I have bookmarked this because when I had one I wanted hand quilted I could not find anyone to do it. I started on it myself an
still at it... Hate doing it but, it was my first project and all hand pieced so thought it needed to be quilted that way also. I think
there is a market so don't give up hope. If I have another one I will pm you. Thanks

I would make a small wall hanging with info. list sizes/price and ask the LQS If you could put it in her shop.
Most shops will be happy to give out information to their customer . They can see your work and what the cost would be before they contact you.
Good luck.

I always have my quilts hand quilted because I don't like the feel of machine quilted items. My quilter is a neighbor so I don't have to pay postage. Good deal all around.
Your stitches are certainly the right size for beautiful work.
Good luck, Kutnso

I have wondered the same thing. My question is how would you charge? I've looked at what the AMish ladies charge and I believe it is too much. What do you think?

Just because they charge a price I wouldn't pay doesn't mean that it's too much. In fact, it probably doesn't cover the cost of the time at a fair rate of pay.

There are people who will pay, but you have to sell the idea by making the customer aware of the value you are adding to the quilt. Yes, you can have it quilted cheaper by machine using an overall design, but when you have something hand quilted, you are creating an heirloom. Heirlooms aren't cheap.

Janet

I do hand quilting for others and find that it has slacked off from when I first started.I did give the local quilt shops my business card and never got any jobs from them, maybe they forgot or what I don't know. I have my service listed on the Hand quilting service website .For many years I was quilting for a quilt shop in California and the owner would tell her classes about me and I would get business from them. I have quilted quilts for people from California to New York, but the business has slacked off.

There are people who will pay to have a quilt hand quilted--often an inherited quilt top or something of sentimental value--when they don't have the skills. Our quilt group did one recently for a mother who wanted her grandmother's incomplete top quilted so that she could give it to her son. Unfortunately, the time involved is so great that there is no way they can reasonably compensate you for your time. We tracked the time we spent on this quilt--as a group--and I think the payment, which was a generous donation to a charity of our choice, wound up being less than 50 cents an hour.

I love good hand quilting. About a decade ago, I looked at the price of a yummy h.q. bed quilt (size???) in an Amish shop; the price was well over $1,000.00. I do some hand quilting, so I figure that price was not outrageous, but doubt that (in this current economy, especially) there are many people who can afford to pay that much money for a quilt. Nevertheless, I think you should do as thorough a research as possible.

I took the time to figure about what price I would charge for a Crib Quilt as that is mostly what I do. If it is a larger quilt I hand quilt by sections, then put together.

This is what I came up with::
The Amish Charge by the thread yardage $1.10 per yard.
A 400 yard spool of thread has 11.4 yards.
According to that calculation I would charge $75.00 for 45X45 inch crib quilt.

This would also depend upon the time it takes to quilt the quilt.


For instance, whatever time it took to use a needle full of thread, 5 minutes example, I would lower the price accordingly.

Since minimum wage is around $6.00 per hour, that is what I would aim for: number of hours X number of needles at 5 minutes per needle.

I have one ready to start. In a day or two will come back with further calculations and pricing.

Keep in mind, the more thread you use, the higher you would price a quilt.

I would think it would be the timeframe more than the hand quilting. I can get a quilt longarmed in about a week, but I expect it takes a whole lot longer than that to hand quilt.

I personally prefer hand quilting. I don't always like the all over done on a long arm. It makes the quilt too flat. If I ever get a quilt done that I think is worth it, I would pay for someone to hand quilt. I know that there are people in Lancaster, PA who are very busy hand quilting. Good luck to you.

Trisha, Yes I think there is a market. There is one lady here that I use and she is always booked up. It takes about 2 mo. for her to start one for me. But even though I have a longarm I still like some hand quilted and I just do not have the time.
So just put your name out there and see what happens.
Now it would depend on the price also. We have one lady that charges 100.00 for a full size and the lady I use charges that for a king. I tell her she is not charging enough. I pay her 80.00 for queen.

The Amish in Middlefield, OH do hand quilting for quilters. (All of their quilts are hand quilted.) There must be a market. The best way to get your name out would be to advertise at your local quilt shops or message boards around town....Get a good photo of your work.

