This exact thing happened to me also. Thankfully it was a busy print, I appliqued a circle of the same fabric over the hole and it was very hard to find the spot. I never did say anything to the quilter, I should have, but I figured what's done is done, now I have to fix it. I hope that you will be able to fix your quilt.

I found a small V-shaped snip in the border of a customer's quilt when I was quilting it - of course, it was the last border to get quilted. I took a picture of it and emailed it to her. I knew I hadn't cut the fabric, but I offered to have it stitched closed by a professional appliquer here in my town. It was less then 1/4" on each side of the V. She opted to do the repair herself.

I did cut one of my own quilts when snipping thread - nice little circle! I was so grateful the quilt was mine, but it still made me mad at myself. I am extremely careful since that accident.

As a "professional" longarmer, I would be extremely upset if I ruined a customer's quilt. I know the amount of money and time involved in every quilt...my quilts all have, literally, blood, sweat and tears invested in them! I had a longarmer ruin my very first quilt...that's why I bought a longarm 9 months after I learned to piece.

Quilty hugs!!

I would take another piece of border material and "patch" it with like thread. I made a mistake on a quilt and this is how I fixed it. Unless I tell you where the "patch" is, you really have to look for it! Good luck!

My response wasn't to the original problem, yes, things happen, but when it was brought to the LA's attention, she apparently didn't care and wasn't going to attempt to do anything about it. THAT is wrong and should be dealt with. Attitude is everything!! All she had to do was say she didn't know about it and then make suggestions to fix it, or offer to fix it, or even apologize which it seems she didn't.

so what happened to the lady who posted about this? Has she even been back on the forum?
I understand her frutstration about this. I would be livid that I hadn't heard back from the longarmer. CALL HER!
The longarmer should have responded better. Of course, we all make mistakes but when you are in business, it's up to you to keep your customers happy. Especially when you rip a hole in their quilt.
We bent over backwards in order to insure that our customers were happy with their quilts. If that meant taking the quilt back to put more quilting in the borders, we did it. If we had to rip quilting out cuz it looked yucky, we did it.
She should have communicated with her customer better.

Truth is a complete defense to libel. But in this particular case proving the truth might be hard, as if the longarmer denies having done the damage and the quilt was out of her hands and control, there isn't any actual evidence that she did it. I'd forget about publishing anything about the experience in writing as this might only cause more trouble. Word-of-mouth (sister of libel called "slander) is the same in terms of legal issues. Just be careful.

Dana

My sentiments also. Yes, she should try to make amends, but you said her quilting was okay, and it was an error that can be fixed. In the grand scheme of life, ill feelings are just not worth it.

Beth,
I really really like your avatar!

Well said...

I am sorry to hear about your quilt but in the "real world" it would be best to call her and work it out in person. Things are always best settled in person than on paper. There are a lot more important things in life and making it hard for the LA quilter is not one of them. Treat her like you would like to be treated.