Why/how did you start quilting for others?

[Hockeyrabbit]

Hi-

Just thinking and wondering how most of you started ad became successful in this business? Did you start small and grow? Did you jump in with two feet?

I realize we all have different stories, but would love to hear them. JC

[Bonnie H]

I started quilting for others as a need (my other "job" was on the decline). I joined our local guild and showed a couple of quilts I quilted, mentioned that I have a long arm and would quilt for others. When I got my first guild customer, she showed the quilt to the guild during show and tell and mentioned I quilted it for her. I slowly have gotten more guild customers and each month it seems I get new customers from guild. Our guild has a few longarmers so it did take a while to get some of the customers I have. I'm no where as busy as I would like to be, though sometimes I don't have a weekend to myself because I'm quilting for others, but that's okay 

[witha'K'quilting]

I am just starting to quilt for customers. I have quilted a few over the past years for others, but now am trying to build a business doing so. Work (quality control/testing) has been more sporadic for us, and since my quilting has improved to where I am comfortable doing it, I am tiptoeing in with both feet.

 

I recently started a new blogspot website specifically for my quilting, with a running blog on the homepage. the additional pages are for pricing, helpful hints, quilting designs offered, Etsy store, etc.

[Tamarack]

I didn't plan on having a long-arm business, it found me.  It all started when a few guild members asked if I would quilt their quilts as they knew that was my favorite part of making a quilt.  I just had a Janome 6500 and before I knew it I was busy quilting for the local quilters.  5 years of wrangling queen size quilts on my Jamone took a toll on my wrists and I developed Carpel Tunnel so started to seriously think about getting a long-arm as I had the client base already.  So I bought my Mille and I started taking quilts right away.  The local quilters keep me busy but now that I have a website and blog I'm getting quilts from across Canada and a few from the States. 

[JenniferBernard]

My job teaching Special educating in High School became so stressful after they passed the No Child Left Behind Act that I decided to find a new profession. When one teacher finally realized that my severely disabled students couldn't read, she actually asked me what I had been doing all these years if I hadn't taught them to read. (I would have been very happy if my students could have learned to speak or use the restroom by themselves.) A principal said that maybe the Special Education students would have learned to read better if they had had Real reading teachers (meaning regular education teachers) not Special Education teachers all these years! I enjoyed teaching my wonderful students but hated the paper work and unrealistic expectations. My youngest child also graduated that year and I became a quilter. I have been very happy with the change in careers. I love the artistic freedom of free hand quilting.

[Quilting Heidi]

I bought my machine with the thought that I'd quilt just for me.  Yes that is a lot of machine for just personal quilting but it is what I love and I have a good day job so I could afford it.  Hubby is actually the one that pushed me into starting a business.  Not wanting to disappoint him I said I'd give it a try.  It took me about a year to build up my customer base and I've had a waiting list ever since.  I am winding it down though.  I'm not sure yet if I will stop completely but for now after my last customer quilt, a Baltimore Album Quilt, I am taking at least a 4 month break.  I'll see how it goes and maybe I'll start back, maybe I won't.  All I know is that between the day job and family, not to mention mothers, I need a break so I'm taking it.  

[JustSewSimple]

I got my machine just to quilt for me but thought if I'd quilt a couple a month it would pay for the machine. I showed my quilts at guild and folks started to call. There was a big slump last year when I stayed ill but it has picked back up. I am retired from job #1 so a bit of quilting is enough for me. I don't need to stay too busy as it might cut into my forum time, teehee!

[LibbyG]

I wanted to practice with my machine before I used it on my own quilts, so I offered to quilt for a friend for free with the understanding that whatever happened, happened.  She gave me four ugly quilts and I made them pretty.  Then a guild member said her grandaughter was trying to save enough money to get a quilt done, so i offered to do it for $50.  After a few of them, I decided $50 wasn't enough. ( Of course it took an hour to sew all the holes in the quilt shut!)  Then I went to DeLoa Jones Camp Mowana.  They had a show and tell and I didn't want to be embarrassed so I did a really nice design, that I partially borrowed from another quilter online, and showed it at the guild.  That's when some of the members decided they wanted me to do their quilts, too.  I'm retired and don't want a lot of business so I don't advertise, but each year I get more quilts and fortunately the forum members help me with designs.

