Originally Posted by
thimblebug6000
No wonder so many of you get your work done by a LAQ, the rates are very low compared to rates around here. Here is just one shop (I've never used a LAQ) so don't know these people, but just to give you an example of the rates.
http://www.sparrowstudioz.com/longar...-services.html
Ha! I'm going to their Edmonton shop on Monday for a roadshow. I want to see if the APQS machines they sell are my next jump.
There's also another option, Sparrow offers it, I suspect others do too: rent the longarm and do it yourself. Now, that said, Sparrow for instance wants $30 an hour to rent, they provide thread. You have to take one of their classes to learn how to use the machines, and the class costs $150.
So. How fast to you have to finish a quilt to make that pay for itself vs sending it to even an expensive long arm quilter? Even discounting the cost of the class, you have to finish the quilt in 6 hours or less to be "ahead".
That's just paying for the equipment, and make no mistake, your long armer is either paying for her equipment, or had to at some point in the past. The TOL APQS Millenium is probably pushing $20,000 in Canada (before anyone calls me out on that, shipping / duty / exchange rate / Taxes etc on $17,900 and a pallet of boxes and other bits are going to be pricy) and how about that "quilt path" computerization?
Now, what's your time worth. Is your long armer at least as talented as you are at using the long arm? Should she be making what you estimated your hourly worth at?
How long does it take to load the quilt, and quilt it? I've done lap and crib sized on my short arm in about an hour and a half, and about 20 minutes to load it (I'm getting better, but as a novice, it would take me this long or more to load a queen even with leader grips.)
Originally Posted by
Peckish
Am I the only one who finds this ironic? First, we talk (complain, really) about how Muggles (non-quilters) expect us to do all this work to make a quilt, then want to pay a really low price for the product of our work. Then we turn around and do the exact same thing to our fellow quilters and longarmers.
Nope, you're not the only one. I think it's almost a double standard. I think it's an "end user syndrome". As the "seller" we want our product and skills to be recognised and valued for what they are. As the "buyer" we want the best "deal".