I have bought a new tin lizzie 18 setup on a gracie frame. haven't gotten it yet but i'll be doing some quilts for others and charging for it. there's only one other lady in this town that does this. she charges 1 and a half cents per square inch, charges for thread and batting. she is excellent. what should i charge starting out? i don't want to undercharge or overcharge. i've done stippling on my janome 6600 and do good. i'm going to make a few demo quilts first of course and maybe a couple for friends at no charge just to get some practice. i'm really excited to get it, but would like to get some pointers and advice from others that quilt for profit. i need to supplement my social security and i do so enjoy all about quilts. also my name is Donna - can anyone think of a clever name for my business. like my friend who owns lqs, her name is Betty, thus the name of the lqs is: Betty's Bobbin Box.

Just some advice about supplementing your income.........CASH ONLY, no checks, money orders, or paypal.

Billy

gotcha, intended to do that.

Try to offer designs the other quilter doesn't if that is possible. I would price the same as the other quilter until I built up a good customer base. Good luck and start a blog and show your work, many longarmers get most of their business through their blogs.

the other lady is the best and i don't imagine there is anything or any design she can't do. and how do i start a blog?? duh

Is this rascal tied into a computer somehow to get the patterns that your quilting?

Billy

no not tied to computer, it comes with a few pantographs (kinda like a stencil) and has a lazer light to follow along on them. and more are available to purchase too. it has the stitch regular on it too. if you speed up, it speeds up, if you slow down, it slows down - so you always get uniform stitches. i'm excited to get it, should be about a week or 10 days.
donna

Sounds really nice!!!

I was looking in one of my quilters magazines and I saw where one was tied to a computer for the designs. It seems like they wanted close to $10,000 for it, but it included the laptop with the software loaded and ready to go.

I was thinking about building me one using an industrial machine for the long arm like a Singer 31-15. But I have not put a lot of thought into it yet.

Billy

How much experience do you have with longarm machines? I would be hesitant to spend the same money on someone with little experience as someone who has years of doing anything.

Besides offering different designs, maybe you can display your work at local quilt shops or your local library. Quilting is both visual and tactile, so you want prospective clients to be able to imagine their hard work enhanced by your own.

well i don't have any experience with it except just playing with the one set up in my lqs but the lqs's owner's brother knows all about it and he's going to set it all up for me and get me started. and yes i understand what u mean, that's why i was asking. another thing though is the lady i was talking about is backed up about 4 months. my friend called her the other day to see about having a quilt done and she said it would be March before she could get to it. i have quite a few friends that quilt, they piece them and take them to be quilted somewhere. some have to mail them off cause of that lady being so booked up. so i just feel this town could use another long armer - hopefully.

also if i don't think i could do a specific quilt justice, then i would tell the owner that. i have couple friends lined up that i'm going to do free just to get some practice. i'm sure not out to undercut the other lady or anything like that, i've taken my quilts to her before - we are friends. one of my embroidered quilts that i took to her, i won first place and best of show at our county fair couple years ago. i've posted it before but i'm always ready to show it off again. It's a Jenny Haskins design. I did it in fairy frost and batik.

that sounds great, maybe u should put more thought into it, sounds wonderful. this one i'm getting retails for $8,000.

I know these rascals are not cheap by any means but it got to be easier than FMQing on a treadle. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Like you I was kinda thinking about doing it to help foot the bill for my quilting and to make it a little easier for me. I like the idea about push a button and take a break!

But then theres something about doing it on a treadle makes it just that more special.