[cegates]

I must say that the most important factor in getting my business started is this forum!!!! Never would I have had the information, inspiration or support I needed to start my own business without this valuable resource. Three years ago, I learned about longarm quilting through this forum. I decided that I wanted to do that!!!! I have always preferred quilting over piecing, so it looked like a perfect fit for me. Again, through this forum, I was able to find the right machines for me. I worked hard to develop relationships in our quilting community, so when I was ready to start taking in customer quilts they have just been flooding in. (Remember that most quilters are women and it is always all about the relationship!) My original goal was to have a business up and running in 2014 - but I am way ahead of schedule. This is a great time to tell all of you at APQS and on the forum THANK YOU!!!!!!! for all the help you have provided to me and others.

[Merryjo2003]

I knew right off the bat that I would do this as a business.  I was a Deputy Sheriff for almost 14 years when an on-the-job injury followed by 2 surgeries put me into the retirement system.  I wanted to do something from home so I didn't have to commute because I had a small child at home.  Also, I wanted something that was easy to relocate within the county as my husband's job would relocate from time to time.  I bought my machine in 2005 while I was still working light duty (full time), and quilted on my days off.  The idea was to start learning so I could go full time when I was actually retired.  (The retirement  process took over 1 year.)  I started quilting for others within 2 months of having my machine.  Word just spread and I was pretty busy while I was still working.  (I was the quilt police! ha-ha  )   Within 2 years, I was getting calls from people wanting to come for longarm lessons, so I started teaching as well.

 

Next, a new neighbor purchased an Innova when they first came out with their longarms.  She wanted me to help her learn about her machine.  I hadn't seen them yet so I went to their booth at a local quilt show (Road).  I had them show me their machine so I knew what features they had and could assist my neighbor.   They wanted to recruit me as a sales rep. because I did so much teaching (apparently some of my students had already informed them).   Since I was very happy with my millie, I wasn't about to switch machines.  I decided if I was interested in being a rep. for anyone, it would be APQS!    Things just kind of evolved.

 

You do have to be patient and work at getting your name out there.  To be successful, you do need to approach it as a business and not a hobby.  My business just kept building and I love every minute of it.  It was really nice to go from a work environment that had a lot of negativity to a very positive environment.  Quilters are nice people and fun to work with, so it's very nice for me!  The forum (I was a lurker long before I got my machine.) helped me avoid a lot of newbie mistakes and I was able to have the confidence to take customers much sooner than I expected in the beginning.  I thought it was a great support and anything that came up I was able to get help.  People readily shared info. and that was huge to me!

 

I guess I did jump in with both feet.  But, I'm happy to be in such a creative business.  I'm busy and love it.  I just keep looking forward and not back!

[GrandmaLKB]

I never intended to quilt for others.   I bought my machine for my own use and to do some things for quilt guild charity projects.  I love to piece quilts and knew by the time I paid someone to quilt them all, I might as well have my own machine.   Little by little, others started asking me to do theirs.   I take on a few, but I don't want a business and I want the freedom to quilt when I want to, not when I HAVE to.    I have turned down some work over the winter because I had a lot of my own projects I wanted to do.   I also decided I won't take any quilts from people I don't know.    I don't want or need the aggravation of poor construction and their outlandish expectations of "cheap" or wanting it done "yesterday".    I am thoroughly enjoying my machine for ME and if I can make a few $$ along the way to buy more toys, then that's good too.        

[Busy Quilting]

My husband encouraged me to buy my machine as something I could do while also looking after my mother.  For seven months I was able to quilt my tops and also those from my local community quilting group.  My mum loved the fact that I was giving back to the community. I was then asked if I could quilt a top for a fellow guild member to put in the local show, and a local quilt shop asked me to teach and quilt some shop samples. It has blossomed since then. I can take a week off every few months to visit my mum, who is now in a nursing home,and my daughter and grandchildren who are in another state.

I also enjoy the quilting more than the piecing,as now I get to see all these wonderful tops I wouldn't make for myself.

 

In twelve years of Patchworking I have made 155 items and gifted my 99th one yesterday!

[Primitive1]

I have always loved quilts and have been piecing quilts as long as I can remember...I went to a quilt show about 5 years ago and tried out an APQS longarm and fell in love with it, it just felt natural to quilt my name and all kinds of fun little things so I went home and told my DH that is what I wanted to do, quit being a bookkeeper at a private school and quilt for a living.  So I contacted a sales rep in August and went up and tried it out again and talked to her for several hours and decided that if she could find me a millie for $xxx that I'd buy it.  Fast forward to end of October, still had not heard from her and my DH says, "I thought you were going to quit your job and quilt"  I said well I don't have a machine yet and he said go ahead and give your notice, I know you will stay busy until one comes available.  So I went in to work the next day and gave my notice, came home that night and within 15 mins of walking in the door (I did not even have my shoes off yet...) the phone rang and it was the sales rep with a machine for me!    I think it was meant to be!  My machine came in Nov, my basement was finished and ready by Jan and I have not been without a customer quilt in 5 years...  Sometimes I think I'd really like to take some time to work on my own and do squeeze one in now and then but feel really blessed to have a large and consistant customer base.  And there are about 5 other longarmers in my area and at my quild now.

