Jeanette Posted November 16, 2007 Report Share Posted November 16, 2007 #1)I quilted a top with the customers choice of panto and she examined it closely and was very pleased. Today she brought it to guild with her and asked me to 'fix' it. She had trimmed the edges about 1/2" back into the pieced area without doing a running stitch around the edges first which resulted in the quilting being cut and the threads unraveling in several places. She had then pulled some of the thread ends back several inches in an attempt to thread them on a needle and stitch them. It didn't work and she wanted me to fix it. She implied that if I hadn't quilted so near or off the edge that it wouldn't have happened!!! I told her she could 'repair' it on her domestic machine and she is not a happy camper now. I don't feel it is up to me to fix something she did a week after picking them up. Her reason for trimming it back was to square up the corners she said. Now she tells me that she always trims all of the batt off clear to the edge of the pieced top at least and wants to know how I can quilt in the future to prevent the unraveling!!! Advice please??? #2 ) I advised a customer (quilt teacher) that large background areas in her appliqued blocks needed to be quilted and she was adamant that I should not quilt in that area. I tried to point out the problems of not doing it and she wasn't going to listen. She was using this quilt as an example in her class and I really was not happy with it being shown as coming from me. It has been a month and she now wants me to quilt those areas as they are puffing up - I don't think I can do it now and make it look good. Should I try and do I charge and how do I charge? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Beth Posted November 16, 2007 Report Share Posted November 16, 2007 Issue #1 was discussed today at my machine quilters guild meeting. They advised us to takes lots of pictures of the quilt when you are finished quilting it, before the customer picks it up so that you can prove that you did not "damage" the quilt and it was in good condition when you gave it to the customer. Also, they advise that you have the customer sign a form stating that the customer is pleased with the quilt. I have never had anyone sign a form and didn\'t realize I might need to. Maybe I will rethink that process. Issue #2...I would almost want to tell the know it all teacher to have someone else quilt her quilts from now on. You need to be able to work with your customers and have a good relationship. If you can\'t discuss the work - and you are the professional quilter - you know what needs to be done, and what is good for the quilt. The customer that you have a good relationship with is the one that will tell everyone how great you are. The one that acts like this customer/teacher could be the one that black balls you when you try to do everything you can to please her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitaR Posted November 16, 2007 Report Share Posted November 16, 2007 Considering she cut the edges before securing, she is the one that created the problem, and I\'d think it is Her job to stay stitch or baste the edges to prevent unraveling, not yours to resize/shape the quilting to do that for her.. I don\'t understand a teacher that turns things around to make the other person guilty, when they aren\'t. Also if she\'s not happy now, or not happy later.. it doesn\'t sound like you are in a win/lose situation.. with her. Forms of approval are good suggestions.. so are the photo\'s... just don\'t leave the photo\'s on the hard drive without backup.. I\'ve lost many photo\'s that way. Good luck.. RitaR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted November 16, 2007 Report Share Posted November 16, 2007 Jeanette, Wow you bring up problems that we are all at risk of happening and have given me some food for thought. On customer #1 - I would offer to fix it but for additional cost. You should also show her how panto\'s are done and if that is what she wants done then she will have to deal with it if she is going to square up later. Use it as a learning experience for her and show her you are an expert. I would have to charge though as it will take you some hours to repair and certainly she has to understand that. I know that threads can unwind once cut but when I cut mine I\'m just very careful to stay stitch that cut edge right away before I man handle it to sew on the binding. customer #2 - I would tell her in order to quilt it now you would have to unpick the whole thing and start over or risk stitching puckers in. This one could lead to customers if her students like your quilting but it could also turn off students if it is all puckered. I\'d personally be a little careful because your name is already linked to it. Makes me think that I should add a disclaimer to the bottom of my invoices or customer agreements mentioning these things. Let us know how you resolve the problem. Heidi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stagecl Posted November 16, 2007 Report Share Posted November 16, 2007 Customer #1 should fix her own mistakes,but Heidi is right you can fix it, but charge for it. I cut my backing and batting even with the top and NEVER have had any problems. She must be really be handling the quilt roughly for the stitching to come out that far. If you have quilted with bottom line it is a slippery little thread that could come undone more easily. I don\'t like bottom line for that reason. I like the suggestion of stay stitching around the top before the customer trims it. You might want to stay stitch when this customer brings a quilt...do it when it is on your machine. Customer #2...how good of a teacher is she? She obviously doesn\'t understand batting and the quilting process. I have quilted quilts that are already started on the DSM or by hand. I make it clear that I can not promise there will be no tucks or puckers, but mine are not class samples. I wouldn\'t do it unless she wanted to take the existing quilting out and provide a backing large enough to quilt the quilt again. Suggest that she meander the areas on her DSM after letting her know the current quilting needs to be removed and the cost of doing it plus quilting it again. There have been a few times when I have filled in areas when initially the quilter didn\'t want it done. When I am quilting and the stated area needs some quilting...I call the customer when it is on the machine and tell them it doesn\'t look right without the it being stitched and explain why. Usually at