AnnHenry Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 I originally posted this under annlittle1\'s thread entitled "Help, frustration level is mounting", but perhaps I can get more response with a new thread. That is such a wonderful, helpful thread; the ultimate example of the best of a forum. Newbie here, awaiting my machine, having had absolutely no experience with the problem of wavy borders, but offering thoughts and a question. I love the entire process of quilt making as well as I hope I am going to love my longarm, and so my first thought is that, on the intake, I would show her the problem and how to prevent it next time. Then I fix it and charge her for my time–-especially since Bonnie lost a quilt by sending it back -– ouch! I make her piecing look good so my quilting will be easier and look good. That seems to me to make more sense than fighting with bad borders. All the people who responded have had experience with this problem, and it sounds like most of you don\'t do these "repairs". I don\'t understand why repairing a known problem before quilting is not standard procedure, so my question is why don\'t you, and what am I missing, in my inexperience, in my logic? Is it that you only want to longarm and not sew, or are there other reasons? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigletaz Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 I am new to longarming, but not to sewing in general. I am generally an appliquer not a piecer, but my feeling in this matter is that bringing wavy borders to some quliters attention is a sticky situation. I\'ve read on some topics here that some customers do not want their quilts "fixed", just deal with it seems to be the attitude. Right or wrong. Also, some piecers are just uneducated about what and how a longarm machine does. Also, it seems (and please someone correct me here if I\'m wrong) that customers want the LAer to fix the problems as if they don\'t exist and to charge as little as possible and also, if the LAer is going to find fault with their work, they can take it to someone else cheaper. Anyone?? This is the feeling that I get from reading the threads on this topic. But I do agree, it would seem smart to fix problems like wavy borders before even attempting to quilt them. I have a feeling that you (and I) will be using Bonnie\'s starch and steam method more than we\'d like.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramona-quilter Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 Hi AnnHenry, I think that many quilters believe that the quilt top of a customer is sacred ground; it is forbidden to cut the top. I had several quilts come in one week and one was a rush job for a baby shower. I started to quilt it and noticed that one of the borders was wonky. I took it off the machine and tried to call the piecer, no go. I knew she was in a hurry. So I just fixed it myself. It was obvious that she did not cut then piece her border because she had a seam with 1.5 inches on the back-side of the quilt top. I ended up having to remove and restitch the inner border too at the same place. In just the outer border, there was 4.5" (yes 4 and a half inches) too much border fabric. Remember that 1.5" was underneath. Wavy...yeah. I put a $20 repair charge on the invoice along with the 4.5 piece of border fabric and a note so she could see what I had removed. Well, it turns out that the wonky quilt was not the rush job for the baby shower, that was a different quilt and a different customer. I had put the rush on the wrong quilt. Ooops. Of course, that did not change the fact the the wonky quilt needed to be fixed and that I did it. But since this was not the rush job and I had not contacted this customer, she was a bit put-off by my fixing and the $20 charge without prior notification. I\'m not certain if she was more upset by the extra charge or the big chunk of fabric stapled to her invoice like a dunce cap\'s badge of shame. She waved it around in the LQS upset that I had cut her quilt BEFORE she read the note that I had attached with the fabric. She paid me and she has not brought me another quilt. Lesson learned: communication is golden Your plan may work as long as you let your customers know up front that you will be fixing and charging as appropriate. I have noticed that there is a small cottage industry springing up at our LQS for putting borders on quilts, $20 an hour. Hmmmm. Renee, Some folks are just in denial. They either don\'t want to know that there is something wrong or they want you to do your magic on their mistakes. I just finished a light custom (palm trees) and before I started it, I noticed that the verically pieced backing, a palm leaf fabric, was directional. The piecer had pieced it opposite, that is, on the left, the palms faced up and on the right side, the palms faced down. It was an easy fix because there was plenty of backing. Just cut the center seam out, flip one side top to bottom and seam it so the palms are all going the same direction. I called the customer and told her that I could fix that in a jif if it was OK with her. I wasn\'t even going to charge her it was so simple. She told me "No, it\'s no big deal. The person I am giving it to won\'t even notice" What? I noticed it in less than 5 seconds. But it\'s her