You may not be able to see this quilting mistake – which is kind of the point of this post. I was sewing along and crossed right over into another heart with my stitching. From the front, you’d never know it was there if I didn’t point it out to you (go ahead and click on the photo to enlarge) and in the 2nd photo you can see what it looks like on the back.
A couple quilts earlier I got distracted and quilted over the same line in a pantograph – just a short section and you could see it if you knew to look for it but I still didn’t pull the stitches out.
I NEVER take out something like this and am curious how many of you always pick out your quilting mistakes?
How bad does a mistake have to be for you to pick out the stitches?
Keep in mind – I don’t quilt for hire but I do quilt for other people.
By the way, for those times when the stitches just HAVE to come out, Suzanne wrote a great article on frogging (rip it, rip it!) for MQ Resources. I don’t know if you have to be a member to read the article but trust me – that site has a LOT of great information – you want to be a member.
if it’s a show quilt or it’s a high contrast thread for a customer quilt i frog stitch. for anything else the mistake has to be pretty danged visible before i’ll rip out. i have been known to adjust the motif a bit from time to time to compensate for an oopsie though.
I would have left that. If it didnt fold over and bunch onto itself then no big deal to me.
I say what Suzanne says. “Can you see it from a galloping horse? Seriously. Take a step backwards.” I would leave it until I finished the whole quilt then if I could find this area again after walking away from it overnight I might fix it. Paying customer quilt I would fix it, charity quilt probable not.
If it were for a customer, I’d rip it. If it were for me, probably not.And you do NOT have to be a member to read the article itself. If you want to COMMENT on the article, you do have sign up for a forum account. Which is totally worth the effort. (In my humble opinion. LOL)
I would leave it. It has to very obvious for me to rip it out. If I were having machine issues and crossed over, then yes, I would take it out. My personal opinion is that we tend to be our own worst critics. The majority of the world doesn’t even notice the simple little mistake and are just happy to have something handmade.
I’m with you. I pull it out if I think the recipient will notice and will be bothered. Most quilts I make are for daily use and mistakes like that do not seem to bother anyone.
I agree, for a customer I would take it out, for anything else–leave it! Most quilts are used only from the top side, and it’s not easy to see there.
I would take it out. I could live with it being almost touching but when it crosses over I take it out.
My mistake has to be waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay bad for me to pick it out. If you couldn’t see it from the back of a horse galloping its heart out…wellllll then I leave it in and smile my behinny off that it’s finished. 🙂 dawn
If my threads get tangled and loopy, I take it out. However, once it’s washed and the batting shrinks, most other mistakes just disappear. A miracle wash!
I would not take it out! So far, all my quilting for others are gifts and my non-quilter friends can never find my boo-boos.
I agree with the others–for a paying customer..out it comes. Otherwise, it’s just part of the charm of a handmade quilt! 🙂 It’s funny that mistakes seem so glaring when you are doing them, but afterwards, you are hard pressed to find them again.
Leave it be. It is still a beautiful, warm quilt.
Yep…let it stay. It does not ‘hurt’ the quilt but gives it ‘character’! LOL.You are the only one who would notice anyway.
I certainly don’t see anyreason to take out any stitching on that! It looks fantastic. Since you asked, yes, I have taken out machine quilting on a small tapestry piece. I’d done stippling and didn’t like it so spent an afternoon taking it all out! Dumb is you ask me but that title fits me too.
Leave it, it is fine. I sometimes have tension issues, so frog it. I am very basic though, & very cautious, so I dont have your vast knowledge.
What mistake??!! I’d accept it with no complaints.
I agree with most everyone else here. If it is for a paying customer or you want to enter it into any shows, then mistakes should be frogged. If is just for my own use, family, or charity then a little mistake like this is going to be left. After all, we are handcrafting works of art, not mass producing them in a factory. Just adds some character!
For a customer, frog. For me, ponder awhile, if its visable, it will bug me until i do… and then its been binded! ( ask me how I know)
I try to take them out as soon as I DO them, because they will add up otherwise, and affect my own attitude. Now, they have to be a visible mistake. I’m not real fussy, but also don’t want to feel careless.
I don’t frog unless it’s absolutely horrid. I did it last on the christmas sampler because the tension was off and once the machine was fixed it re-did that part. But other than that if I make a mistake I put a special marked pin in the area and keep going. Then come back later and fix the area. This is usually only for places where the stitch got too large, or it’s really bad. Seriously has to be really bad before I frog!
i’m trying to get over my perfectionist tendencies…but to be honest, i’d probably fix it.
I would only pick pick out a tension related mistake…