I've often wondered this also. I think there are a lot of people out there who either don't know how to market themselves, or don't care to.

Sharyn, I know a guy in Kelso, a friend of mine has used him for at least 5 years that I know of. If you're interested, I'll PM you his info.

Thanks - at present I do not have a long arm - just a thought that it may be something that I would enjoy. I appreciate all the information and things to think about!

I've been longarm quilting for 15 years , Quilting for others 13 years . It can be a hand full some times , the backing not large enough , or the top is wavy . it's alot to think about .
Good luck

I don't quilt for the public but the going rate here is a penny per square inch. Some shops charge more but that is the average price. Some charge for thread and pressing, etc. You can only be competitive if you know what others in your area are doing. It's a big decision, but not one that you can't change your mind about down the road.

I remember reading on a LA-ers site once, that edge to edge was her bread and butter, and freehand work was her passion financed by her edge to edge! Her meaning was that a Lot of time and prep work goes into custom quilting, and most people won't/can't afford to pay for the time put into custom quilts.
You would have the basic investment of the machine and robotics, then the patterns...lots and lots of patterns..and they are anywhere from 15-25 dollars each on average...try getting more than a couple customers to want the same pattern! You will have lots of money invested..you just need to sit down and crunch the numbers and see if it's something that you could make money doing.Only you can decide if it would be a viable source of income in your retirement .

...It truly is feast or famine.........and it does take time to build up a customer base.......I want time to do my own piecing, quilting and embroidery....... I want a fast (less than 2 weeks - frequently within same week), turnaround time for my customers..........When 4:30 or 5PM rolls around, it is time to spend with Hubby for the rest of the evening............ There are several other long arm quilters within 20 miles of me, so I needed to get the word of mouth referrals going, and I left business cards with my local Joann's and local quilt shops, which had them out to their customers who request info on longarmers.

I know several LAs in my guild that do it for money and do make a nice income. They all have one thing in common, their work is very good, they use high quality supplies and do custom quilting. They all go to LA classes across and out of state to learn new techniques. It's a loved passion for them not a job. I would say join a guild and start quilting other members quilts. Your work gets shown at Show and Tell, entered at local shows and fairs, and your name gets known for doing machine quilting.

I have a natural talent for drawing and love to do freehand quilting. Spent 4 years practicing my longarm skills, and getting to know my machine, which was quite a learning curve...tension was a huge problem at the beginning and now that I have mastered this, I am very comfortable doing work for others now. I charge a minimum of $50 for any quilts that are less than a crib size, ie., set of 4 placemats, or 2 king size shams - as I can complete these in less than an hour. I pick and chose those quilters whom I do any work for. I know enough quilters and I refer these
to other longarmers as I do not want a full time job with my lifestyle - we travel for 4-6 months of the year.

as a long arm quilter, I get many referrals from a LQS, so definitely ask at yours. Also, if your state has a guild network or group that lists all the guilds in the state, you may find a machine quilter's guild listed, many members will be professional quilters. Ask friends who quilts for them; go to local shows and read the tags for who the quilter is--then google that quilter's name (often professionals will list the name of company along with their name). Most specific long arm machines have groups on FB, we sometimes see posts from people needing a quilter there. Plus if you type in professional quilter or long arm quilter in the search engine of FB it will bring up several pages. (I personally don't do Instragram or SnapChat, etc so don't know how those work). Hope that helps!

What brand name sit down machine did you purchase? Are you happy with it? I am investigating the sit down machines and would love to know your feelings and the reason(s) you purchased the particular machine that you did purchase. Thank you in advance! :)