ps, I live in Utah...wish it was Illinois so you could give me your opinions!

Hope to see pictures of what you are conderned about. I have no personal experience with a LAQ, but I would be very upset if there were folds in the backing of my quilt. Some of that may have been avoided by asking her to show you what she meant by the puckering. I would never take a quilt home without looking at it when I picked it up.
I work with hand quilters at church,and we always open up the quilt when the person picks it up (so we can all ooh and aaah with the quilter!) We are not always 100% successful, but we know if there is a problem immediately! And we have the option to make any adjustments right then and there. :?

I must empathize with your disapppointment. I took a wall hanging to a professional machine quilter and was so disappointed with the results. I later found out that she has just purchased a very expensive quilting machine and she's not very experienced at quilting yet. She charged me what an experienced quilter would charge. I just don't think I'll take anything to her again.

I have had many quilts quilted and never had this happen, but a teacher of mine had it happen and she made the quilter unstitch the entire quilt and requilt it. She was a good customer but if your quilter wants a good reputation she will try to work it out with you, you are the customer. janey

Print out some of the constructive posts (primarily to hold on to for support) and tell her that you have been discussing the situation with your quilting buddies. Tell her you really want to find out what went wrong in the process, and why she did not notify you BEFORE quilting a wrinkley quilt. Then take it from there.

Here are the pics

I would say it's her fault...I think she didn't have the back on the roller right....she should have made sure it was square before starting to quilt it.

Gosh, she sure did a beautiful job otherwise. Now that I see what
happened. I honestly don't know what I would do.

I agree that you should ask for a partial refund. So sorry for your disapointment.

I have to agree with everyone. I would be livid if I were you. I would let her know that she should consider her reputation and "word of mouth" in making her decision to correct mistakes at no charge to you!

I agree with what the others said. I do my own quilting and as it rolls up I can tell what is happening and it is always that I loaded it wrong or something that I did, the quilting was fine.
I would go back to her and tell her how unhappy you are and ask her to show you where you made the problem. I would ask for a refund or a re-quilt if possible. Have you talked to anyone else who has been to her? It would be interesting to find out how many times she has used that line on others.

I am not a LAQ but going by your pics, it just looks like she was careless and a fold occurred. I would be inclined to send a letter, and copies of your pics and formally request a partial or full refund. If you accept money for quilting or anything else, you are in effect operating a business. When operating a business is is best practice NOT to rip people off. If you feel uncomfortable speaking with her...just put in in writing. This person is a business operator...not your best friend! Perhaps, she will then be willing to either offer a refund or redo the work correctly.

I totaly agree it was not your fault. Being a machine quilter and seeing the pictures, when she rolls the quilt each pass she should check the bottom for fullness. I don't think she had the bottom taut enough. aHope to hear from you soon about quilting.

Thanks you guys! Ok, I REALLY like the idea of writing a formal letter. I do hate that awkward confrontation. This way I can say everything I want to say w/out backing down.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Everyone!!!

So sorry, I know exactly how you feel. Just makes a person sick to their stomach when you put out that kind of money and get back your quilt and the quilting is lacking. I will attached a letter I wrote to my mother a few years back when the quilt I gave her had been quilted 3 times, yes 3 times.

No one should have to go through a bad quilting job but there are a few out there that make long arm quilters look not so good.

Live and learn who you can trust in the quilting world. My heart goes out to you.

I do longarm quilting, and am not too experienced, I keep telling everyone that I am still in the learning stage. However, I think your long arm quilter didn't keep track of your backing at all.

Many times I crawl under my frame to check the backing to make sure there are no puckers. Different materials handle differently.

I am doing a quilt now where the backing is muslin. Talk about stretching, the material is a much looser weave than the top, so as I finish a top row I am under the frame looking for any stretching before I move to the next row if there is I try to repin where possible.