quilt so it\'s her decision. It made no sense to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 You are so right, Linda!! Communication is the key to happy customers. If they aren\'t concerned, we don\'t need to be either, I guess. I got a top recently with a wide back included. The top was 58x75 and the backer was 55x110. I called and asked and she said "Oh, I meant to get 65" instead of 55". Just go ahead and piece it." I had to do two seams to piece it and it meant I had the seams in both directions. I\'m jammed up for the holidays and told her I would charge her $10 per seam. That\'s great, she said! That only put me an afternoon behind!!! But at least she was fore-warned. Linda--about your customer mix-up--right now I have tops in line for one Joanna, one Joan, one Joanne, two Cindys, and three customers with the last name of Williams!!!! Arrrrgggghhh! Too funny! About the original question about repairing borders and mis-piecing--always call and gently ask. Caution, egos ahead. Give them the option of taking back and fixing and getting right back in line, or offer to fix it for a charge. I hate to take apart some else\'s work so I usually deal with it on the frame. I have starched-and-steamed ala Bonnie and I have also taken a tuck if it can be camouflaged to look like a seam. After the presentation to the customer I very off-handedly point out the tuck (which hopefully is very hard to see!) and say " There was a tiny bit of extra fabric in this border and I took a tiny tuck here to fix that." Notice the use of the word "tiny"? Now maybe that tuck is an inch deep, but I have "fixed" it and it has been stitched over so they have a pretty quilt and I have a happy and hopefully repeat customer. So far so good!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnie Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 I totally agree communications is a big factor in a quilter and customer situation. I will never do something major to a customers quilt without first talking to her/him and finding out what her intentions were, but I will fix holes in seams where they maybe didn\'t get a full 1/4 inch seam (without telling them) I will use the steam and starch method without telling them first, but I know the customers and know that they will be washing them regardless of what I do, because they want the quilts to be clean and smelling fresh when they give them. (If you do not know your custmers well, then remember to tell them about this proceedure) I would never trim the access from a quilt unless they first ask me to...I don\'t charge, it only takes me a few minutes with my huge tables so its no big deal and the customers appreciate them. If I run into a problem that I can\'t fix without just a simple wave of the magical wand then the customer is always the second person to know there is an issue and we work through it together....I find that the more I talk with them the more they trust me to do what I need to do...I always try to keep the communication an open factor and I never seem to have problems that can\'t be work through. If I find a hole in the quilt while I am sewing it, I use a product call 007 Bonding beads...this product is a power that melts the seams back together, permanently and you can never tell the hole was there. I use to use a Iron-on Pellon...it does work well, but leaves bump in the seam...the 007 doesn\'t and you can\'t find the booboo when you sew over it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matildanme Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 I was trying to ease a serious wave in a border by using Bonnies fab steam method and managed to dribble water on some machine appliqued dolls. The faces were drawn on and they ran. It was ugly. I rang the customer who told me that she had "set" the marker with an iron, she was unsure if it was a permanant fabric marker. I think not. Anyways, I took the quilt off the machine, removed the old faces and re-appliqued, a serious face lift lol . I did not charge as I felt responsable. I think it lucky that it happened when it did as it would have been a disaster when the finished quilt was washed. Lesson leasned....keep dribbly steam iron away from drawn faces. I believe that before doing anything to a top you must speak to the customer. BTW the borders worked out fine, thanks Bonnie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted December 5, 2007 Report Share Posted December 5, 2007 This is an excellent topic of discussion. This chat site is an excellent resource with an abundance of knowledge shared all around. Thank you everyone for always sharing your experiences and your tried and true helpful hints. I am more than grateful to you for this! Happy quilting....