Starting a Longarm Quilting Business
12-07-2023, 09:47 AM
#1
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2023
Posts: 7
Starting a Longarm Quilting Business
I have been quilting for many years and recently bought a 10 foot longarm brand new it has a 18 inch neck. I have been FMQing for a few years on a domestic and also on a friends longarm. I recently moved to a small town in a different state.I want to start longarm arm quilting business, but I find people in the town and guilds only want computerized.quilting outside the guild as well, The minute people find out I dont have a computerized system its a big No not interested. One person said they only want the perfection that a computer has. I can't afford a $10,000 computer add on and I really enjoy fmqing. I can also do pantos on the back of my machine, but I was told no to that as well. Only computerized. I am thinking of setting up an online site, but when I did a search almost everyone has a computerized system. Is there anyone who has a small home longarm business that does not use a computerized machine and are still able to get customers? Thanks
12-07-2023, 11:16 AM
#2
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Carmichael, CA
Posts: 1,967
Wow, That's surprising to hear. I don't have a long arm and cannot comment on trying to long arm as a business. IMHO a panto is a "computerized" pattern as it is uniform and all over. To me quilting is not about perfection (unless of course you are entering in a show). Maybe if you have examples of all over panto quilting people would see that it is indeed "computerized" in a way.
12-07-2023, 01:45 PM
#3
Power Poster
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Lake Elsinore, CA
Posts: 15,144
I have a friend who does only pantos and custom free motion on her longarm. I think all her business is local. Another friend has recently added a second machine with robotics because she had so much business (also local), including quilting that she donates to the guild. I have a longarm (no robotics) and do only free motion quilting for myself and occasionally for close friends. I've thought about doing it as a business, but decided I didn't want the hassle. If I were quilting as a business I would plan to add the robotics, since that's more profitable (and easier on the body) than just doing pantos and free motion.
I think there are people who are willing to pay for custom work if it's done very well. However I don't think that's the way to go in today's market, unless you can build a name for yourself as a custom quilter. Custom work is time consuming, and most customers don't want to pay a decent hourly wage for it.
I think there are people willing to pay for pantos without robotics, but they expect to pay no more than they would for the panto done with robotics. And the pantos with robotics have an edge in that they can be scaled up or down to change the density. Most computerized systems come with more designs than a quilter without computerization is likely to own in paper form. I realize that adding robotics is costly, but I think it would add to your bottom line in the long run.
I think there are people who are willing to pay for custom work if it's done very well. However I don't think that's the way to go in today's market, unless you can build a name for yourself as a custom quilter. Custom work is time consuming, and most customers don't want to pay a decent hourly wage for it.
I think there are people willing to pay for pantos without robotics, but they expect to pay no more than they would for the panto done with robotics. And the pantos with robotics have an edge in that they can be scaled up or down to change the density. Most computerized systems come with more designs than a quilter without computerization is likely to own in paper form. I realize that adding robotics is costly, but I think it would add to your bottom line in the long run.
12-07-2023, 01:48 PM
#4
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: South Dakota
Posts: 8,138
I knew a lady that all she did was FMQ on her long arm, and had way more business than she wanted. But she'd built up a reputation of doing very nice work, and since she was doing it in her retirement years, was also very competitive. She also did what she wanted to do on a quilt, the customer didn't decide. I'm not sure how it would work out doing it any other way, as there is just too much variable with FMQ.
I have a computerized system, and really like the simplicity, though I do want to do more FMQ now that I'm retired. But for most quilts, I really like being able to get it on and off the frame in less than a day.
I have a computerized system, and really like the simplicity, though I do want to do more FMQ now that I'm retired. But for most quilts, I really like being able to get it on and off the frame in less than a day.
