merryj

Do any of you long arm quilt for others as a business? Can i ask how you started and average income? I am thinking of doing something like that as retirement income - but not sure if it is sustainable. thanks.

ckcowl

Quilting for customers can be a feast or famine type thing ( busy, busy through ( quilting season) then not much for a few months. It does depend on a lot of things. The ( market) in your area- are their a couple dozen long armors around you already? Is their a real need? How good are you?customers are going to want to see your work, know how long you have been doing it, word of mouth will be your best advertising. Do you do a lot of custom quilting? Do you have a fast turn around? To do it as a business you have to check on your local licensing requirements, fees, taxes, then there is marketing costs, how will you advertise? Word of mouth, do you belong to an encouraging guild? Do you already quilt for friends & family who think you should do this on a broader scale?

Ive been quilting for customers for about 15 years. It has paid for my new upgraded longarm machine and frame and provided us with lots of extra long weekends, concerts, get aways and certainly upped the gifts I give. I don’t depend on it as income I enjoy the extras it provides. Sometimes I go 2-3 months without a customer quilt ( gives me time to catch up on my own stuff)
i know longarm Quilters who have dozens of customer quilts stacked up - have 2-3 months or longer turn around times, are overwhelmed and quilting 10-16 hours a day 7 days a week and have learned to hate it, but it pays their bills. I decided from the beginning I didn’t want to go that route. I love when I get a customer quilt in, have a few long distance Quilters who mail their quilts to me, many locals. I tell people when they call if I already have one loaded & one waiting when they can bring theirs over. I do not let them stack up. I also set a deadline for getting holiday quilts finished.

Before putting yourself into a position of dependency do research and you kind of have to work up to it. I had a 5 year loan on my new machine, managed to pay it off in 3 but I had been quilting for customers for 6-7 years before my upgrade . It’s not an overnight successful business unless you already have quite a few customers and believe you are making enough to consider it a viable income.

Peckish

I have a retired friend who supplements her retirement income with quilting for others. She's been at it 10 years, is finally starting to get some traction and returning customers, and now has to move to be closer to her kids and adult grandkids. There were months when she'd quilt 3-4 quilts, and months where she'd have no business at all. She did a ton of charity quilting for her local guild before finally starting to get some customers. She has robotics and charged $.014 per square inch. She lives in a tiny town in a remote area of the state where there's not a lot of industry or commerce, so her pricing has to be lower. If she was in a major metropolitan area such as Portland, she could charge more ($.20/sq in) but of course she'd also have a lot more competition.

Another thing to consider is dealing with customers. For the most part, quilters are wonderful, but you still get the ones who will bring you quilts with horribly wonky seams and ruffly borders, then complain and refuse to pay when you can't "quilt that out".

bearisgray

How is your health/stamina?

From what I've heard, it can be tiring.

And - what is the quality of your work?

If I am going to send something out, I expect it to be good.

Even if only doing edge to edge pantographs (I think this is what they are) - I would expect the stitching to be even and the stitching would look good on both sides.

In my mind, there are longarmers that are artists and technicians, and then there are those that are technicians. And then there are the wannabes.

I am fine with having a technician do my longarming if he/she is good at it. By "technician," I mean someone that knows how to use the long arm well, and the stitching and pattern placement is done with some finesse. An allover edge to edge done well is better - in my mind - than a poorly done "free motion/custom quilted" job.

There are several people that I consider artists that frequently show their work on this board. Felinefanatic is the one that first comes to my mind. I know there are others.

The artists plan their designs ahead of time and may spend as much time on the quilting as the top maker did on the piecing.

What is your tolerance/ability for "quilting out" poorly made tops? (Mine is close to zero)

goldsberry921

I and a friend purchased a longarm about 3 years ago, due to (her) health reasons, we decided to sell it in order to purchase a sit down machine. When we first started our little longarm quilting business, we did it for the mere pleasure in having our own machine. With what little we've done, the machine has paid for itself. I've seen others here on the board that do outstanding work. Total admiration for the creativity put forth!

quiltedsunshine

It depends on where you live. In Utah, we have sooooo many longarmers, and they all have all the customers they can handle. We have one lady who only does pantographs, and she has a great business. So many have the computerized robotics -- I think that's the best way to do business with a longarm.

I have a longarm, but really don't like quilting for others. I'm just not very good with free-motion and don't have the robotics. I do better with rulers, but they take more time.

The going rate for an all-over edge to edge design is .015 per square inch. We have a couple quilters who charge by the hour at $25 per hour.

quiltingshorttimer

great advice from others, but here's my 2cents. I got my machine 6 years ago and hoped to make enough to pay for my own fabric purchases in retirement. I didn't really quilt for others for about 6 months as I was on that steep learning curve. One thing that helped me a lot was a local machine quilters guild where others were so willing to lend advice and be supportive.
It's definitely a feast or famine business--because of that I was told by a Gammill rep that in our area, depending on earning enough to pay off a big loan on a machine is always going to be iffy. In my area (KC region) there are many long arm quilters. Plus there are more and more quilters investing in their own sit-down or mid-arm set-ups it seems. And the addition of special rulers and feet for domestic machines has also cut into the business some. I agree that having robotics (I don't) seems to help both in quicker turn-around and allows the quilter to charge a little less thus increasing their business.
How to get customers? Through your guild(s); working with quilt shops that don't have their own long arm (I do some sample quilts for a shop in return for referrals and some credit at the shop); giving a discount to customers that refer new customers; etc. Having a presence as a company on social media helps--but you need to take the time to keep it updated or it's a hindrance.
You don't saw whether you already have a long arm or where you live. Location is always telling on what you can make--so locations have enough quilters to keep long arm quilters busy, others don't. Location also impacts how much you can charge and make $$. I'd suggest you talk with some long arm quilters in your area, see if there is a machine quilters guild, etc. That will give you a good idea for what you might face in your area.

Battle Axe

I bought my friend's long arm thinking it would supplement my income. After about the 3rd quilt I began to feel one hip going out. The answer is robotics where I don't have to stand a great deal. So far I haven't done that. I'm currently sending mine out.

KalamaQuilts

being in the market for a new quilter this thread interests me.
How will you get the word out?
I haven't got a clue how anyone would find a longarmer via facebook to begin with.
My last one I found by doing a longarm quilter plus my zip code on google. I only found one, but I know there must be more, why don't they have a simple webpage??
I don't belong to a guild, but wonder if they'd offer a list if I called someone or just be told someone's best friend? Cynical, but then I'm a cynical person.

In the beginning (20 years ago) I'd look at quilts hung in shops, now shops mostly do their own I think. I've also looked at local and county fairs, checking names on quilts. I've shipped quilts across the country and hand carried them.

How will you get the word out? I'm really curious!

bearisgray

I have also wondered "how to find a longarner?"

Some people are not willing to share the names of who they have do their quilting - especially if they have had to wait to get their own quilts done.