The recient threads concerning LA'er nightmares has me wondering what are the questions one should get answers to before hireing a LA'er?

How long (how many) have you been doing this?

Do you supply the batting or do I? If I supply it, is there a certain brand/type I need to get? If you supply it, what do you use & how much do you charge? (some LA swear that only certain battings work on their machine w/out messing up tensions & other settings)

How much bigger does that the backing need to be than the front? Is that on each side or is that total? (some LA tell you total, others quote you on EACH side)

If I supply the thread it there a difference in price?
I like 'xyz' type batting, do you have any objections?
Can I talk to other customers?
What's your estimated completion time?
My quilt isn't square ( that's mine....) what expectations do you have for 'wonkiness'?
Can I see your work space?
I want this type of a design, can you show me a sample that's similar?
this is what I asked the first time. I was thrilled with the finished quilt!

Is there smoking in your quilt studio or house where you keep the quilts?
Will my quilt be exposed to pets or pet hair?



Then these aren't questions but may be a good idea to mention:

Please contact me if there is a problem of any kind.

Do not make any alterations to my quilt without first contacting me.

If for any reason you can not finish the job, please do not start it, I will find someone else.

all good advice.

Have you ever damaged a quilt, did you tell customer? (I had that happen at LQS, LAer got needle caught in fabric, ripped a large section of my quilt getting needle out, folded quilt to disguise rip, sent me home without telling me, I laid quilt out on bed to look at it saw the rip, refolded quilt, took it back to LQS, showed it to owner, asked why they didn't tell me, she didn't even know it had happened, LAer said and I quote, " you had something stiff in that block that my needle got caught in, I broke my needle trying to get it out", there was nothing in the fabric that was stiff, and she should have told me she damaged my quilt, owner did applique a piece over rip, but in my mind it's still noticable and damaged).

Do you allow food or beverages in room where you quilt?

The more questions you ask, the happier you'll be.......... I for one prefer to be asked,,, anything or everything! And in turn I also ask...... what color thread do you want? what type design do you prefer? do you want the quilt trimmed once its done?

I just sent a gift quilt to a LA'r. She works out of "my" LQS. All the girls who work at the shop use her and her work is beautiful. There is a book of patterns to pick from and best of all she picks them up on Wed. and they are back and done the following Wed. Her name is Rhonda and my quilt turned out beautiful.
Sue

Asking what the wait time is would be a big one.

I know that the LQS does only meandering and she is right now booked up until christmas! But she also only does 1 or 2 a week. I was thinking of starting a LA business but I would have to start somewhere. There is 1 person that does custom quilting and a 3 that all have computerized systems but I think if I start out with some meandering and work up to the custom stuff it should be ok. I know that the wait lists get long for some of those guys.

What experience do you have? How many quilts have you done? What training or classes have you taken?