If you don't try you'll never know and if you try you may be overwhelmed. I hope you're overwhellmed! Good luck to you!

I've been advertising in stores around here for ages. I have the same waiting list as most longarms do. But instead of waiting for a turn to be quilted, it's waiting for the quilting to finish. I also get 8-10 stitches per inch and am branching out into echo and freehand work. Aside from a small wall hanging, I haven't gotten ANY calls.

Around this area, it seems that long arming is the new "only" way to quilt. It's very frustrating. At the show this year there were only 2 pieces submitted that were hand done and the people going through the show said if they judged it they would have taken off marks for not using different threads and things that are only available for FMQ work. It was ghastly.

I hope you are able to generate some income. I love quilting for other people and hope I'll be able to do more of it someday.

:thumbup:

I know around my area the Amish and church groups do it.

Tough reality is that people would not begin to pay you for your time, much less your skill. You quilting is very respectable. froggyintexas

Oh my goodness pick one of your tops and choose a nice bat that needles well. AND GO FOR IT! You crawl before you walk, walk before you run....it's ok to have those first blocks to look back and see how far you have grown :D The hardest part is getting started but once I got going it's been wonderful...the look and feeling hand quilting gives. wow...be brave it's the best feeling when you settle in to quilt, it's like an all is right with the world feeling. Esp. if you don't have a time line to meet or beat. I say go for it you just might love it :-D Ttime

I do too, which is why I hand quilt! Sorry.

I do have some advice. I read somewhere that for a niche business, the first 25 customers are the most difficult to get. After that, if you offer an outstanding product or service, your problem becomes too MANY orders and not enough time!

There are a lot of good books out there about marketing. One that I found useful was _Guerrilla Marketing_. Not every idea in his book was applicable for my business but enough were that, sure enough, I had more business than I could handle.

Make sure you set a reasonable price for your time from the very beginning. A niche business cannot succeed on the Wal-Mart business model (high turnover with low prices equals lots of profit). Think more in terms of boutique pricing, where you set your hourly fee at a level that reflects your experience and level of quality offered.

Never be afraid to say no to an unreasonable offer, either in the contact stages or after the quilt top has been delivered and you realise that it needs far more work to do than you were led to believe. Considering that a lot of your customers may have quilt tops handed down from years ago, you might even run into quilt tops too damaged (shredded, frayed, stained, sun or insect damage, etc) to be rescued. Don't try to be a hero because 99 times out of 100 it will not be appreciated. Just say no.

Please read my post again. You will note it is my opinion, also.

Just don't assume that because you don't have the money, or you neighbors don't have the money, or the news tells us how bad it is, that there isn't money out there. Many people will pay for quality and wait a year for a quilt to get done. I know one woman that is booked for 5 years or more ahead.

Tisha, try contacting some local and state quilter's guilds and let them know that you long arm and that you also hand quilt. I belong to a guild and I hear a lot of the women say they are sending theirs out to be quilted. One lady at our last meeting said that she has an amish lady do her quilting and I know that it is not cheap to have it done.

I have also found the market dead. I make beautiful table runners for $35 and no one even looks. I went to Macy's store and found they sell bed sets for $3-400. I found a napkin for $9, but I can't even sell my pillowcases I have made. The swap meets and craft markets here want stuff that sells for $5 or less. It's not worth my time, so I just make for my family.

Hi Tisha...you are so lucky you have the talent to do that kind of beautiful hand work......dont' give up looking....do you have a blog...post information everywhere....theres always something people are looking for and who knows someone may call you......put the information at your church,grocery stores everywhere......good luck and god bless...Trish

is there a guild in your area? you might be able to post an ad in there newsletter.I would think there would be people who would be interested.Just have to notify the right ones

I placed an ad in our "Nickel" ads a few years ago. When a lady asked what I would charge for hand quilting a full-sized quilt, I said it would be about $150 for very basic quilting. She told me she didn't think she was interested. I explained that it was very time consuming, especially for quality work, and that thread added to the cost. She replied that I wasn't asking enough, so she feared the work wouldn't be that great! You never know. I would place an ad on Craigslist and see what happens. Even if it takes awhile to build a reputation, it could be well worth it. Good luck to you!

