Custom/Heirloom

[Grammie]

What is it that divides Custom from Heirloom. I've been looking at alot of other sites for longarmers and I find that everyone has their idea of what these two catagories mean. I just want to get it right I suppose.

I mean what some call Custom I refer to Maybe Semi Custom and Heirloom I'm just not sure what divines that.

I appreciate any input on this subject.

Tammie

[Grammie]

I just can't type on this new Laptop yet. Sorry. lol

[Grammie]

lol

[chickenscratch]

That's a great question. I have also been wondering about it. One quilter has her trapunto included in her Heirloom category, so maybe that's it.

Teresa

[Myrna Ficken]

Good question. I for one can't give you a good answer. I my mind it is the stlye and density of the quilting. For example something that is for lack of a better term more modern, such as the type of some of the freehand work I do and apposed to a very traditional quilting, motifs, cross hatching, heavely quilted. ???????anyone else have a better description.

Please correct me if I am on the wrong track.

Myrna

[Dave & DeLoa Jones]

Hi Grammie,

I think that when you have quilted long enough to get into the heirloom category then you have a good idea how long something takes for how dense the quilting is. I charge by the inch but I also keep an eye on the clock. I want to make a certain amount per hour. When you get into heirloom it takes more time to do it and thus if you don't charge more per inch you will not make your hourly wage.

I think that this can apply then to the modern as well as traditional. You should be able to estimate how long something should take and adjust the charge per inch accordingly. I know that is hard to tell a customer when they are asking about your pricing. I just tell them depending on how dense the quilting is (whether modern or traditional) the pricing is between this and this and then we discuss what she may want.

I hope that helps

DeLoa Jones

APQS rep

Millenium SRFreedom, Liberty, Discovery

[JoAnnHoffman]

I'm guessing! I think I would consider Heirloom to be only traditional designs and techniques (traditional feathers, crosshatching, trapunto,) vintage designs that would have been done by hand.

I would think that custom would just be about anything that is not overall freehand or a pantograph. It would be modern day quilting designs mixed with heirloom. Microstippling and McTavishing must be modern day quilting, and I'm not sure about small meandering where that fits in.

[GERRY]

Hey Grammie

When you post a new question or a reply, & you make a mistake all you have to do is click on that little blue button in your post that says "edit" it's at the top right of your post box. click on edit, you then get back into you post box make any corrections you need, then go to the bottom of your post box and click onto edit post, your post will show up all fixed up & no one the wiser.

I'M A BAD SPELLER, & since there is no spell check for this forum, I would be terrified to post any thing that I couldn't fix when I saw that I'd made a mistake ( a hold over from my school days) so you wouldn't have to post three times, after you made a goof up.

I'm asumming that you don't already no this, if you did just ignore this please.

[Kay M.]

Hi Grammie,

I think "heirloom" and "custom" are as confusing as "queen" and "king." Everyone has a different idea as to what they mean. I do not use the terms at all. Quilts are measured and priced accordingly. My quilting charges are based on size and what type of quilting I'm doing. I do the best I can to give a price that reflects the amount of time I spend. The only term I do use is "overall" and even that can vary in price.

I don't use price sheets and when asked how much I think a quilt will cost over the phone, I quote my least expensive overall meander per square yard, give them directions on how to figure the square yardage, and then tell them that would be the lowest price and anything else would be more. That way, the ones who expect something for nothing do not have to be embarrassed about telling me they think I am too expensive. They just don't call back. I do not have a website so this probably wouldn't work if I had to advertize. I have plenty of local business.

Kay

[luv2kwilt]

Hey gals, this is really sad that we offer this and then don't even really know what the difference is! I am glad that you posed the question--gives food for thought!

luv2quilt

APQS Milliennium

[ffq-lar]

Just thought I would share this with you. A guild member of mine brought me a wall hanging to quilt. She had marked the entire thing with motifs---individual oak leaves in each tiny square-32 of them-and a double trellis in each border and not-quite-continuous curves in some areas.

She was surprised when I quoted her a price because it was way more than she thought it should be. I explained to her the many starts and stops in the little leaves (no meander or continuous line anywhere) and burying threads really add up. Also the ruler work in the border was something she thought would be easy on the LA.

