Is My Quilt Good Enough for Longarming?
If you love your quilt enough to want to treat it to longarming, then yes, it is absolutely good enough. Honestly, in my experience, if you are conscientious enough to worry about it, you are ahead of the game and your quilt is just fine. That’s really all there is to it. End of blog post.
Just kidding - those of you who know me know I’m a talker and always have more to say. But before I say all those things, I truly mean it. If you want your quilt longarmed, find a longarmer you love, and go for it. Myself, and the majority of the quilters in the longarm community, rarely turn away quilts. If we feel we need to, we are able to do it a way that is constructive and helpful so you are sure to continue quilting and not be discouraged. After all, your business is just as important to us as your quilt is to you.
What can you do to boost your confidence about sending a quilt?
There are so many things!
Get recommendations from friends you trust. Their feedback and experience is most likely to be unfiltered and honest. Here is a link to my post that chats about ways to find the right longarmer for you and a list of other longarmers I love. Finding a longarmer that can be a part of your quilting circle will help develop a relationship that inspires confidence and community so you feel safe sending your quilts to them.
Research the longarmer you hope to use. Many of us have websites that outline how to prep your quilt and what we need to set us up for success. TCQ, for example, encourages you to prioritize pressing your seams and making sure your backing is big enough.
Reach out! Give us a call or shoot us an email and let us know what questions and worries you have. It’s always fun to talk shop with customers, and if it doubles as a Q&A that gives clarity or reassurance then it will be a helpful conversation for us both.
Don’t hold your own work against the photos we present on the website or social media. We often have the luxury of choosing the best photos of the best quilts to promote our work which does not reflect the average quilt that comes through the studio.
Understand up front that adjustments that might be necessary once your quilt has been looked over by the longarmer. Many of us will reach out with questions or concerns once the quilt is in our hands. Most often that conversation is about problem solving and setting appropriate expectations, not shaming or judging. For instance, if your quilt has some fullness in it, I might give you a heads up that there is the possibility of some pinches or puckers. Or maybe your backing isn’t square and I’ll need to trim it up to be able to use it. If after we discuss everything you are okay with the potential outcomes and potential extra charges then we are all on the same page and can move forward.
What makes a quilt ‘good enough’?
I’d like to welcome you to the Galloping Horse Quilt Club.
It is said amongst quilters that if you can’t see a mistake on a quilt from a galloping horse, then it isn’t worth worrying about. I don’t have a horse so I usually just have my kids run across the yard with my finished tops to look them over. HA!
I realize not everyone can buy into this. My own tolerance for mistakes is about as tall as I am. If I can see a mistake when I’m standing above my quilt I know it will bother me over time and I make the effort to fix it. If I can’t see it from that height it doesn’t exist. It has taken me years to reach this level of comfort both with my skill and my mistakes. Everyone has their own level of tolerance for mistakes and is at a different point in their quilting journey. And every quilt has a different purpose. The one you make for your mother-in-law might need a different level of perfection from a quilt on which you tried a new technique and will gift to your neighbor’s dog. It is not for me, or any other longarmer, to judge. You are the only one who can decide if a quilt is ‘good enough’.
I think I can illustrate this part of it with an example of a real customer I have, let’s call her Elaina. Elaina has been sending me quilts for about 3 years now. Her first quilts, skill-wise, were atrocious. Nothing was ever pressed, seam allowances so inconsistent there were often holes in it, not one quilt laid flat, not one backing was square. One of the quilts had a quarter of it sewed on backwards, one was a legit trapezoid shape. But we worked through every one for her, chatting about potential problems and being okay with the imperfections both before and after the quilting process. She clearly sews because she loves it, not because it has to be perfect. It’s a freedom in her creativity I admire very much. Every quilt she sends she has enjoyed working on. Every quilt she sends supports my family and my team. Every quilt she sends is ‘good enough’.
Are longarmers judging the quilts they get?
Will you judge mine? Will you judge ME???
Look at this person - does she look like someone who can judge anybody for anything? HA!
I kid, I kid. But let’s be honest. I’m not blind to the elements of your quilt that are going to impact how I need to do my job and the end result. I do need to objectively evaluate your quilt because everything about it will influence how I approach the project. Not every quilt is ready to go on the machine as is and sometimes we have to pivot, make adjustments, and talk it out. Finding the problem areas is a necessary step in the longarming process.