this point they will let me do what I think looks good. The quilter wants their quilt to look good and they, most of the time, are willing to let you stitch the way you think it will look best. I also call if the panto they have chosen isn\'t going to do the quilt justice. I tell them my reasons and make other suggestions. Usually they will agree with me. Good Luck. Cheryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flygirlTRE Posted November 16, 2007 Report Share Posted November 16, 2007 #1, Do you do a basting stitch all around the edges of your quilt 1/4" in to secure it or do you pin baste? I have always stitched 1/4" in and then trimmed to the edge of the quilt (though the store I used to work for doesn\'t anymore because it is time and 1 or 2 people complained because they just turn the backing over to bind the quilt). I haven\'t had a problem with pantos unraveling because I had stayed stitched. But in response to your problem, IMHO, sometimes you have to eat a little bit of time if you anticipate a return customer. If you think this lady is going to be difficult in the future or never be satisifed and are not hurting for customers, then go ahead and charge her and fix it for her, even if it is on your domestic. Maybe I am just a softy about this kind of stuff. I realize we have to make a living, but I try to remember the last time I was not satisfied with a product I was not the most knowledgable about. #2, I have quilted a quilt that was mostly hand quilted already. I replicated the stencil that the lady was using and did other quilting in the blank spaces. She had done a lot of the ditch work by hand, but she has arthritis and just could not finish it. This is probably a big no-no, but I stretched the quilt pretty tight and I had no problems with puckers on the back or distorting the quilt. I did warn the customer that there could be puckers and that I would try my best to avoid them. I stretched pretty hard, too. I maybe could have distorted the fabric by doing that, but I did it consistently over the whole quilt top and it laid flat afterwards. If you do a medium meander, you shouldn\'t get any bunching at the edges where the ditch stitching is. Meandering is a forgiving background, I think, because you can manipulate the fabric so that it looks full without puckering. Great for those D-cup tops! Oh, and you should definitely charge for this, but perhaps you could do it on a per hour basis so that she is not paying for a repeat set up charge, etc. She may find that to be fair. BTW, take a picture of the quilt before you requilt it so that in the future you can show someone else what happens when you don\'t quilt it properly the first time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanette Posted November 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 16, 2007 Reading thru the posts here seeing what others would do. Here is my solution after sleeping on it - #1. This customer is very pushy, very bossy, wants to appear to know it all (I knew this but am not looking to build a customer base. ) I am going to explain nicely that she created the problem and how she can prevent it on her next quilt by staystitching completely around the quilt altho she trimmed off enough that I think she would have also trimmed off the staystitching had there been any. Or she can put her binding on the first round and then trim the quilt. I am not \'fixing\' her quilt. If she wants me to quilt another I will be very very busy! The \'teacher\' was very adamant on her instructions and initially said if a problem developed that she would take care of it on her domestic. I think she found out it was a big quilt and she couldn\'t handle it on the DM. Anyhow, I am going to do a quick pin-on and a fast meander in the open areas. Then I\'ll do Bonnies\' steam trick, thank you Bonnie! And I will charge a pin-on fee of $35 and quick figure the quilting space and charge for that also. It is a beautiful quilt and I was frustrated when she took it so now I have the opportunity to correct it and not have people think I did a lousy job. I do a three carbon intake form and give them one with the initial information and pricing when I take the quilt. When I return the quilt I insist that we go over it together front and back. If I have noticed places in the piecing where it is not sewed down or discolorations, etc., I put a small piece of blue painters tape to mark the spot and I show them why the tape is there. When they indicate they are satisfied then the second copy is marked \'customer accepted and paid\' and given to them. I am retired and this is a hobby. I choose how many quilts to do and who to quilt for to feed my fabric/gadget urges. I don\'t have a problem saying no to someone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DB Posted November 16, 2007 Report Share Posted November 16, 2007 Jeanette, Good for you for standing firm on customer #1. I read what had happened and got really ticked off. The nerve of this woman. It reminds me of a quilt I made this past summer. This was a queen sized custom made quilt. I am type A when it comes to my piecing, if the block wasn\'t 100% square, or the seams weren\'t perfect it went in the do not use pile. I stitched in the ditch every seam and echo quilted parts of every block. When it was picked up, I went over the quilt with the new owner and gave her a card listing fabric contents and laundry care instructions. About a month later the quilt came back because "there was a stain and an open seam on the quilt. Like you they made it sound like this was something I did. The stain was right next to a seam that had opened about 1", the thread was broken. I had stitched in the ditch right next to it, there is no way that I would have missed that seam or stain. I ended up just slip stitching the seam closed and got rid of most of the stain by just using Orvis soap in the area and sponging it clean. More than anything I was upset that it had come back with the implications that this was my doing. Even if they had brought it back and said something like "the dog jumped on it with dirty paws and tore it" I would have been more than happy to fix it without thinking twice about it. It made me think really hard about making another quilt for someone. Next time I plan on having another quilter exam the quilt and having the people sign a receipt stating the condition of the quilt before it goes. I won\'t be making another quilt for these people. DB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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