Butterfli19

According to your standards or by what you read in magazines and books? Is the matching of points and seams important? The embellishing? The colors? The flatness or puffiness? Do you follow the "rules" or do it your way?

It doesn't matter whether it's a quilt, doll, handbag, jacket, or potholder, I seem to judge the same way. I want it all the way I want it, the way I would make it. I don't want to give it away or use it with that glaring error taunting me.

My question is: for all of what your expectations are, if there was one thing, just one, that was not appealing but really insignificant, would you still purchase it / give it away or would you not purchase it / rip it out and fix it?

watterstide

i buy hand made because i like it..no attention to perfection.

so i guess you could say i don't judge the item.

christina d

Same here I will buy handmade because I love the appeal of it perfection is not important

klc

Me too. I buy what I like because I like it. I don't expect perfection in handmade items.

Rebecca VLQ

Well, for handmade clothing I look for:

Serging
Topstitching
Seams that don't have the thread showing (like too big of a stitch)

If it's something that is "worse" than my skill level, I wouldn't buy it. I might say "oh that's a cute skirt, but not serged. I could make one myself..." and put it on the list of things to do. No offense to the designer, but that's how I like it.

And the "perfect matching seams" thing? Nope. I like a little bit of wonk as apposed to mass-produced perfection. :D Clothing, the standards are tighter because otherwise a garment wouldn't fit right, but quilts? Love me some wonk. :D

mom-6

Within reason a bit of imperfection is part of the charm of handmade items. If on the other hand it looks just thrown together I most likely will pass it by. It also depends on the purpose of the item how picky I'm going to be.

LeeAnn

There is no such animal as perfection. Not in my book anyway. I love for my quilts to look good but I don't sweat the small stuff. If I'm selling one I work really hard for perfection but it's always elusive. The customer could never find my error but I could point out everyone of them.

blueangel

I buy it because I like it.

sueisallaboutquilts

For me it depends on who made it. If it's from a loved one I don't care if it's full of mistakes! But if I buy something at an art fair, for example, I want the quality to be good. As someone else said if it's below my level of skill I'll pass on it.

SparkMonkey

I agree exactly. I'll never pass judgement on someone else's work--unless it's for sale for profit (not for charity). If they expect to make a profit, I expect them to do better work than I can do myself. I think that's fair.

ETA: There is a bit of fudge-room in that assessment, too. If the design is inspired and unique, I'll allow a few minor hiccups in the construction. But if it's a traditional pattern with traditional materials, attention to detail is very important.