quiltingkimmy Posted July 5, 2011 Report Share Posted July 5, 2011 Hi, I am doing my 'Grand Opening' in September and researching prices for my brochure. Wondering what the current rates are... I will be offering allover meander and pantos to start, moving to custom by the spring. Did anyone offer a 'Grand Opening' special?? All advice is welcomed - thank you!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoAnnHoffman Posted July 5, 2011 Report Share Posted July 5, 2011 You need to find out what people are charging in your area. Have a friend make a few calls for you to local longarmers. You could have three prices for pantos. Grapefruit size, apricot size and grape size. That's how I break them down. Three different densities. I never do anything that large, it's always the medium size. More dense, more time, more thread. Medium size in SD is $.015 per square inch. I don't charge for needles or thread, just for the batting. Provide your own batting to sell so you will never get crap. Don't accept customers thread either. Have total control of your quality. You could offer free batting for the grand opening special, but I would not lower my price. Get them use to what you are going to charge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave-Jane Posted July 5, 2011 Report Share Posted July 5, 2011 JoAnn gives very good advise - it is hard to raise your price, even from a "Sale" price. We do not charge extra for needles or thread either- people really dislike all those extra charges. Maybe 1/2 price batting or 25% off their next quilt or a second quilt brought in at the same time. Our experience is that quilters love it when they can get their UFOS done for a sale price. Our biggest issue is getting that backing fabric big enough from the quilter - so be sure to ALWAYS check. Lay out the backing, batting ( it they provided it) and quilt be fore they leave - will save alot of frustration later!! We offer backing fabric as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted July 5, 2011 Report Share Posted July 5, 2011 Joann does give good advice. Most of my pantos are .02 psi. I tend to stock denser pantos. I have some that are bigger and those are .0175. I would do a large meander for .015 but don't get much call for that. I provide a discount to current guild members. It is easy to give a discount for specials vs starting your prices too low and trying to raise them. I also do not have a thread charge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra Darlington Posted July 6, 2011 Report Share Posted July 6, 2011 I have pantos and long boards priced about the same and they start at $.015 and go up to $.03 per square inch, but the majority are $.02. So far I haven't done any $.03 and I'm glad as I don't like doing them that dense, but I do get some requests for the lowest prices and that gives people an option if their budget is a bit lower. When I first started I gave a "grand opening special" where for 2 months I charged a penny a square inch for a basic puzzle meander that measured 2 - 3 inches in size. But it was noted that this was a special starting on XXX and ending on XXX. After that it would be regular price at $.015 per SI. I did get a number of quilts to do and they went rather quickly, even though I didn't make much money on them. But, I did make something and it was also good advertising. Sometimes I run specials, eg: specified Christmas and winter pantos at a discount during the months of September and October, or a Valentine's special, etc. I advertise these at my Guild meetings by posting a notice on the table where all the handouts and info are placed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancingstitcher Posted July 7, 2011 Report Share Posted July 7, 2011 Buy some Red Snappers from Renea Haddadin. These plastic rods and covers are attached to your canvas leaders. I couldn't believe how much faster they make loading a quilt. Matt from Manquilter uses a different brand and also has You Tube videos like Renea does. Watch all of them when you have the time as they are so helpful. Having the extra backing for a quilt can be a problem solved by basting on a 4" leader of your own fabric, something inexpensive than can be cut off. You'll have to do this on your domestic machine. I found that Matt's advice to have 6" of backing on the front leader is necessary so that the Red Snapper can be advanced beyond the black front bar to avoid running into the Red Snapper with the throat plate when doing the first row of panto. My charity quilting group is only allowing 2" extra all around for the backing so thought that sewing on a throw away inexpensive strip of fabric would be a good idea. I usually don't have a problem with the side limitation of only 2" because I pin a fabric leader. The heavy clips that come with the machine are fastened to the other side of the fabric leader that has a half of a wooden measuring stick sewn into a casing. I used double thickness on the fabric and enveloped it. Also had the thought that I could have the fresh strip be wider and then cut it off the customer quilt if I didn't want to take the time to undo the basting stitches. Perhaps here is where those chain lock stitching machines would be helpful. The remaining strip would still be wide enough to use for several more quilts with this too-little-backing problem. All the above advice is great. These are real pros talking Kimberly. One day you'll be one too and you can pass the good stuff forward. Good luck with your business. Vicki Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltingkimmy Posted September 16, 2011 Author Report Share Posted September 16, 2011 Thanks for the advice Ladies! I'm getting a brochure together and this information will go a long way!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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