In this follow-up to Monday’s post on quality control, I’ll look at how people in every part of our industry can work to improve the declining quality in our hand-painted needlepoint canvases.
Designers & Distributors
The biggest burden in quality control falls on the copyartists, their service providers, the designers, and distributors. This segment of the industry is responsible for providing shops and ultimately the consumer with beautiful accurate canvases and stitch guides.
While each part needs to check for quality and accuracy, how this is done changes.
Copyartists: You are the first line of defense for quality. You have the master, do you check each new canvas against it for accuracy? If there is a problem, do you do it over?
Service providers: Do you have full-size, accurate copies of every canvas your company paints? Do you use them to check the work of each artist for accuracy?
Designers: You know what the canvas should look like, do you have full-size, accurate pictures of every canvas? Do you carefully check every canvas that comes to you? Do you return ones that are incorrect? Do you pay for merchandise of poor quality?
Distributors: Often you have bought a line from a designer that is retiring, did you get sets of masters for yourself? If the line was already out of business when you bought it, did you get masters and do you have reference copies of each of them? Is part of your quality control process checking each canvas for accuracy? Do you pay for canvases without checking? Do you return incorrect canvases?
Shops
Check canvases and stitch guides when they come in. Is the canvas correct without obvious flaws? Does it match the picture in the stitch guide? Can a stitcher complete the canvas from the stitch guide (in other words is it complete?)
When there is a quality problem, notify the designer or distributor immediately and ask for a replacement. If the stitch guide is incomplete ask for corrections, additional pictures, or additional material.
Your reputation as a shop rides on the quality of your product. Selling a poor product may lose you customers. If you check first, you can prevent much of the problem.
Consumers
If the other areas of the industry take quality control seriously, we should not have to suffer from poorly done canvases. Even so, things will happen and we may buy a canvas with problems.
In the store: If you see a canvas with obvious problems, point it out to the shop right away. If you want this canvas, let them know what is wrong and ask that a new, correct canvas be ordered for you.
Soon after you get home: Know the return policy of your shop. Many shops do not allow returns on canvases. If this is the case for you, you will need to figure out how to work with the canvas. If you can work around the problem do, but let the shop know about the quality issue with this canvas so they can alert the designer or distributor. If you cannot work around the problem and the shop accepts returns, return the canvas and let the shop know why you are returning it. If the shop does not accept returns, let them know about the problem so they can take it up with the designer.
If it’s been in your stash awhile: You may not remember where you got it, or the designer may have retired or gotten a distributor. If the canvas is old you will not be able to return it. In this case I would go to my LNS because I have a relationship with them. Show them the canvas and explain the problem. Ask them to contact the designer on your behalf to let them know about the problem. Ask them if they have some ideas for fixing it. If you do not have an LNS, contact the designer directly. Most have contact information on their websites.
It’s a cliche, but improving the quality in our canvases requires attention and commitment from every part of our industry. Without that, how many people stop stitching in frustration?
About Janet M Perry
Janet Perry is the Internet's leading authority on needlepoint. She designs, teaches and writes, getting raves from her fans for her innovative techniques, extensive knowledge and generous teaching style. A leading writer of stitch guides, she blogs here and lives on an island in the northeast corner of the SF Bay with her family
Marilyn Young says
Thank you for addressing this issue in such detail and your step by step instructions of the people to deal with.
Unfortunately, it is frustrating and you do lose total confidence in the needlepoint store you have made the purchase from.
If needlepoint stores do not wish to make the effort to deal with these types of issues, they surely must expect to lose the business of the customer who gets shortchanged.