Laurie Posted August 20, 2007 Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 I just ripped a 3" long hole through all layers of a customer quilt by not paying attention to which way I was rolling the quilt. :( I know. Rule #1: never roll a quilt with the needle still in it. I am horrified. and just sick beyond belief. This is a new customer...I have already done one of her quilts and I have 3 more to do. It is for her son..... Someone just shoot me now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PattyJo Posted August 20, 2007 Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 oH, I'm so sorry. The only thing that I could suggest for you to do is to call your customer and maybe she has more of the same fabric that you can piece into the quilt. Hopefully, if you tell her what happened and appologize, then do the repair and give her a good discount you won't loose her as a customer. What a way to start the week. Hopefully you can get this repair done quickly and get on with things. I wish you the best outcome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Beth Posted August 20, 2007 Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 No...no shootings or we would all have been shot at one time or another. I did the very same thing to a customer's quilt and it was going into a show! Just call her and tell her what happened. You might be surprised at how understanding she is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bstucker Posted August 20, 2007 Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 Hi Laurie, Take a deep breath, and think about how this can be repaired and maybe how much of a discount you will give your customer for your mistake. I move the machine with the needle down a lot for pantos, and so do many other quilters, so don't beat yourself up too much.....you do have to move the rollers carefully when you do this. I've snipped a hole in a quilt trimming threads and found a "mystery" hole once that was caused I think by a stray pin.....the point is, it happens, and if you apologize, and offer a solution and discount, you will be forgiven.... Believe me, I know how sick you feel.....stitch witchery can sometimes glue the area down so you can quilt it into oblivion....or maybe it can be repieced, or an applique of some sort placed over the area. Good luck, and let us know how it turns out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie Posted August 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 Thanks Patty and Mary Beth, for the words of encouragement. Wouldn't ya know, I was going to take it off and be done but decided to add another bit of quilting at the edge of the border. I was almost done......about 20" more to go. I do believe this quilt is fixable..... and I am willing to offer to fix it. Should I just give her the quilt at no charge or is a discount acceptable? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie Posted August 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 Barbara - I know there is plenty of backing fabric along the edge that could be used. I'll need to ask if there is any of the main fabric available to use.... I can easily remove the ripped area and re-piece a new one in on the top. It will mean taking out some of the quilting but only some ditch work. I have never had this happen in the 5 years I have been quilting! I wish it was just a little hole! I'll take a pic and post it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie Posted August 20, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 and the front..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bekah Posted August 20, 2007 Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 Oh Laurie, I am so sorry. I can understand how you feel. but I can see that this is fixable and surely this customer will be understanding. Please let us know how it turns out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smorris Posted August 20, 2007 Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 Hi Laurie You poor thing - I made a much bigger hole the other day - my own fault after quilting for 10 years you might think I should have known better, but accidents happen and at the end of the day - nobody died!! I cut two pieces of fabric a little larger than the hole, pressed a 1/4" under on all sides and hand basted it over the hole top and bottom and then quilted over. then I did really tiny stitches to hold it all together and took out the basting - it wasn't invisible but it looked like it had been pieced that way. I will give my customer the batting free for this quilt and I am sure she will understand. Most reasonable people realise that they are not perfect and neither are we. Good luck, tell you customer as soon as you can and put it behind you. Best wishes sue in Australia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsbishwit Posted August 20, 2007 Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 Laurie, So sorry this has happened to you, it is never fun when it happens, but unfortunately it does happen to all of us. You said that it was towards the bottom of the quilt, right? Well on the back after you patch in the new piece of fabric the customer can camoflauge it some more by placing the quilt label over that spot. And as far as the front goes if you can replace the width of the border by the legnth needed to cover the rip (say about 5"or so)then requilt it to match up with the rest of the border. It will look like it was pieced that way prior to quilting it. So it won't be noticable on the front either. But you still will need to tell the customer about it (hopefully she will have a little scrap left of that front area) and I would offer her a 50% discount as well as repair the damage for her. I am sure this will have a happy ending... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyLynn Posted August 20, 2007 Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 Laurie, I am sorry for you, but that is so fixable. Just a bit of picking out and sewing back together, and you will have it made, easy for me to say,,,,I am not the one picking and stitching. But I really think the back would look very nice with a label right over that "area".... Call it an extra, your customer would thank you. Good luck. Judy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted August 20, 2007 Report Share Posted August 20, 2007 Anyone who quilts as beautifully as you do can surely fix this. Great advice from everyone above. Consider yourself hugged cuz I figure you need one about now... All will be well and life will go on. After all, isn't that why applique was invented? (seriously...I think they did applique in the old days to cover up holes in their quilts...think about it!) I found a small hole on one of my quilts (I think a friend's dog had its way with it while they were house sitting for me a few years back) anyway, I found some scrap fabric from the same quilt top and I did exactly what Sue Morris did -- I did needle