 

For me, it's all about the quilting and the texture that quilting gives a quilt.  Those little extra things that draw people in to look closer... 

 

One of the best stories I have is a friend had a co-worker whose mother made about 12 candlewicking blocks in the 70's.  Her mom had passed away but she wanted something made out of those blocks.  My friend made a quilt top and brought it to me to quilt which I did and she told me that this woman cried when she saw the quilt.  (I was hoping it was because she liked it!)  Which by the way it was, so it makes me glad that I could help someone take something special that her mother had made and make it into an heirloom for her.  Now that's what I love about quilting!

[zeke]

Well, back in 92 I broke my back and suffered for nearly two years with terrible back and leg pain.  I would walk from 6 to 10 miles a day to keep from bullet in my head.  Yes, the pain was that bad.  That's when my wife introduced me to sewing.  At the time it was for my own quilting, because it took the pain away for an hour or two at a time.  I don't know how, but it did.  I had tried all kinds of other stuff to make the pain die down, but quilting and sewing just does it.  The brain works in weird ways from what the doctors tell me.  It doesn't always work, but about 60% of the time it does.  I put the pain behind this door till it comes back knocking. 

 

My first year I had 4 clients a did 6 quilt professionally.  The second year I did and quilt for a gal and she told all her friends and that's how it all began.  I haven't turned back and I also got into maintenance and machine set-up and computer installs.  I even started teaching quilting classes as well.  I belong to 3 guilds and have been president of one of them.  Now that's a kicker, right.  Crazy??????????   Anyways, that's how I got started.  zeke...................

[oireachtas]

I don't quilt professionally but I am enjoying reading all of your stories. Thanks for sharing.

[ffq-lar]

Great stories of the different avenues into longarming. Having always had some type of artistic project in process (yarn, beads, fabric, drawing) piecing came late in my life. I found the longarm world in 2000 and finally took the step in 2004 after attending an APQS Roadshow. I came home and was measuring the dining room to make sure the machine would fit when my DH asked what I was doing. When I explained the situation he and my BIL remodeled an outbuilding that was perfect. Six weeks later the machine was set up and practice began. It took five months with my cards and samples out in the local fabric stores before I got my first call. My first year was slow. Second year's income doubled the first. My third year tripled the second year and I'm maxed out right now with business. I have a core of regulars that compare notes with each other about their quilts and who keep my schedule full. It's been a fun ride and this forum is the best thing in the longarm world!

[Liam]

How I started; my daughter wanted a horse blanket, I couldn't find one that I liked. So I found a quilt pattern I liked and some horse themed material, decided I'd make a quilt. I figured I made a set of curtains (a rod pocket and a hem), so it shouldn't be that hard. Eight point stars...Y-seams, finally managed after a lot of fustrations and so on. That is when I caught the quilting bug and became hooked!

After sending out about a half a dozen tops to be quilted, I decided I need to start quilting them myself. I started out with a Hinterberg frame and a industrial sewing machine. From there I came across someone a hour away that had a Ultimate 2 (non-SR) for sale reasonable. After that I moved up to a SR Ultimate 1. That's when word got out I had a longarm and the calls started coming in. I just quilted part-time....have a day job (well nights). I stopped quilting for others about two years ago when I started doing extreme amount of overtime at my regular job. This was about the time I upgraded to a Millie. I have only done 3 quilts on my Millie since I got her......hoping to have more time to play with her this year!

[Janette]

i love reading these stories.

 

my beginnings into patchwork started about 12 years ago when my husband had asked  me to make a cover for his boat.   as i thought my sewing machine wouldn't be able to handle it i bought a new one which was called a toyota patchwork model and came with basic instructions to put squares together.  Now when my Mum was alive (she died when she was 46 and I was 23) she would often talk about making a patchwork quilt when she had  time.  She had taught me how to knit  and sew when i was a small child and bought me my first sewing machine when i was 10 which was an old hand crank machine.  unfortunately Mum never found the time to make her quilt.