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CucumberQuilting Posted December 5, 2007 Report Share Posted December 5, 2007 Oh yeah, an excellent topic of discussion. And ongoing... I just did a quilt, fixing the borders before quilting. The borders were 5" larger than the top itself! FIVE inches ladies!!! It wasn\'t a border, it was a @#$%!ruffle! The quilt came from a friend (maybe ) out of state, and was for her daughter\'s Christmas gift. I didn\'t have time to send it back to her for her to fix. But think here. If she didn\'t know it was wrong to begin with, HOW was she going to know HOW to fix it? The few quilts that I have returned to customers with "issues" explaining how they needed to be fixed before I could quilt them, haven\'t come back to my studio. Some of those customers have never come back at all. If you don\'t want to deal with quilts with "issues" then this is a good tactic! For the most part though, I take the perspective that they are paying me to quilt their quilt -- as is. I\'m not "making" their quilt for them unless I\'ve been commissioned to do so. So for most of the borders with too much fullness I\'ll pin them on and just try to ease, steam, take an unobtrusive pleat or maybe pick out at a corner seam and close it up a little bit tighter. Whatever works best. It won\'t be perfect, but then, their top wasn\'t so perfect to begin with either. By the way, that redoing of her border cost me most of a day of work, unpaid. But it was much easier than trying to deal with that much extra fabric while quilting. It would have been a nightmare. This is Christmas, I only want to have happy sugarplum dreams! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewingupastorm Posted December 5, 2007 Report Share Posted December 5, 2007 Good topic. I will fix what I can if it is a quick fix. If there is a gap in the seam and I discover when pressing I will take a quick trip to the sewing machine and voila...........fixed........hey that seam might become a larger problem for me if I do not fix it as my hoppinng foot could catch it and then I will have even more work. I will do little things like this and not mention it. On friendly borders (those that like to wave) I will usually try to quilt them out and have gotten pretty good a figuring out ways to do this. Occasionaly there are things that require a larger fix. I will call my customer and let them know.. I will offer to fix it at a charge. I had a friend I did a vintage quilt for and the border was way off................I got paid for the repairs and her quilt looked great when she got it back. Another time anther customer had a quilt where her border was too small on one side and I offered to piece it for her so that it would fit as it was plenty long and actualy had excess. It took about an hour to fix it and in the end I did not charge her as she is a reguar customer and has recomened me to several other people. When I deal with bad piecing I jsut do my best and in the end they get back a quilted quilt and and I have yet to have anyone complain about a flaw related to their piecing problems. I have learned not to worry about things like a mistake on their part that I can quilt over..............hey maybe that was their humility block. Usually when I discover them I have already started the quilting and it would really cause a delay to remove the quilt, call the customer and see what they want to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annlittle1 Posted December 6, 2007 Report Share Posted December 6, 2007 I come from a background that stressed going the extra step in service. (As the president of a credit union, I once had a member dictate a grocery list to me over the phone which I then presented to her husband when he came in about thirty minutes later.) I have fixed open seams and removed a few borders and fixed them without charging or even contacting the customer. I\'m kind of like Cucumber Quilting in that I feel like I should work with what the piecer gave me, but once in a while its better for my frustration level and the safety of my machine if I do fix something like an open seam or remove a border and fix it. If I felt it was something major or I felt the need to charge for fixing it, I would definitely call the customer. I don\'t have a large surface to lay out a king size quilt, so I checked the squareness of the Log Cabin quilt by folding it. The seams were all so perfect that when I folded it and it appeared to be square I didn\'t take the time to measure it. I measured the second log cabin today and found that though it too appears perfectly square there is almost an inch difference between the middle and the ends. I posted pictures of the finished first quilt under the original topic and marked the titled "Finished..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clq-jill Posted December 6, 2007 Report Share Posted December 6, 2007 This has been a great thread with lots of good info -- Thanks, all. I have a number of customers who are not expert quilters. I almost always need to square up backs, sometimes iron fronts so there are not pleats, use a lot of tricks to keep the quilt square on the machine. I guess I don\'t charge for this UNLESS I find it takes more than an hour of my time. I agree with Linda -- if it was given to me wrong, how are they going to know how to fix it? It probably takes me less time to fix it, than to explain what the problem is and how they should fix it! The one quilt I sent back didn\'t come back ( which I was actually relieved about!) I think we need to be careful and kind when pointing out "mistakes". This may be that person\'s first quiltmaking experience, and I for one do not want to kill their joy in their creation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltjunkie Posted December 7, 2007 Report Share Posted December 7, 2007 I just had 