Saturday, November 15, 2014

Can We Talk?




Does anyone else have this problem other than me?  I've never seen a reference to it elsewhere.  You're looking at the back of a quilt I had quilted by a well-known long arm quilter. From the first picture you can see what at first glance looks like a smudge or stain.  On closer examination, it's clearly a bunch of thread trapped between the backing and the batting!  The first time this happened I was in a panic until I realized what it was.  The problem is not always easily solved.  In this case I threaded a large needle hoping the know would 'catch' on the offending thread clump.  It did and I managed to slowly get the green thread out without leaving any damage to the quilt.
Another time I had a long length of red thread that I never got out.  I just ended up moving it under a seam using a bamboo skewer!  I've had this happen to me there times, all with three different long arm quilters!  Am I just unlucky, or is this a common problem that no one notices or talks about???  I'd love to know!

Thanks for stopping by, I'd love it if you left a comment!

4 comments:

Cascade Quilts said...

I've seen mention of it before - never had it happen to me luckily. The 'fix' I have seen though - is a teeny crochet hook inserted between the weave to pull it out.....

Marianne said...

Thanks, Karin. Now why didn't I think of that?!

marilyn said...

your post is exactly why I don't long arm professionally. People expect to get back a perfect quilt when they pay big money. I'm sure it was a stray thread either on the quilt top when you gave it to the long armer, or from the room somewhere in the room. We all have them if we sew. There's just no way to keep them off the quilts or off us. I'm constantly picking threads off myself when I'm out in public. It's part of sewing. I'm glad you found a solution to getting the thread out of the quilt.

kathy-o said...

As a long-arm quilter I see this a LOT! Because we can't see between the batting & backing, these stray threads get missed. I can catch them if they're between the top & batting, though. Your solution is great - it's a pain, but it works!