If I was spending money to have a special quilt longarmed, I would want to see samples of the person's work.

I would consider giving the person tops to practice on that I did not want back.

If you choose to do quilts for others and the above comments about skill level are very good things to consider, then you will also have to manage the business side of it, keeping track of income and expenses for tax purposes etc. I was close to being sold on buying one last fall but decided against it because I decided I would rather not give up the space and money. Since I do a lot of baby quilts and other smaller projects I decided to rent time on a machine for the occasional larger quilt that I want to finish. Just some other things to consider.

I suggest you look at pre-owned long arm set ups. That way, if you do decide to make the purchase and jump into quilting for $$, it won't take as long to recoup your outlay.

Completely agree with the suggestion that you do some practice quilts before you hang out your quilting shingle. Two reasons for that suggestion: 1) Even on a frame, quilting is a lot of work. 2) While quilting your own quilts is fun, quilting for others is that 4 letter word: WORK! You have to get it right, or very close to right, the first time or you will be spending a lot of time ripping quilting out.

I do my own quilts and charity quilts. No money exchanges hands for the quilting. That way my schedule is just that, my schedule. I have control over my life, if you know what I mean.

Good luck I wish you luck.

Welcome to this board.

Thank you for all the replies. I am comfortable with the business side of the deal. We have a small camper rental business we run.

We have done a quilt in the past where the person insisted on paying us for doing the job. We just offered to help finish their great aunt's quilt she started before she died. They actually paid us better then one would pay for a standard edge to edge design. It took us a bit longer than a long arm takes but we did not take that job on to make any money.

There will be lots of practice as we are very concerned we do not want to mess up a quilt someone took time piecing. We are kindof perfectionists and it tends to make our quilts take longer than one should. Reading some more forums and books, I think the free motion quilt job would be for the person looking for more of the old time, not store bought look and the computer design would be more for the person who likes the perfect circles or feathers that a machine can give.

We usually have two or three quilts going at a time. We usually make baby quilts for expecting mothers. Piece together the tops with some kind of embroidery accent. We have done a number of bed spreads as well.

I agree with letting the potential customers know our skills and abilities up front and adjust our pricing based on what we have to offer.

We will be checking into the local quilt guilds.

Thanks again

success with a long arm business depends on so much--all the above posters have pointed out important considerations. I'd add that where you live also makes a difference-in my area (just my county) there are 7 of us that quilt for others--we are rural county so that is a lot of quilters! and that doesn't count the 6 others just in my guild that quilt only for themselves, plus 4 shops within 20-30 min. drive that quilt for others too. My point is some areas are very saturated with quilters. Your area also determines the price you can set and actually have interested customers--while the type of quilting, # of thread changes, use of rulers, stencils, etc all will play a part, your location and what the area will support makes a big difference too. And please know that quilting on a long arm frame is much different from moving the quilt through a machine--so the learning curve will be there as it was for all. and since most want their quilt done quickly, sometimes that "fun" part of being a quilter gets put on the backburner while you quilt the "must dos". Good luck!