I pointed this out to the little lady that made the top, I have quilted about a dozen of her quilts. She said not to worry about any puckers, but I do and I found that if I stipple in all the real open places it pulls the backing nicely, it takes a lot longer to quilt but when you think of all the work this 77 year old lady had done on her tops over the years, you want it to look its best.

This happended to me 2x with my original quilter. the first time she forgot to do a piece of it. Itold her and she said she would do that area for me if i sent it back. i never got around to it so there sits my Quilt with an area not Quilted. Not very visable but i know where it is and it mostly sits in my closet.
2nd Quilt same Quilter different verse. I get this Christmas throw back and you can see all the starts and stops and again another whole are was missing quilting. I called her and asked what had happended to my Quilt and told her i was not satisfied with her workmanship. She proceeded to tell me she has been ill and her husband is now doing the Quilting. i told her I did not know that. :shock: :shock: i went on to tell her how disappointed i was for the last 2 times nad I would not send her another quilt in the future. I also told her I would not be sending her any $$ for the quilting because it was not up tp par. I never thought of taking out the stiches and getting it re-quilted. I got so frustrated seeing my Quilt lying around i put it in a trash bag and gave it to Thrift shop to sell. I am sure someone snatched it up.

I understand your frustration after you put all your love and work into it and it is a Flop!!!
I would not wait to long to talk to her. You have several options call her and ask for #$$ back, take out the stiches and let her redo it or find another Quilter who can do the job better!!!!! Tell her how you feel and give her options as to how you would like this remedied.

What does the front look like can I see a pic??????

Since I think this post has been overlooked, I will address it. The answer, I am afraid, is no. She will not be able to put it back on the machine to requilt since it has been trimmed down. You no longer have the option of a re-do UNLESS you use a new piece of batting and a new back.

She may feel that she does not owe you money, simply a do over. You must now consider this since you have trimmed it down.

I am sorry you have to deal with this at all. Don't feel bad complaining. If one does not want to have to answer to others, they should not take money from others.

Oh My Goodness, Maggiesquilt! I just read that letter and my heart was breaking for you as I read it!!! You are on determined/strong woman! I cannot believe there were roaches in it! Wow....I guess it makes my problem not seem so big after all! I am sure that quilt means the world to your mom! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks to all of you telling me your stories! I've been machine quilting my first quilt ever and I enjoy it. It's not perfect, but I'd rather have MY own little mistakes than someone else's pricey ones!

Bebe...I will take a picture of my quilt and post it sometime today or tomorrow!

Dear Cent,
When you go see the lady who quilted your quilt make sure you use "I" statements..."I feel...", "I wish I would have been contacted...", "I would appreciate...". Using "you" immediately puts the person on the defensive. No one can disallow your feelings. I'd go back and have a chat with her. I think at least a 50% discount would be reasonable, unless she would be willing to redo the entire thing free of charge. Have had teachers who sent quilts out, got them back, hated what was done and tore out the quilting and redid it themselves. In today's economy few of us have the extra money to throw away. And if this woman wants to keep her business with a good name she will be more than accommodating with you. Let us know how you did.
Chris

I am not a super experienced quilter by any means, but I have an idea. If the quilt is really not able to be redone because you trimmed it, could you run an invisible stitch down the pucker lines so they at least lay flat? I don't know if that makes sense. To me, the folds remind me of sewing binding on to a project. It seems like you could tame them, if there isn't another solution. Sorry this happened to you. I'd be really disappointed.

Her quilting is very pretty, but she had to have not kept track of the back. I've done that on my little sewing machine, but I constantly check the back as I'm quilting and then if any folds, I can rip them out. I'm sorry that this happened to you, but you really need to say something to her. Maggiesquilt, I read your letter and I commend you for ripping out the quilt not once but twice! I'll bet your Mother cherishes your gift!

Mary, could it be quilted by LA if a temporary border was stitched on round the edges, then removed later, or is that unworkable? Maggiesquilt, I too read your letter and I commend your perseverance! I am glad the end result was a fruitful and happy one. Cent, don't give up....you will find a way to make that quilt as perfect as it can be.

