kluedesigns

you'd be able to sell your work without any problems. if you've built up a stash of quilts that you'd be willing to let go you should get a booth at an art fair.

kluedesigns

fyi - i consider starred and feathered an original art quilt.

you can use traditional blocks and combine them in a new and unique way and consider it an original work.

you could copy write that pattern, publish it, and sell it for $15 per pattern and people will pay you.

some people can sew and follow a pattern but they just can't deal with design and math to develop there own.

when i went to the PA quilt show i was chatting with a lady in the shop that has to follow a quilt book to the letter. if the book has 2 quilts she can make with the exact same fabric she'll buy it.

she lacked the ability to choose different fabrics or alter a quilt design.

you could totally sell that pattern to the public - its just stunning.

lyndawn

People are under the assumption that "Amish" means "Better Quality". I live about an 45 min from a huge Amish community. One of my favorite quilt stores is there. I've looked at their quilts and found more imperfections than I would let pass in one of mine. I've also seen them using a machine. The store I go to sells the quilts for at least $1200. No special patterns or fabrics and many of them are there on consignment. I sometimes wonder if just putting a store in Amish Country means instant sales.

They are in no way superior and not worth anymore than one of ours.

Lynette

littlehud

I've noticed that too. People are using it as a catch phrase. The Amish quilt are wonderful and some people are latching on to that.

gcathie

This is true the word "Amish" is what sells.....I too live near Amish towns and sell my things there....I too have seen the ladies use sewing machines.....and when they quilt it is like a quilting bee....they have seems like ten people surrounding the strechers and all are sewing...hence the different size in stitches.....:-)....They are pretty but the same designs over and over.....but they make there money from doing other peoples quilts .....when you get that many setting around a quilt it would go fast.....maybe we need to bring the bee back into our homes....just food for thought ...:-).....any way my stuff goes to the basement where no one goes because it is done on the machine.....ahhh life isn't fair.....Oh they also claim ...if it is hand quilted it is Amish when I did it and I'm not Amish....what a kick.....:-).....Life is such a Beautuful thing.....:-)

Tippy

OK.. now for my 2 cents.. I too have lived near Amish communities.. there must be varying degrees of faithfullness to the old ways as the Amish in the area of my hometown do not use sewing machines.. all of their work is by hand.. needle and thread. An Amish quilt there indicates all cotton, generally black and bright or sometimes pastel colors.. no prints. Also different regions will use or not use varying colors.. some don't use green. Designs are usually fairly simple and geometric. There are also Mennonites who do use machines and might use some patterned fabric. As far as putting on a cap and having a picture taken.. I hate to tell you, but true Amish, fundamentalist, if you will, do not allow pictures to be taken, that would be a graven image and against their faith. Does this mean that all Amish quilts are superior.. heck no.. I've seen some I wouldn't want to claim either. However most of the ones I've seen for sale were of excellent quality.
I've sold a few things. I had a 36"x45" wall hanging all stitched by hand (needle and thread) and I charged $250. That was in the 80's. If I was to piece and quilt a full sized quilt to sell of a "common" pattern I wouldn't consider it for less than $1,000. I work full time and my free time does not come cheap.

alaskasunshine

In 1998 we were in Shipshewana Indiana and my husband took me quilt shopping to buy me an Amish quilt! Much to our shagrin as we drove out of the touristy area we hit the country roads, where I wanted to go to see the real Amish and to our dismay we saw the darling horse-n- buggy parked next to their Caddy'd. I am not kidding! House after house that was the case. I was so crushed.

We did drive a found several places selling their handy crafts. My husband bought me a very pretty quilt there. It is machine pieced and hand quilted. Not at all solid fabrics. This is floral. It is a log cabin. I don't remember what he paid but I love that we shared this memory together. He knows I was totally facinated by their ways of life, and was there to see my disappointment.

I have by choice never sold a quilt. I choose to give them out of love. Only a fellow quilter knows what goes into our works of love. I did hwever have a business of Stained Glass years ago and did very well. Somehow giving is different. In my heart at least.

Our quilts are just as precious as the next persons, no noubt in my mind or heart.

mimisharon

I have never sold a quilt either, I've allowed some that ordered special fabric to contribute their own choice of cotton fabric but the labor and love was all mine to give. I so agree with you Alaskasunshine! I wouldn't know where to begin to put a price on my handwork, machine piecing, quilting, or any of the rest. I've got to have a love of someone to be able to do the work for them.

That's not to say that I won't sell some in the future, when I have time to do nothing but sit at the sewing machine. But for now, my late hours after Roy goes to bed and my weekends are the best I have of time!

Dragonomine

Living in Pennsylvania, it's commonplace to see Amish just about every day you go shopping. I used to work at Joann Fabric and the ladies were always in there getting fabric. Yes, they were getting prints. And yes, they were wearing prints. Same thing in Walmart and grocery stores.

Most drive plain black trucks or vans. Of course you still run into some buggies every now and then. As for them not wanting to get their picture taken, they must have forgotten to tell all the ones around here because I see them in the newspaper and on tv all the time. (right now they are seling fireplaces that they made. Very nice, actually)

But it's not just quilts. It's the same thing with the hand made furniture. You see it at craft shows. There will be duplicate things, one made by amish, one not. Guess which ones sell firsst at a higher price?

dojo36

this quilt i made totally on the machine. i did not do the quilting, i had it done but i figure i've got about $500 in the quilt and i would have a hard time letting it go for even $2,000. i think there's a difference in what part of the country we live in as to how much we could get for our quilts.