just feel terrible if something happened to your quilt while it was on my machine..."

"Mary... I see you have multiple borders on your quilt. Those are really tough to do as the weight of the quilt makes the fabric stretch. Down here (point to the offending corner as that is where most of the fullness goes) it is a bit ruffly. When I go to quilt it, that fabric won't lie flat. It is difficult to ease in fullness in your borders without causing pleats or tucks. Your borders frame your lovely quilt and set off the blocks. Would you like to reattach them? I can give you some assistance in this if you like." This is the time to talk about measuring and pinning.

Now, when Mary tells you to "just quilt it", tell her that you need to use a lofty batt to help take up some of the fullness as neither one of you will be happy with pleats and tucks. Chances are your quilt will finish up just fine, and you, as the longarmer, will be the only one who knows how bad it is. I have one piecer who is so dreadful that I end up re-stitching seams and removing borders. Her quilts (always a shirt quilt with bad sewing) take me about 30 minutes of prep work and I do not charge or mention it to her. She had a stroke, sews quilts for her entire family as she is worried about dying, and an excellent tipper. The time I spend on this quilt, making is more quilt-able, makes my life easier. I don't mention it and she doesn't ask. (She pretty much paid for my entire Christmas and funds my vacations).

Piecers, like us longarmers, get better. Good luck!

[Bonnie]

Linda,

You said it with such grace....my hat goes off to you, we all seem to have a "Mary" or two in our customer base and we all seem to have the piecer we go the little extra for without mentioning it to others, its just our little secret.

Well said

Bonnie

[nannyt]

Would those of you who have printed out directions for your customers mind sharing those?

[SilverThreads]

Linda,

THANK YOU for your hint on "Mary". I have a quilt on my machine now that is just about to make me cry. It is off in every way and will be a mess by the time I am finished with it. It is a star pattern with so much bulk and puckering in the seams there is no way I can let the needle try to go into that. All the seams are off and some extended out by as much as two inches into the border. Maybe "Mary" will be ok with it since she was so rushed to get it done because she "was sick of looking at it".

[Pam C]

Hi,

I too would like to view a customer check list - How to prepare your quilt for machine quilting.

Also a How to fix a problem list.

How to fix ruffled borders.

How to fix ruffled setting triangles.

How to keep seams straight.

How to attach borders correctly.

How to keep your quilt square.

And so on.

I think if we would send these list home with our customers. We could expect better made quilts to quilt.

If anyone would share their lists, I am sure we all would appreicate the help.