FAQs
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Thanks for your interest! You can sign up to become a finisher here.
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This is the most common question we’re asked. The answer is, there’s no set time. We match volunteer finishers who are local to the projects submitted, whenever possible. Once we look at the location, we look at the craft employed, skill level, and finishers’ preferences. Once all of these variables are taken into account, we look at who signed up first. This is the long answer. A finisher may get a project the same day they sign up, or they may wait months and months.
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Because we match projects and finishers first by geographic proximity, you can increase your chances of getting a project submitted near you by downloading our flyer and sharing it in your neighborhood. Either by paper or email, sharing our flyer with libraries, senior centers, yarn and fabric shops, cafes, cancer community centers, hospices, etc. lets people with projects know that Loose Ends Project exists. Download flyers here.
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To qualify to have your project finished by a Loose Ends volunteer, the following criteria must be met:
The original crafter must be deceased or unable to do handwork due to illness or disability.
The project must be partially begun (there are a few exceptions).
The project and its materials must be free of moths and moth eggs. No contaminated yarn will be accepted. No rotting materials will be accepted.
The project must be clean and not smell of mothballs or mold. If the project has been in a home with cigarette smoke, we will do our best to match their project to a finisher who doesn’t mind the smell.
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Any textile handwork is eligible to be finished - knit, crochet, sewing, quilting, mending, rug-making Tunisian crochet, embroidery, cross-stitch, needlepoint, weaving, etc.
More specialized crafts may take more time to match, and are more likely to need to go into the mail.
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The handwork involved in finishing your loved one’s project is free, but in those cases when the project needs to go into the mail, shipping charges are covered by the project owner (both ways). We try to match folks who live near one another so that shipping charges are minimized.
If extra materials are required to finish a project, JOANN will supply those at no cost, if they have it. If supplies need to be purchased, the cost is the responsibility of the project owner (not the finisher).
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Because Loose Ends finishers are volunteers, and because handwork takes time, it may be a while before you have your completed project back. Discuss this with your finisher before committing to work together to ensure that the timeline works for you both.
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We will do our best to accommodate as many types of craft projects as we can. We do not accept projects that are dirty, smelly, moldy, rotting, or that have been exposed to moths or moth eggs. We can accommodate most textile handwork projects, however, there are sometimes limitations with quilts. Learn more about our policy on quilt projects here.
We will not accept projects that families do not want back to keep.
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Yes! Go ahead and submit your project.
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The project owner is responsible for shipping both ways. We will always try to match a project to a qualified finisher who is geographically close in order to keep shipping charges low. If you are unable to pay shipping, please reach out to us here.
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Yes! If you are a finisher and your project is not a good fit FOR ANY REASON, we will reassign it to a new volunteer. We have tens of thousands of finishers waiting for projects, so it is never a problem to rematch a project.
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Please disclose this in your form and we will do our best to match the project with a finisher who doesn’t mind the smell.
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Yes! We currently have finishers from all over the world. We always try to match projects to qualified finishers geographically nearby to keep shipping charges down.
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Short answer: usually (if the original crafter left them behind). In the rare cases when there is not enough yarn or fabric or string to finish the project, we figure it out together. When there is no pattern, but a partial project, we ask our wider community of talented crafters for help, and so far, they’ve always come through with answers.
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If there is not enough material to finish a project, it is up to the project owner to acquire it. The situation may vary by project. Finishers can usually offer help in choosing the right materials to finish the job. If the needed materials are available at JOANN (our partners) they will ship the needed supplies to the finisher free of charge.
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Loose Ends will try to match finishers to all types of fiber-arts handwork projects, but quilts come with a couple of limits.
Quilt projects we always accept:
Piecing quilt tops
Quilt binding
Smaller hand and machine quilting projects (such as baby quilts and wall hangings)
Have a quilt top that requires batting and backing?
We can often accommodate big quilt jobs but it’s not a guarantee. Submit your project and we’ll do our best.
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We have new technology that allows finishers to create accounts, fill out their profile info, and make updates whenever they wish. Here’s the link.