turn applique to patch over the hole and then it was barely noticeable...no one (but me) would know that hole or patch was there unless they really looked hard with a maginifying glass (which ain't gonna happen). :cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 Laurie, If the hugs don't work try a glass of wine and be glad Monday is almost over! I think this is very fixable. Since you say it is about 10" from the bottom I would just take that part of the border out and put in a new piece going down from about 1/2" above the rip down to the bottom. Then from the top it will just look like she pieced her border. On the back if you make patch and applique it to where the sid is then you would only see the horizontal seams as the rest of them would be hidden in the crease where the sid is. We are all human and accidents happen. I just hope it is a layed back quilter and not one that gets a little high strung about things like that! So I guess the good news is that needles don't break easily? I can't imagine that the needle didn't break but instead tore the quilt? Is that right? Heidi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BethDurand Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 Laurie, I'm so sorry that this had to happen to anyone, but I'm sure that my day is coming. I'll be sick then too, but hopefully have enough where with all to read these posting.s Everyone has had great suggestions, so I won't try to add anything. We are all human though, so cut yourself a little slack. When you can laugh about this, and that time will come, you can refer to it as your "humility block". Beth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gable428 Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 Laurie, so sorry this happened. I can only imagine how you feel. I'm sure once you fix it that it will look just fine. Mistakes happen and hopefully your customer is human enough to understand that. Please let us know about the end result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renae Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 Laurie, I'm sorry this happened to you but I can honestly say it "has" happened to me. I was simply "sick" when I seen what had happened and knew I had to call the client right away. I asked her to come over to see it and to bring the extra fabric if she had any and she knew she had. When she came over I told her I would repair it and she kept repeating over and over....."it was an accident, don't worry about it", but of course I couldn't help but worry about it. Shoot, it was her quilt!! and she trusted me with it!!! I repaired it and with the backing, all I did was put a piece of fusable mesh on the underside so it would stick ONLY to the backing. It worked beautifuly!! She wanted to put the label on it but I needed to secure it in order to finish quilting it. Thank goodness the tear was at the bottom of the quilt.......so I do understand and believe me the sooner you tell her the better it will be. Renae Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annlittle1 Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 Oh dear! I know you must be sick over this. But I will tell you one of the facts of life--we all make mistakes. But the next fact of life is that 99% of the mistakes can be fixed, but the best way to start that fix is to talk to the other person and be honest about what happened. Then suggest a way to fix it and offer to do it. Usually you will find that most people are understanding. I've only had to crawl a couple of times:P:P but I did get past it. Talk to your customer. If she isn't understanding then you probably don't need her as a customer anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherylsterling Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 It does look bad but it is completely fixable once you get replacement fabric. At least it isn't across any of the piecing. It is going to be okay. Put the gun away now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie Posted August 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 the phone call anyway. My customer was wonderful! She is a long time quilter/quilt shop employee so she has seen it all. She told me "it's just a quilt"! It will be a wall hanging (48 x 48) for her son so it won't get used much. She is coming by this afternoon with some replacement fabric. You guys are awesome in your support!!!!! I can't tell you how much your words of advice and comfort helped me. I was able to calmly explain what happened and offered my solution. After all this, I just hope she likes the quilting! btw - this is the same customer the sock monkey/banana quilt is for Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jzollin Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 I am so sorry! I have read that a few of you have accidentally drawn on a customer quilt with permanent marker.......well, I did it in front of the customer!! I was so horrified. I just gave her a huge hug right then. She said, "That's washable isn't it?" Of course it wasn't, but I did get the problem fixed, and I THINK/HOPE that she will bring me quilts in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ritathequilter Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 Laurie I'm so glad ot hear that is has worked out well for you and that you didn't decide to use the gun. :^) I know how you were feeling tho cause I ripped a hole in the very first quilt I did for my very first customer....and by the same method that you did. I thought I was going to vomit. I ended up removing the quilt and taking one side border off, replacing it then requilting it. Now I NEVER leave the needle in when rolling to a new section...even tho I'm a lot more experienced now. Why create a situation where the same thing could happen. oh no, not gonna do that again! Rita Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacksong Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 I have always feared ripping a hole in a quilt. Please post a picture after the repair and tell us how you did it. You can do this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie Posted August 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 I will post a photo of the repair......my customer just brought over some extra fabric...actually she couldn't find hers so she went to the quilt shop to buy more. Thank goodness there was still some on the bolt! She will be away for a week so I know what I'll be doing this week! She said to me "aren't you glad it was me and not someone else?".......now that is understanding! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie Posted August 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 Here is a picture of the quilt before "the accident". My customer really liked the quilting, which is a good thing I haven't fixed it yet but was dumping my camera into my photo program so I thought I would share this one now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.