sewbizgirl

Think of all the soldiers who get her quilts... It was good of you to confront her, as who knows how many bad quilts she has done. Each one goes to a person who deserves the best we can give. I think I'd take the sts out myself and send it to the person here who offered to quilt it for you. Your refusal to let the original quilter work on it again is a statement in itself.

People should always give their best work when they donate quilts. ESPECIALLY to our service men and women!

sval

Tell me more about the "electric razor" ripper you mentioned. I started picking it out last night and got totally frustrated. Obviously bad quilting is tough to get out as well. Right now I'm of the mindset to just put it away somewhere till I can stand to look at it. At one point yesterday I was ready to cut it up in little pieces.
I could make another one in the time it will take to pick this out and be a whole lot more enjoyable.

Billi

This is the one I have I love it and use it way more than I like to admit due to my own errors :-)
http://www.nancysnotions.com/product...uick+ripper.do
others on the board have purchased beard trimmers and have been very pleased with them.

Also great job on your email very nicely said good luck getting it completely resolved to your satisfaction.

Bneighbor

I have this quick ripper and it does a very nice job. It takes a little time to get use to the position, speed, and tension you use, but does go quickly. Took the entire edge seam out of a king sheet (to replace the elastic out of an almost NEW set). It was done in less than 15 minutes! (And I was talking on the phone while doing it!)

quiltingshorttimer

If you use one of the electric seam rippers, I'd suggest you lay the backing side down (since the thread is already lose there) and have someone help you carefully pull back the batting/top while you give the thread/backing a "buzz cut". On those spots where she traveled back over the quilting, you may have to do some picking with a traditional seam ripper to get it out.

So sorry this happened to you. As a long armer that has been working less than a year now, I also started with donation quilts, and still get plenty to work on. Most I tried a panto on and that usually worked well. While it sounds like your quilt was great (hope to see pictures), I was given a couple that have been nothing but headaches--one the backing was not square and once squared it was too small; one the whole quilt was not squared and a panto would just not work; one the blocks were so unsquared--and even with lose seams in a couple of places--that I ended up doing custom work and taking wayyyy too much time to complete. That being said, I don't blame you for being upset. As a quilter I would appreciate knowing if someone is unhappy with my quilting and giving me a chance to "do over". If you don't long arm, please know that tension is always a much bigger deal with these machines than our domestic machines. And if your long armer is trying to do this for a business, donation quilts do tend to be given less time, and thread, because its very easy to be inundated with charity quilts when folks find out you will do them. I know one long armer(thank goodness she's very fast and also has a computerized machine) that has done about 60 charity quilts in less than a year--she's realizing that she must cut back as it's taking time away from her paid customers.

having picked out an entire charity quilt that I was unhappy with the results(tension, quilt not square, etc) I will tell you that it took two nights in front of the tv in my easy chair--much shorter time than the piecing although no picnic!

Ripped on Scotch

As a longarmer, I would want you to contact me. if you don't like my work then tell me so I can fix it. Longarming is a referal business.... if someone says something negative it effects their business. You should contact the person first and see if she will help fix the issues.

Onebyone

What bothers me about this is she either knew the quilting was bad and thought it didn't matter or she never checked her work when finished. I doubt that. What quilter finishes a quilt and never looks at it, if nothing else then to admire it? She knew but just wanted to get it done and out of her way.

sval

That looks like what I use to cut my husband's hair. I have an extra. I wonder if it would work.

feline fanatic

Yes it is but quilting with bad tension is not tough to get out so I have a feeling the tension was maybe not off??

Peckish

Exactly what I was thinking. Maybe take her up on her offer to rip out the quilting, but I'd take it somewhere else for finishing.

I've ripped the quilting out of quilts a few times. I guess you could say I'm a professional ripper - I've done it for hire. I found the easiest and fastest method is the one using a razor blade and "skinning" the quilt. I've never nicked the top or backing - however the batting is fair game! If you're patient, detail-oriented, careful, and have a very sharp blade, it can be done. In my opinion, getting thousands of tiny threads off the top and backing when you're done is the worst part.