12-07-2023, 01:59 PM
#5
Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 934
Originally Posted by Pquilts
I have been quilting for many years and recently bought a 10 foot longarm brand new it has a 18 inch neck. I have been FMQing for a few years on a domestic and also on a friends longarm. I recently moved to a small town in a different state.I want to start longarm arm quilting business, but I find people in the town and guilds only want computerized.quilting outside the guild as well, The minute people find out I dont have a computerized system its a big No not interested. One person said they only want the perfection that a computer has. Thanks
Folks are going to be reluctant to try someone new if they are happy with their current options. They need to see examples of your work and compare that and your prices to what they already have available. You might try to first join and spend some time as a guild member and also establish a good relationship with a LQS where you can let others see your work in person.
12-07-2023, 02:02 PM
#6
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 2,826
It's been a while since I sent out a quilt for longarming. When I did, I usually chose "computerized", because the price is much lower here (DFW). The price for "custom quilting" is twice the cost of "computerized". I made a special quilt for my late spouse - a Texas quilt. (He was very proud of being a 5th generation Texan.) The cost for Custom quilting was 4 cents per inch, while machine quilting was 2 cents per inch. This was about 7 years ago.
Maybe you need to re-think your point of view. What you do is "custom" quilting, not FMQing. What they do is "machine" quilting, while you do custom quilting. Language is very important when you are selling something. Even if someone says, they prefer "computerized" quilting, you tell them you don't do "machine" quilting. You do "custom" quilting.
bkay
Maybe you need to re-think your point of view. What you do is "custom" quilting, not FMQing. What they do is "machine" quilting, while you do custom quilting. Language is very important when you are selling something. Even if someone says, they prefer "computerized" quilting, you tell them you don't do "machine" quilting. You do "custom" quilting.
bkay
12-07-2023, 02:47 PM
#7
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2023
Posts: 7
Originally Posted by dunster
I have a friend who does only pantos and custom free motion on her longarm. I think all her business is local. Another friend has recently added a second machine with robotics because she had so much business (also local), including quilting that she donates to the guild. I have a longarm (no robotics) and do only free motion quilting for myself and occasionally for close friends. I've thought about doing it as a business, but decided I didn't want the hassle. If I were quilting as a business I would plan to add the robotics, since that's more profitable (and easier on the body) than just doing pantos and free motion.
I think there are people who are willing to pay for custom work if it's done very well. However I don't think that's the way to go in today's market, unless you can build a name for yourself as a custom quilter. Custom work is time consuming, and most customers don't want to pay a decent hourly wage for it.
I think there are people willing to pay for pantos without robotics, but they expect to pay no more than they would for the panto done with robotics. And the pantos with robotics have an edge in that they can be scaled up or down to change the density. Most computerized systems come with more designs than a quilter without computerization is likely to own in paper form. I realize that adding robotics is costly, but I think it would add to your bottom line in the long run.
I think there are people who are willing to pay for custom work if it's done very well. However I don't think that's the way to go in today's market, unless you can build a name for yourself as a custom quilter. Custom work is time consuming, and most customers don't want to pay a decent hourly wage for it.
I think there are people willing to pay for pantos without robotics, but they expect to pay no more than they would for the panto done with robotics. And the pantos with robotics have an edge in that they can be scaled up or down to change the density. Most computerized systems come with more designs than a quilter without computerization is likely to own in paper form. I realize that adding robotics is costly, but I think it would add to your bottom line in the long run.
12-07-2023, 04:00 PM
#10
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: northern minnesota
Posts: 2,355
Is there are way you can post your work? And have examples they can look at? I would consider a free motion quilter. I actually do that myself. I just usually do a meander plus on my bed quilts, meaning I throw things like bubbles, double and triple bubbles, leaves, hearts, ect into my meandering. It really doesn't take me more than a 2-4 hours to do the quilting depending on the size and what exactly I am doing and the scale of it so I believe I would be affordable if I did it for profit. I seriously like my free form quilting even though it isn't fancy or perfect because I really like the look of it better than precision computerized quilting you can tell was done that way. Also, I can easily adjust to any puffy spots as I quilt. I would guess there would be folks who would want that too. If you are really good, fancy custom quilting would also be an option. One of the quilters I know of one incidence where she charged $5000 dollars to custom quilt for a show. It was beautiful and the person was willing to pay that.