2 qults in a row with wonky borders, I didn\'t notice until I took off and turned to finish quilting the side, now top border, I think is could have been solved with Bonnie\'s Magisc SS trick but didn\'t read that until after it was finished. I did have to take out a section and shorten. I ALWAYS take a picture with my digital camera and attach to the invoice so they can see the problem why I\'m explaining the additional charge. The 2nd quilt had mitered corners and 3 out of 4 had to be fixed. Frankly I don\'t have time to try and call and wait for a call back, so it is stated right on my estimate that any repairs will be an addtional charge...every customer gets an estimate before they walk out the door. This solves a multiple of problems and a picture to back it up, and I ask them .."Would you rather have a big pleat in the quilt or have it beautiful?":P So far I have never had any complaints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnHenry Posted December 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2007 Originally posted by CucumberQuilting It wasn\'t a border, it was a @#$%!ruffle! I laughed out loud! I laughed so loud and so long that my co-workers came to my desk (I was on my break) expecting to see some uproarious cartoon or read a really funny joke. That was not to be! Thanks to everyone for past and any future contributions. AH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bsktsn3cats Posted December 9, 2007 Report Share Posted December 9, 2007 Ann, I too thought the ruffle was very, very funny. I giggled and DH just looked at me...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denise Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Hi Ladies, thank you so much for putting so much info in this thread...I have fixed several quilts and wondered if I should have charged...didn\'t as they were friends of a close friend and new customers and I also as a piecer had the same problem (homespun coming apart at the seams because of too small of a seam) so I totally understood how it could happen...I ended up hand stitching one while it was on my liberty, then taking the second to my own personal small machine and fixing prior to putting on my liberty as I too thought I didn\'t need the headache of trying to fix it while having my hopping foot get stuck in the open seam....such is life and they turned out beautifully and even I was impressed at myself!! thanks again....Denise Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenscratch Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Some people just have not gotten good instruction about how to do their borders. Even my very accurate, wonderful piecer customer has some fullness in her borders. She just measures, cuts them the length, and starts stitching at one end until she gets to the other. I was taught to put a pin in at the halfway point, another at the 1/4 and 3/4 points, and another a couple inches from the end. I don\'t know if that\'s the best way either, but I seem to have less ruffly borders. I think if we are going to tell the piecer that they need to fix something, we need to tell them how to fix it. They may not know. And I will usually just try to deal with the fullness, if it\'s not too bad. If I ever had to send one back I would call and explain what the problem is, how to fix it, and offer to fix it for a fee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenscratch Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Some people just have not gotten good instruction about how to do their borders. Even my very accurate, wonderful piecer customer has some fullness in her borders. She just measures, cuts them the length, and starts stitching at one end until she gets to the other. I was taught to put a pin in at the halfway point, another at the 1/4 and 3/4 points, and another a couple inches from the end. I don\'t know if that\'s the best way either, but I seem to have less ruffly borders. I think if we are going to tell the piecer that they need to fix something, we need to tell them how to fix it. They may not know. And I will usually just try to deal with the fullness, if it\'s not too bad. If I ever had to send one back I would call and explain what the problem is, how to fix it, and offer to fix it for a fee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenscratch Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Some people just have not gotten good instruction about how to do their borders. Even my very accurate, wonderful piecer customer has some fullness in her borders. She just measures, cuts them the length, and starts stitching at one end until she gets to the other. I was taught to put a pin in at the halfway point, another at the 1/4 and 3/4 points, and another a couple inches from the end. I don\'t know if that\'s the best way either, but I seem to have less ruffly borders. I think if we are going to tell the piecer that they need to fix something, we need to tell them how to fix it. They may not know. And I will usually just try to deal with the fullness, if it\'s not too bad. If I ever had to send one back I would call and explain what the problem is, how to fix it, and offer to fix it for a fee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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