Billy

I was under the impression the LAQ charged by the inch, but the price varied by the complexity of the designs you choose. All over stippling being on the cheaper end of the spectrum... am I mistaken in this?

no amma you are not mistaken on this. the charges in this part of the country start at one and a half cents per square inch then go up from there for custom quilting. then she charges for the thread and batting. the king size i just posted she charged me $218.00. i wont even be able to do a king, i'll be doing queen and down. that's all the room i have in my spare room.

hey Billy, a treadle and hand quilting rank all the way to the top, i do so admire anybody that can do that, nothing more beautiful than that. but i don't have a treadle and probably couldn't run one if i did have it. i have arthritis so bad in my feet and legs and in my hands, i can barely do the handwork on the binding, have to do a little bit then take a break. i just want and hope to earn enough to make the payments on the setup, and also to support my quilting habit and help buy groceries and medicine. i'm 73 and live on social security. i don't have any debts other than the one i just made. and i have another thought too, wonder how much to charge to rent my setup to others who want to do their own quilts on it. do shops charge by the hour or day or what? i have no idea but i'm sure somebody on here will know. all u people are so great and so smart on this site, i love it. can't wait till we get our secret quilt angel names, i like others already have my gift made, just need a name and address.

It sad that SSI is not giving the cost of living raises this year but things are bad all over and they have to save a dollar somehow just like we do.

I dont know what they charge to rent one out but I think it is by the hour. I think you have an excellent idea and I really hope your business takes off and keeps you really busy. As I get a few things caught up around here I might ponder the long arm a little more.

Billy

You might want to checkout the APQS forum at APQS.com

They have several people who belong and anyone (with or without a machine) is welcome to join. I don't have a machine yet!! am still saving.

They have a specific part of their forum that is starting/running a longarm quilting business. The posts cover everything from what to charge, how to get started, the best ways to advertise, how to increase your customer base, etc.

I recommend it for its wealth of information. Again, you don't have to own an APQS machine to join. They welcome everyone!!
Rose

loretta - thanks for the compliment. and rose, thanks for that link, i'll go there and join, i'm sure i can learn a lot. i'm gonna make me up some business cards and put some at our lqs and they will send me some business. i need to learn all i possibly can. donna

Maybe you could read through some of the other long armers sites. This is a friend from Montana & when she first started she did stipple only, but has now upgraded to more designs. Have a look at her site, she does lovely work, and I know there are a few other ladies on this forum who have businesses, so you could also check out their sites.
http://www.simplyaffordablequilting.com/index.html

thanks

ok here's a pic of quilt in progress.

Hello, I am so happy for you, I have a Jamone 6600 and have tried to free motion quilting on it and I dont do very good any advice that might help will be greatly appreciated. I find it very hard to move the quilt for free motion..

dora, we are neighbors - almost. i live in odessa. i also have the janome 6600 and i've learned to do pretty good fmq on it. do you drop ur feed dogs? do you use the bobbin holder made specifically for fmq , made by janome? that was the straw that broke the camel's back for me, i wasn't doing too good but ever since i bought that, i do pretty darn good on it now. it retails for about $50. but sure is worth it.
donna

Humm I am only using the one that came with the machine...didnt know there was another kind (bobbin holder), I will have to look for one, is it call anything different and yes I drop feed dogs

i don't think it's called anything different - just a bobbin case by Janome that the tension is set for free motion quilting. it has a little blue mark instead of a red mark just so u won't have to wonder which one you have, the tension is set at the factory just for that purpose, it's so well worth it.
donna

Thanks, I looked at Janome site and found it, may have to give it a try. Also, if I may ask what setting do you use when FMQ...

great idea.

found it. looking good. is the thread okay now?

[quote=butterflywing]found it. looking good. is the thread okay now?[/quote
yes butterflywing, the thread is doing just great now, thanks for all ur suggestions, they all worked. i finished it and took it off the frame, squared it up and am ready to make the binding. also ready to do another one. i still have some problems though and trying to figure them out, kinda hard to even explain in writing. has to do with loading the quilts and being able to quilt all the way to the edge of the top, the bungee cords get in the way so i cut me some fabric about 6 inches wide and length of quilt, proceeded to sew those strips to all 4 sides of quilt backing and hooked the bungee cords to that, lot of extra work but it worked. i'll send pic after i get the binding on. my quilting has improved so much over the first whole cloth practice quilt that i threw in the trash. second one went to a friend's dog, 3rd & 4th ones looked better but this is actually the first quilt i've done on lizzie and am pleased but still have a long way to go before i feel i'm good at it.
donna

:thumbup: :thumbup:

thanks!!!

:P