k_nollmeyer Posted August 7, 2008 Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 I felt bad telling this customer that I was unable to do her quilt. The quilt was 106 x 104. The center of the quilt was to be one large feather design and also large feather in the 20 inch border. The final 4 inch border was to be left unquilted. I pinned it on the frame, read through the instructions one more time, and realized this was not going to work. As you can tell by the attached pictures, I could not get it to flat. I know that we have all had some interesting quilts to quilt, but this one was not worth the headache. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k_nollmeyer Posted August 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 one more view Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiltsinmotion Posted August 7, 2008 Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 OMG I don't think Bonnie's steam / starch method would have made that quilt flat . I have seen her method make some very wavey quilts lay flat . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawaii Posted August 7, 2008 Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 WOW! Good decision. How could the quiltmaker not see this issue?????? Was she thinking that you could miraculously quilt it out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnie Posted August 7, 2008 Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 From your pictures my first guess would be that she didn't have a big enough outside border...and that is what is causing all the inside fluff...if she took that border off, pressed the daylights out of the center and then reattached the border, also pressing it out and adding the extra that should have gone in there the first place things might still work out.... If she fixes this and does happen to bring it back to you I wouldn 't let her get away with nothing in the outside border....depending on what batting you are using....there is way to much empty space and once washed that border is going to do some nasty wonky stuff and it will make the quilt really ugly no matter what or how good the quilting is on it....and I wouldn't want my name on something that would wonk up like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobbi Posted August 7, 2008 Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 eeeegads! good luck with that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k_nollmeyer Posted August 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 When she put the pieces together, she mitered the corners. One corner was ok, but the other had a lot of excess fabric. Then she rounded the corners and sewed on the final border. I am not sure if that final border was bias strips or not, but it wasn't laying flat when I pulled it out of the bag. That should have been my first clue. I tried to smooth it out with my hand and that final border just curled up. Even if I could have quilted it, she would have had a tough time getting it trimmed and bound. I'm not sure what the batting was, either dream cotton or hobbs heirloom. Before we hung up she mentioned she had a frame and she might try tying it. If I couldn't get it to lay flat, I don't know how she will either. Anyway, it is not my headache anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted August 7, 2008 Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 ....then cut the corners off to make a curve edge and then sewed on an outer border? Isn't it times like these when we want to grit our teeth (with a forced smile, of course) and kindly tell these people that they really should take a class or two on the basics of quilt making. Then hand over some info about the local quilt shop's classes, and other info on some good books that you recommend which cover the fundamental basics of quilt making?? Ugh! PS: That photo -- the first thing I thought was "Is she making a fitted bed sheet?" Looks like it to me!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindasewsit Posted August 7, 2008 Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 Now THAT'S nasty!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renae Posted August 7, 2008 Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 YIKKKKKKEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!:o:o:o:o:o:o Renae Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiltjayne Posted August 7, 2008 Report Share Posted August 7, 2008 Good for you Kim, saying no is very hard but trying to quilt this top might just have been a whole lot harder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollyc Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 YIKES, Life is too short. It looks like a parachute just landed. If you had quilted it, she only would have brought you more to do. You'll be very gracious and tell her that her fabric choices were lovely, it's an interesting design and you'll be happy to help her once the quilt is squared up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veg-girl Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 It would make a nice ra-ra skirt I think! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suzakel Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 OMG!!! I've never seen anything like that. You made a very wise choice to tell her no. I'm working on my use of the word "no" as well. My list of people I won't quilt for went from one to three this summer. One that has been added to the list just picked up a quilt that I truly dislike. Basically she wanted handquilting on her quilt, and brought the pattern with hand quilting to show me what she wanted. No amount of explaining on my part could clarify for her that quilting on a longarm doesn't yield handquilting results. Oh! And she wanted this handquilted look for $75. Fortunately before she left it with me we had a very detailed discussion about what kind of quilting would go where and I wrote it all down. She seemed happy with it when she picked it up, but never again. This woman took way too much of my time, and was too much of a PITA to ever take work from her again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k_nollmeyer Posted August 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 We never really know what to expect til we open up the bag and begin to look at the quilt. I've been at this almost 8 years and I feel I can finally say no. I think the worst quilt I ever had came at the end of my first year quilting. It was so bad, I thought about calling it quits. I wish now I had a picture of it. It had probably 36 inches of borders and she admitted that nothing had been mearsured before she sewed them on. It was a puckered mess. I called her right away when I started and told her what was going on. She said some puckers was fine, but of course it was my fault that it was such a mess. Shana said it best. When we get bad quilts we wish we could refer them to a quilt shop for classes or a couple of good books. I wish people understood that good quiltmaking requires following some rules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bekah Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 Good for you for saying no. that is a nightmare!! I had one not long ago from one of my customers that was almost that bad, she said just quilt it. so I ended up pleating it, sewing the pleats down by hand so they were kind of hidden and then quilting it, It was not straight but she was thrilled to death. said it isn't going in a show I just wanted it done and it looks fine to me. I now have 3 quilts just like that from guess who, yep her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarieBrewer Posted August 8, 2008 Report Share Posted August 8, 2008 If borders are wavy I ask if the person measured or cut and sewed. If it's the cut & sew answer I tell them that the quilt would be more sq if they took the three measurements across and up/down and cut the average length to size the borders. Don't like my advice, don't come back. Right now I don't have any jobs backed up. Wonder why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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