But evaluating is different than judging and the quality of your sewing will in no way impact how I will treat you and how earnestly I will work on your quilt. All joking aside, I will absolutely not judge you. Myself and my whole team are nothing but grateful for you and your support of our small business. (Plus, you should see some of the quilts I have made over the years - yikes!) So no, there will be no judgement at TCQ.
Why do some longarmers turn quilts away?
There are several, often intertwined, reasons a longarmer might turn away a quilt; bad customer interactions, protection of their own reputation, insecurity, inexperience, and a legacy of gatekeeping. Not all of it comes from a bad place and I believe it is worth the effort to try to understand as you consider using a longarmer.
Back in the day, using a longarm machine to finish a quilt was not nearly as universally accepted as it is now. In the more hard core quilting communities there was a feeling you had to quilt your quilt yourself or have it hand quilted. Hiring a longarmer was reserved for special quilts that needed elaborate custom work. In this environment, longarmers felt they had to produce amazing results. Here is a quick illustration of something that was expressed to me once by a longarmer who came out of this way of thinking: If Judy brought Betty a not-so-great quilt the end result might have puckers, skipped stitches, and other undesirable results, despite Betty’s best efforts. Judy doesn’t care, she is thrilled and shows off that quilt to her whole guild, telling everyone Betty quilted it. Whether Betty worked a miracle on the quilt or not, she thinks the guild members will only sees the imperfect end result and judge her on this one quilt. Yikes! You can imagine how Betty would shy away from quilts she deems trouble, AND how this in turn makes it seem like longarmers are the gatekeepers of what quilts are worthy of such services. What a tough spiral to break! Luckily, these attitudes have changed immensely as longarming has become more popular and less formal. Plus, we all know that quilters tend to lift each other up, appreciate each others’ efforts, and meet each other where they are in their quilting journey.
Just like in any business, some longarmers change their policies after bad experiences with customers. Regardless of who was right or wrong, who made the mistake or who didn’t make the effort to fix it, some longarmers decide it is better to refuse problematic projects rather than risk dealing with potentially upset customers.
Some longarmers are new to the business, only take on quilts until they get their machine paid off, or just want to enjoy longarming on their own terms. Sometimes they aren’t experienced enough or just don’t want the hassle of problematic quilts, so they pick and choose what they take on. Bottom line - they are quilting on the level that works for them and meets their own personal goals. If someone like this decides not to work on your quilt, it is probably ultimately a good thing and that particular project will be better off in someone else’s hands.
I share all of this not to enforce the worry of being turned away, but to assure you it isn’t about YOU or your quilt, it is about many other things. Understanding this will hopefully bring you some comfort.
Has TCQ ever refused a quilt?
In my own beginning I had a lot to learn and I was cautious in regards to the situations in which I stretched my skill. If I was worried I might get it wrong on a special quilt, I would be super honest about it and recommend a more experienced longarmer. Over time I learned to know what to expect in various situations, how to best communicate that to my customers, and now I can let the customer decide whether or not we move forward with potentially problematic quilts.
Nowadays there are a handful of reasons we would have to turn a project away. They are mostly physical limitations or boundaries that help protect our machines and the other quilts trusted to us.
Extraordinarily thick fabrics, buttons, or other embellishments that are too thick for the machines to pass over.
Quilts that have come from a home in which someone smokes, or in which there are other strong odors that could impact the other quilts in my care.
Quilts, backings, or battings that have been spray basted. The adhesive is damaging to the machines.
Our biggest machine is 120” wide so the largest quilt we can manage is 112” on it’s short side.
In Conclusion
Whew - I said a lot. And maybe got a little off track. If you stuck the whole post out, good for you! All that is really left to say is go for it. Find a longarmer who can be a trusted part of your quilting circle. Use them like an experienced quilty friend - one in which you discuss projects, possible solutions, and work it out as a team. If you want your quilt to have the full spa treatment, there is a longarmer out there who can make it happen. Your quilt is absolutely good enough.
-Lilo and the TCQ Team