Just my 2 cents worth, but even if a beginner takes a quilt to a professional, that person should be able to say wether it'll work or not. I've never quilted my tops as I tie, but I'm just thinking of what the others said.

Possibly. But if the LAer is already blaming cent for the backing, I don't know how well she would handle temp borders.

The title of this post makes me physically ill!! I would JUST DIE if this happened with one of my customers.

Here's how the stretching can happen. Let say you have 1 piece 35" and the other 35.5" long. If the longer piece is on the bottom, your feed dogs can ease in that extra 1/2". This technique is done (on purpose) in the garment industry for things like setting in sleeves. I've had borders come to me several inches too long because of that "feeding" or stretching issue. This also can happen on backs, especially if you are seaming a back and don't have both pieces exactly the same size. You won't be able to see the easing in the seam, but it shows up in unexpected places. I cringe when I see pieced backs (lots of pieces), just because there is so much room for something to go wrong. Add in mystery fabrics, a little bias and you have a wreck looking for a place to happen. A little fullness on the top can be controlled and hidden. A little fullness on the back is not always easy to spot until it's too late.

Now..for your current issue. It looks like from the pictures you might be able to do a slip stitch to tack down those pleats and no one will be the wiser. Your back will be fine. Talk to your quilter, see if she offers a discount or refund. I know that if this were me, I'd want to make you happy.

I agree with Shelly that getting a tuck in a pieced backing is very easy to do.
In some instances almost impossible not to. I know, you sew two fabrics together and they should be flat, but like Shelly said, unless you are using an even feed foot the bottom piece will be sucked in faster than the top piece, resulting in one being very slightly gathered. Spread over a long seam this can result in extra fabric that has to go somewhere. Have you ever cut off a flared skirt or pants leg and when rehemming had that little bloop of fabric on the top side with nowhere to go? The quilting overall is very nice. It would have been nice if as soon as she saw what was happening she called you
to give you a chance to take it home to fix the backing. But maybe she did not notice or maybe she did the best she could under the circumstances. Please don't bad mouth her to other potenial customers until you give her a chance to
do something to help you feel better about this quilt. It is still a lovely quilt and I would like to see a pic of the entire quilt front and back. If sewn down with a snug ladder stitch the pleat will be less noticable.

Thanks for your advice everyone!

What exactly is a pressed ladder stitch?

I agree, it is beautiful quilting and not to badmouth the quilter. I also think you could stitch this down. This happened on one of my quilts and I hand stitched it down and no one knew it but me. Good Luck. It would be too much work to rip out the quilting. That would take longer than the quilting, then you may also have needle holes you can't get rid of. I would talk to the LA quilter and see if she would give you some refund.

My backing and the quilt were beautifully quilted and I was thrilled until I noticed a small snip just along the border. It must have happened when the quilter was snipping at a thread. I am sure that she never noticed it (I hope).
This quilt was for a 50th anniversary gift and I was heart broken. I found a tiny brass heart button and I sewed it just over the hole and the anniversary couple never knew the reason for the tiny heart on their quilt.

I have, since that time, added a tiny heart button somewhere on all my quilts...
My sign for made with love..........and besides, my birthday is 2/14 so it has become my logo.....

MJ in NJ

Wow, I love the heart button idea. Reminds me of my little girl's dresses when she was 2, 3 and 4. Each one had a little bell sewed to the underskirt. So cute and special. I was born on memorial day, but red white and blue wouldn't work with some of my quilts, so maybe I'll use a tiny matching ribbon bow. j

good idea..any personal touch says a bit extra to the receiver.........

Ok, maybe it's the pregnancy hormones, but that letter had me bawling, lol

You are a very very patient person, I would have lost it the first time.

Seeing the back during the quilting....

I have heard quilters who care about the back, say they have a gooseneck lamp under the frame and take a mirror and check the back periodically to see how the stitches look on the back, or anything else......