Too bad I live in Canada or I would send you mine. There is one Church group in this area that hand quilts and I hear they are booked a year in advance. Don't give up please, you just need to be a bit patient. Next thing you know you won't be able to keep up with the orders. Good luck.

no way, in south fl. I have been lucky to find quilters also friends who crochet can't sell, must be hand made is out of vogue . Wish you the best,as I like to hand quilt , even my family say what a waste of time.

I wish we had a guild I would ask them for sure.....Iam lucky we have a quilt store, Maryland doesnt have a lot of anything when it comes to quilting....Trish

I know there is a market where I live depending on what you charge. Just have to get the word out and let people know what you charge. I know one lady has all the work she can do. She is in her late 80's and is still doing a great job. Too bad you don't live in Utah.

I hand quilt - and while I know that there is "no money" in it, I do it to get "my fix".....I love the therapy of quilting after a long day's work. I'm finishing up a king size quilt for a friend - did it for the quilting group I'm a part of. I have one for my Mom's friend waiting after I get this king size one finished. My Mom's friend saw the quilt that I did for my Mom.

I get my fix w/out spending the money on making the quilt top and I make a few extra bucks in the process.

I think it depends on what the goal is. My favorite quilt to finish is the vintage quilt that Grandma made or Mom made and it's sitting in a closet or trunk somewhere. They are meant to be loved and cherished.

I think there could be, just dependent on what people are willing to pay. I think handwork would be more expensive for charging due to the time put in it.

I don't know about now days but about 12 years ago my mother
sold a quilt that was handquilted because a woman was trying to
find one that was handquilted and everyone was doing them on
machines.

As to the economy slumping... I don't think it makes one bit of difference once you have developed your reputation.

Before I became physically handicapped, I made a living teaching people to do something that is essentially a hobby. I charged $125/hour and had more business than I could handle.

Over six years post-disability, I am *still* getting requests and pleas, both from former students and from people who heard of me or bought my books to do "just one more lesson, PLEEEEEEEAAAAASSSSE!!!!!"

I haven't done any advertising, I have tried to make it as clear as possible that I am no longer physically able to do it, period, full stop. And yet, even in this bad economy, I have had requests for lessons from people who live 2000 miles away, who are prepared to travel all that way for a couple days of lessons (in which case I think the cost of lessons would be the cheapest part of the trip!). And while I love where I live, it is no vacation destination type of spot.

If you provide high quality, you don't have to convince anyone to buy. All you have to do is show that your high quality work or product exists and people will want it. In the specific case of quilting, it means providing lots of samples to give away (in the form of quilted mug rugs, maybe?), attending every group and guild within reasonable travel distance, making the rounds of every quilt store within a reasonable distance (and leaving not only your cards but a sample of your quilting), donate quilts to be raffled (with a minimum price required) and maybe even entering competitions.

Well, find a copy of _Guerilla Marketing_ and you'll get a plethora of ideas.

Think on a national or international scale. Set up a web page, learn to take good photos or pay a professional who specialises in photographing textiles. Set your prices to reflect the quality of your work.

I want to know what you would charge.

I think there are plenty who would love to have the hand quilted look but not so sure how many you can find to pay you for what you are worth. People just don't understand what it takes to put a quilt together.

I think there is a mail order/online market out there. People want to know how much you charge. So much per spool used?
or by the inch.? or by the time it takes? Quilting varies in density, and that will vary the cost, too. There is advice available to you, as how to advertise your service online to give you a larger national potential market of customers.
It is going to take some research, but it will be worth it.
Jeannie

I think there is a mail order/online market out there. People want to know how much you charge. So much per spool used?
or by the inch.? or by the time it takes? Quilting varies in density, and that will vary the cost, too. There is advice available to you, as how to advertise your service online to give you a larger national potential market of customers.
It is going to take some research, but it will be worth it.
Jeannie

i bet there would be a market for it

i hand quilt, been doing it since i was 7, made over 300quilts, only 4 or 5 have been machine quilted.
i send out for machine, i do hand, and love it