 

so  in my mums memory i made my first patchwork quilt which was around the world made with 2inch squares cut with scissors and fit our double bed.  i had found a book teaching patchwork and was all set to go.  I was hooked right from the start and quickly made one quilt after another.  i signed up to online quilting tv programmes and on linda taylors longarm quilting and fons and porters visits by marylin badger found myself longing for a longarm machine.  i learned alot from these shows.

 

i started with quilting on my dsm then onto a table to handiquilter frame which i quickly outgrew.   Then in late december 2009 i took the plunge and bought myself  a lenni.  at the time i was working  as anan accountant.  i admit i had not quite envisaged the size and presence of   my machine and for a while it was in my dining room and it was just my hobby.  i had always intended to do some quilting on top of  accountancy to boost my earnings at that time.

 

however in june of 2010 i had a car accident and suffered whiplash and lower back injuries so my poor lenni stood unused for some time.  when i got back to quilting much like zeke above the  quilting seemed to ease the pain slightly.  i think it is maybe the focus on quilting and keeping upright and mobile maybe.  anyhow this was in direct contrast to sitting at my desk for hours in pain working on my pc.  i quit my job as a direct result of  back pain but always thought i would be needing to replace it when my back was improved.  prior to my accident i had been advertising quilting and had  card dropping etc and planning my business side of quilting and quilting samples etc.

 

i left my job early november 2010 just a few months after my accident.  stupid as it seems now.  thankfully the quilting jobs came at a slow rate in the beginning that my back could handle and steadily increased from then.  i started  renting studio space in may 2011so i kind of had to make it work as a business.   my second year doubled the first and again in my third year and hope this continues.  i cut back on my self employed  accountancy work too as a couple of  my customers businesses closed.  that was stressful times financially though.  thankfully the quilt customers keep coming back.

 

i still have the back issues and as long as my work remains predominantly panto work it will be ok.  custom work is back breaking for me though as it involves leaning over slightly and causes more pain.  

 

march 2013 was my best month ever for turnover so i just keep my fingers  crossed that the work keeps coming  and  my back can keep up....  

 

needless to say my husband never did get his boat cover !!!

 

and even though i think my mum would be very surprised that i was now earning my living quilting.  i think she would also be very pleased for me and cant help but feel maybe she had something to do with that.  i am much happier and  less stressed doing this instead.

[Primitive1]

Well I have apparently reached my "quota for likes for the day" but my intent was to "like" everyone's stories!  Thanks for sharing!  Like someone else mentioned, I too have learned most of what I know from this forum and the wonderful people who share so much!  Thanks!

[Linda G. Craig]

I quilt only for myself, family, friends & charities. No plans for a business. I have always sewn, but dabbled in quilting in late 70s and it grew from there. My first machine was a Pfaff Grand on a Grace frame in the middle of my living room! It was a start but I outgrew it so quickly, a few months. Then began to research longarms.

I research every make I could find but never had an opportunity to try one unfortunately. I watched and still watch every quilt show I could find. I particularly watched Linda Taylor over and over again. I am so happy to say I met her & her daughter in person in 2011 & 2012. I bought my Millie in 2009, my husband turned our basement into an amazing studio for me and I've loved every minute of my experience with APQS, the friends I have made here and who I have had the opportunity to meet. This forum has been inspiring, made me try things I wouldn't have otherwise. We've all shared births, deaths, engagements, weddings, graduations, but most of all ourselves. I too am very thankful for you all.

Quilt on, my friends. :-)

[CindyT]

I've enjoyed reading all these responses. I can relate to almost every one of them in some way.

 

I had no intentions of going into business when I bought my long arm in 2006. I had been piecing for a few years with a couple of friends and I quilted a few of my quilts on my DSM and did NOT like it. It was too much stress on my shoulders and neck. I had sent out a couple of my quilts to be quilted by another long armer and did not like paying someone else to quilt my quilts. My two friends and I took long arm lessons over an hour away and I caught the quilting bug and they didn't. I loved the fact that I could make a quilt from start to finish and said I did it all. I remember one of my guy friends sarcastically asked me how many quilts I was going to have to make to pay for my machine and then just laughed. I did run out of relatives and close friends to make quilts for and about the same time there were two other long arm quilters that I hung out with that THEY decided to start giving people my name for quilting. That's when my business started in 2010. I don't think I could have done it without the "support" of this forum. You never know how much encouraging words can impact a person.