fivepaws

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.

nena

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.

institches33

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!

mpeters1200

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.

scrappy2

:thumbup:

decky

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

FroggyinTexas

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

Ttime

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

MsEithne

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.

Rettie V. Grama

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