Machine Rental

[JudyL]

Someone just posted this on a quilt group I'm on about renting time on a longarm at their LQS:

It's $28 for 4 hours--in the afternoons we can play until the store closes--an extra half hour according to the owner. She provides a kit that includes a pounce pad, scissors, leaders, pins, machine bobbin case, cleaning kit, etc that you must check out with your driver's license or car keys. Kinda nice to know I don't need to cart all that stuff around. The thread is also included in the rental fee. I think this is a very generous deal.

While I understand that not everyone is going to go out and rent time on someone else's longarm, this has to be a deal many would find hard to refuse.

Amazing that someone would rent time on their machine for $7/hour. She didn't say what kind of machine it is and I've heard of some who rented time on some of the HQ16 type machines.

No matter what type machine, if they can get a decent quilting job done for $7/hour, that's a deal I'd have a hard time walking away from.

Not everyone wants to do their own tops and I'm not saying this is a bad thing for those of us who do quilting for others (could be good because they see how much work goes into the process), but I thought it was an eye opener to see the price some are paying to use someone else's machine and tools.

[jkerekes]

Hi Judy!

Very Interesting! We had a lady not far from me(central NJ) that did that and was charging a bit more--somewhere in the $15 range per hour on her Millenium if memory serves me correctly. You had to take her training course--a 4 hour course for $400-$500. She did offer other courses(medium and advanced levels) for the same price range. I don't know how many people took her up on it though. One lady from my guild did that I know of. She completed one bed quilt with a loopy meander. I only saw that quilt from a distance. She did most of another quilt and asked me to complete the borders with some feathers. The unfinished quilt had a lot of problems. Tucks galore! The entire quilt was a tension nightmare and I had to do some batting surgery in a few places! I felt badly about this whole deal for my guild member. I know that she probably paid at least $1000 for these two quilts to be completed when all was said and done. I probably would have completed the two of them for about $100 each or so, minus the tucks, tension problems, etc. and with more advanced quilting.

I guess renting a machine may work for some people, but I have to imagine that this is more "git 'er done" quilting than anything else:)--and there is nothing wrong with that if that's what you want. I was very proud of the many quilts that I quilted with my DSM before buying my Millenium even though they are just meandered. I may have paid $7 an hour to use a machine(with guidance) to do the same thing because "I" did the work. It probably would have taken me one quilt to realize that I wanted to do a lot more and that would require lots of $7 per hour sessions or the purchase of my own machine:)!

I'm interested to see what other folks have to say.

Jill Kerekes

[Sue E.]

We have a store about 30-40 minutes away from me - sells Gammills and several brands of DSM - that rents time out on their Gammills. You must take their "certification course" which is a 4 hour class for $100. After that you can rent their machines at $20 per hour or all day for $100. I have been in the store several times when people were using their machines to do their own quilts but it really looked like these people knew what they were doing. I took the certification course but did not like the feel of the Gammills and decided to buy my Millie.

I had been thinking about renting time on my Millie but I found I was really very possessive of it and didn't want anyone else to touch it. So after renting to a friend a couple of times, I haven't done this anymore. My Millie is just for me:D

[Cheryll]

Our local shop has Gammills and rents them for 15 an hour after an all day course for 75 dollars with only 4 in a class with 2 machines. I must admit the machines worked wonderfully and I was impressed. I thought this was a super reasonable price for the training.I don't have a stitch regulator so I enjoyed sewing on the machine. I'm going back to rent it again because I will get some training too while I rent it. It's worth the price of the rental just to have hands on with a knowledable person giving me suggestions. I still love my Ultimate 2 though. ha ha Maybe if I win the lottery I'll change my mind.