The local shops here seem to have a very open policy - I know of two that have classroom space that they allow anybody to use. Basically if the class space isn't currently in use, you're welcome to bring your machine, bring your friends, set yourself up and use the space! One shop will also rent a "classroom" machine to you for a $5/day fee if you need it, but no fees if you bring your own. One of these shops is very near where my guild meets and one of the owners (?? Key employee, anyway) is in our guild, so we tend to use their space quite a bit and they're all very friendly about it.

It's a smart policy...I don't think I've ever been there on a day where at least one person didn't realize they needed something and went and bought whatever it was.

If you think $7 is too much, go have your group meetings somewhere else...your house maybe. No one is forcing you to meet at the shop. The shop owner is well within the bounds of 'acceptable' by any standards of business and, as an employee, you were way out of line to openly criticize her business decisions with customers.

Customers don't negotiate the prices of merchandise, why should they think they can negotiate the price of services? And space rental is a service, make no mistake about that. The rate here (NH) for using the shop's workroom...no food, no drinks, no supplies, no advice, just the room...is $5 per hour. It is paid with great gratitude in the heat of summer by many of us who don't have A/C and have to get something done on deadline.

I'm guessing the owner provided food to avoid having large amounts of messier things brought in (e.g., crock pots, etc.). If she ceases supply food, as she really should, don't be surprised if there are limits put on what users can bring in themselves. Quilt shops are not restaurants and food can do major damage to her inventory.

My local sewing machine dealer has a sew-in where you can bring projects to work on and/or get help from others and they don't charge anything. It's just a social thing to share work and ideas and I am sure they are hoping that people buy something. Afterall it's during store hours on a Friday night so they are already paying for the electric. The people who attend bring their own snacks and everyone shares.

I'm wondering what sort of food was provided at the $7 gathering? In that situation, I'd probably prefer a gathering with no food provided, as I can't imagine eating while working with fabric. If drinks are to be provided, maybe it could be payment on the basis of whether one partakes of the drinks?

I'm not totally clear on the nature of the get together. Was it a private, by invitation gathering (you said you'd been invited), or does 'invited' simply mean, a general announcement is made to customers that a social event is scheduled.

I think $7 isn't too bad either. Sounds like a lot of quilty fun for the price.

Let me clear up a couple of things, this was to get feedback from other quilters. I didn't pay anything since I'm an employee of the business. The event was the owner's idea, as was the food provided. Pizza, a sub and a couple of small salads from the local place. There were 4 people other than the owner attending. My only thought was that if you are trying to get a small business going in a not very affluent small town it might be wise to entice people into your shop with a social gathering at little to no cost. As I said no one used any of the machines and other than the electricity it wasn't something that was particularly expensive for the owner. I only attended the event because she asked me to for moral support. I paid the $7 for a friend of mine to attend because I want her business to grow and I didn't think the friend would want to pay $7 to hang out for an evening even if there was food. This is a boutique shop with some fabric, rulers, and other items such as soaps, candles, crocheted items and so on. She does consignment of those items. Maybe people would be more apt to shop was my only thought. I guess I can see I'm in a real minority as to my thoughts. Thanks for the feedback.

As to the snacks that would be brought it, maybe just pretzels or something not messy. I don't need to eat while sewing but there was a social hour of people just talking so food was put away before the projects came out.

I might pay $5.00 for an afternoon or evening of sewing and companionship without much hesitation. Especially if the location was relatively close to where I lived.

I think I would prefer to have NO FOOD and WATER ONLY mixed in with the sewing and/crafting activities.

Because I know I am a klutz at times - and I would feel terrible about getting stains on someone else's project - and I would not be very happy about someone else getting stain's on my project, either.

If there was going to be food or liquids other than plain water, I would want them to be far far away from anywhere/anything that might get damaged by a spill.

For reasons I have not figured out - I would rather pay $5.00 for three hours with no food than $7.00 with food.

Our little quilt shop has an (open sew- anyone welcome) get together every Tuesday morning, it is free people stop by and work on anything they want, ask each other for help, advice, ideas. The shop has bottles of water available for $1 a bottle and free coffee. It is a couple hours before the shop opens 8-10am. Sometimes there are quite a few people there, sometimes only one or two.

Well, $7.00 is steep for me, because I can go to JA work on Project Linus and be social. And would it be during open hours of the shop?

I belong to such a group that meets every other Wednesday at a local Bernina Dealer/quilt shop. We each bring our own lunch. We each pay $5 to the shop for the use of the room from 10:am till 2:00 pm. We use their cutting tables, fancy irons and electricity. They even provide us with a closet to store our stuff. As I am a survivor of a rare auto immune disease that effects my strength and stamina levels I was only taking handwork the first couple of times I attended. Last week I bundled up my smaller, lighter sewing machine and took it. It was a little much for me. I asked the shop owner if I could rent a machine from him for the day. I can do that for an additional $10. It dawned on me that perhaps I could store my sewing machine in the closet allotted to the group instead of renting one each time. I will ask about that on my next visit. In the past I belonged to two different Quilt Guilds. Both of them have at least 100 members. I am enjoying the much smaller group and we actually get something done rather than just conversation and show and tell. It is also great that they have fabric, thread and all kinds of sewing useful gadgets etc. available if we forgot ours or run out.