Question about LA quilting
 

I send nearly all of my quilts to the same LAer I have used for years; she does good work and is conveniently located from where I live. However, one thing over the years has bothered me considerably. When I am binding a quilt she has done for me, invariably I find several knots/tangle/loose ends of threads in the quilting. I can't just cut them off lest the quilting unravel. I end up taking the quilt back to the quilter for her to deal with it - which she does. But it is frustrating to me to always have to make another trip as well as worrying that I am missing some areas that need addressing. My question is - shouldn't she be inspecting the quilt backs to pick up on these things before I pick up the quilt? And lest you think I am being really demanding, I could live with an occasional missed tangle but when it occurs regularly and often multiple times on each quilt, I am bothered. Any advice? I hate to change quilters - we are friends as well as having a business relationship. But this is getting to be a real problem.

My LAer always has my quilt done to perfection. I've never had one tangle of threads or knots or loose ends. I always clip any threads on my top on both sides and go over it with a lint brush and iron it really well so she gets it in perfect condition and she returns it in the same condition. You should get yours back in the same condition. When you go to pick it up, maybe you should inspect it at her house before you pay for it and leave it there if you see anything wrong with it at that time.

You may want to find someone else. I would never give a quilt back to a customer with loose threads on the back. I hate to criticize someone else's work but if this has happened more than once, and you've returned it to her to fix, it seems to me that she's had fair warning that you were not entirely satisfied.

If you can't find someone else, then schedule some time when you pick up the quilt to go over the completed job with her before you take it home. You really shouldn't have to do this, and it is an extra trip if there is something wrong, because you will leave it and pick it up later. I would tell her that this is what you are going to do the next time a quilt is done. Hopefully, she will take the initiative and look it over first if she knows that you are going to do this. Oh, and by the way, DO NOT pay her until it's done to your satisfaction!

I never have this problem. I always quilt my own quilts and am able to find anything I don't like before it is finished. I take pride in my work and I have to be happy with it. I have given most of my quilts away, never sell them, or I keep them.
After the first maybe the second time she should check before you pick up.

if you have used her for years and consider her a friend- why don't you simply ask her when she calls you to let you know the quilt is finished if she would please go over it & take care of these before you come to pick it up? seems like if she does it willingly when you take it back it would be easy enough to simply ask her to do it ahead of you picking it up....communication is the key to any good relationship/business or friendship-

IF you don't discuss it outright, you can't expect the matter to be corrected. Can you?

IF you are worried about your being friends coming to an endwith the discussion, then is it a friendship? or merely a business acquaintance?

IF you aren't wanting to move on to someone else, then only you can to decide what you are willing to accept (or not), as acceptable.

Good Luck!

She may be making an assumption based on a friendship that "details" like that don't matter and you can make the final "adjustments", and might be giving some "assumed" discount based on the friendship and not going the full distance. Is this the same level of quality/price she is doing for others? If it was me and I was on either end of the relationship, a frank conversation is in order. A true business person always would rather have feedback than loose a customer without knowing why.

Well, you all are right. I will take the suggestion of asking her to check the back of the quilt thoroughly before I pick it up next time. And no, she is not giving me any kind of discount based on friendship; her prices are, I have learned, at the top end of what LAers around here charge. Thanks for all the replies!

Good luck in your endeavor. Let us know if the problem was solved.