It was interesting that she thought that a freemotion design that she could "easily do on her DSM" would be so pricey on a longarm. It was an education for her and for me. We settled on an easier design and a lesser cost. Win-win for us both I guess, but it shows that a person's perception of the process may be quite different from the reality of it.

I would consider her initial choice of designs to be very traditional--like that which a hand-quilter would do. You have to give 'em what they want and forge ahead to the wonderful customer who says--make it spectacular!!!

I'm a happy quilter today---I have one loaded and seven tops lined up behind. That may not seen like a lot to some of you, but for me it is wonderful!!

Linda Rech

Olympia Wa

[White Rooster]

My idea of heirloom quilting is similar to Joann's. It would include the older, more traditional designs, but very fancy and tightly quilted. Quilts of this calibur would have been saved for future generations and not for daily use - therefore, they became heirlooms. Custom quilts would definitely include heirloom designs as well as anything that isn't an overall pattern or from a pantograph. That's my 2 cents worth.

[Giftedhands]

I don't offer Heirloom, but I do offer custom. This is not edge to edge, I take the time to plan the design to work around the elements of the quilt. More color changes, different patterns, etc. Again, not-edge to edge.

Cynthia

[annlittle1]

This question came up in the classes I took with Dawn Cavanaugh in March. There were about ten of us in the class.

We agreed that custom is a quilt that does not have an overall design; but may have different designs in blocks, sashings and borders. It may be very simple or more intricate. It is not necessarily heavily quilted. It may be used on a bed or couch so must be able to be cleaned without excessive problems.

An heirloom quilt would have designs planned for each area of the quilt and is heavily quilted. It is very intricate and complicated. It may be heavily embellished and/or include trapunto. Designs are more in the traditional style. It would most likely be for a show or for a special occasion such as a wedding, anniversary, birth, or retirement. The expectation would be that it would not be handled a great deal when completed, but would be mainly for display.

I don't know if I remembered all that we came up with. It took a lot of discussion to come up with all of that.

I really think everyone has to come up with their definition for their business.

Phyllis Hughes

Oklahoma City

www.heartlandquilts.com

[JudyL]

I've always wondered about this too. For me, if it has any amount of SID, it falls into the custom cagetory. If there are a bunch of motifs and much microstippling or any custom drafting of border designs, it falls into the heirloom category.

There are so many factors that it's really hard for me to draw a line between custom and heirloom. I suppose a whole lot of it is based on how long I think it will take me to do the quilting. There can be microstippling in small areas that still fall into my custom category but if there are large, wide open spaces that will take tons of time for the microstippling, then it's going to be heirloom.

I'm not so much worried about what I call it but more about what the hourly rate ends up being!

[jeri]

I've decided that I'm including any smallish cross hatching in a heirloom category. Very time consuming!!!

After Dawn's class in March and frustrating amd stressful arly spring with very detailed quilts that took lots of time and not enough pay per hour. I've decided to limit these super custom/heirloom quilts and also charge more for them than I was. I think one every 2 months is more than enough for me. I never run out of quilts to quilt. jeri

[JudyL]

Personally, I don't limit the number of heirloom quilts I do. I charge accordingly . . doesn't matter to me if I'm making my hourly rate doing pantos or heirloom. In fact, I'd rather do the heirloom . . less loading and unloading, less measuring, less dealing with customers. And, for me, it's the heirloom that gets my name most noticed.

Now .. if I were charging a flat rate, say $35/quilt:P, I would definitely limit the number of custom/heirloom quilts but if I'm basing my fees on reaching an hourly rate, I'll do whatever comes my way.

[jeri]

Judy, some of my reasoning for limiting them is that my body won't take doing too many close together. I learned that this winter as I had 4 large heirloom types in a row. Too hard on my neck and hands---old injury. When I can qult for 15 minutes and have to take an hour off to loosen up the muscle spasms or the rest of the day to get rid of a monster headache it's not fun and I lose too much time--besides it hurts! They also increase my stress level and I have way too many stresses in my life already. I decided to try to keep my quilting a bit more relaxing. Keeps me happier, my customers get their quilts back faster, and I have more money in the bank.

Dawn's class made me really re-think how I approach pricing, quilting categories, planning quilting, and my scheduling. I started thinking about what types of quilting I like to do and ways to take some of the stress I was getting myself into out of my quilting. I'm really good at making things more complicated than they need to be so I'm working at simplifying.

jeri.