Have you?

[maggienoella]

Have you ever refused a quilting job?

Curious...

Joan

[LindaSteller]

Yes.  Things with too many embellishments already attached, and just recently, a guy wanted me to quilt up a king-sized piece of black fabric (not a problem), but wanted the edge to be white piping.  I hate binding to begin with, and I'll be danged if I was doing a king-sized white piping.  I figure he just couldn't pay me enough, so I told him I wasn't the right person for the job.

[meg]

Yes, and its hard.

When people hear I have this awesome machine, they think I'd love to quilt for them.

When I tell them I don't take others quilts, they try and try to talk me into 'just this one.'

I do have a handfull of customers, but they are nice easy going friends with great piecing skills.

[GrandmaLKB]

I did refuse just recently.............I had pretty much already decided that I didn't want to quilt for others any more..........at least most of them.  I'll still do for a couple friends.   This lady had me do a couple quilts for her last year and was such a stickler for cost, but wanted this and that, but not willing to pay extra  and took up so much of my time.........backing not big enough........numerous things.   She called me recently wanting to know if I had time to quilt a couple for her.............I told her NO, that I wasn't quilting for others any more as I had plenty to do of my own, for guild and my Mom.   She was "soooo disappointed" because I did nice work and was so reasonable"............Duh...........she milked me for everything she could get and then some.  haha   So glad I did turn her down, as she is now she having Memory Trouble.    We are NOT friends, but she just came right out and asked if she could ride to the quilt show in Des Moines with me this past October........LuckIly, I had a car full, but I think my car would have been "full" even if I had gone alone...........(shame on me?)    I knew she would cling to me all day and I would spend all my time "helping" her.   No thanks...........

[kloar]

Funny that this subject came up today. I'm just about to call a customer and tell her no. Long story short, she contacted me 1 1/2 years ago and says she makes 75 T-shirts quilts a year. Would I be interested? Yes, of course. Although not my favorite, she only wanted meandering. Made the appointment- she never shows- waited 2 hours for her- called the phone number she gave me - it was disconnected. Then 6-8 mos. ago, she calls again, makes an appt. and doesn't show up (didn't wait for her this time). But she thought maybe she'd buy her own longarm so she could do all of them herself. Today she leaves a message and wants me to fit in two T-shirt quilts before Christmas. She's pretty sure I can do that since they are so simple. Are you serious? Sorry! uh.... no way.  

[ffq-lar]

Yes. I've turned away people, but seldom do I turn away a quilt--unless it's too big for the frame. Though I should have refused the one I just finished. *sigh*

The people are what ruins it for me--extra cheap, unappreciative, having unreasonable expectations along with an air of entitlement, or greedy.

 

And then a former "friend" who would drop in unannounced, unpack quilts just to "look", and occasionally tell one of my customers that she'd seen her finished quilt hanging the my studio---before the customer had seen it. And she expected discounts to boot. I fired her--told her I could be her friend or I could be her quilter, just not both. 

I have another I need to remove from my customer list. Just have to figure out how to tell her....

[JustSewSimple]

Yelp!  Every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas I say no to several people.  This year I did cave and do two because they were sweet older folks who were in a pinch.  One was a lady in her 80s that got it pieced as quickly as she could and the other found a quilt in a storage shed pieced by her mother-in-law who had passed.  I am a push over for folks who actually try and are late anyway.  But.......Yes, I do say no.  I don't feel bad about it either.

[chickenscratch]

Yes, even though I am desperate for more customers.  I had a lady with a poorly pieced top- nothing but wrinkles, bubbles, and exposed seams. She wanted me to do it for a penny a square inch.  I told her no.   She told me the other quilter in the next town over will do it for that price.  All I could think was "Good Luck"

[lisae]

It amazes me how some people want to take advantage of longarmers! I don't quilt for others any more but when I did I was shocked a few times. I have just recently told a few people I only quilt for myself now. They still try to talk me into it! Haha, I can't even get my own quilts done!

[K. Szymaszek]

I am sorry to say yes to this one. I did a custom snowball quilt for a person I worked for for years but also over time we became friends. This quilt was a king with 380 snowballs that she wanted something special in. I spent crazy time on it and charged what amounted to $11.00 an hour. Yes, the total was pricey but not compared to time invested. I still think of 380 snowballs sometimes and am amazed. Anyway she paid me then called me a couple of days later to complain. She told me she just got back 4 or 5 other quilts from someone and they charged her 2 and a half cents per inch. I tried to explain what I did, how long it took, what she asked for and the fact that there were 380 snowballs! She expected me to refund some of the money. I was torn but decided not to.  She asked that I don't do custom on the small quilt I still had of hers yet to be quilted. I nicely told her I would feel better if she had it quilted by the one of the other quilters she used. We left it on a good note I guess because I had to ask her for her house address so I could send it back to her, we had a good chuckle on account I didn't remember the number. We haven't spoken since. I guess I am still reconciling it.

[quiltmonkey]

Only once have I turned down a customer. This was due to several reasons: It was a first time customer which I had never met before. The quilt was carelessly handed over to me in a wadded up and wrinkled ball, and as I "unfolded" it ( Ha!  ) from its wadded up mess, I discovered that the "thing" I was looking at was completely caked full of dog hair. Now, mind you.....it was not just a few hairs here and there (which I can manage)... it was completely covered with dog hair, as if a dog had rolled around and slept on top of it for three weeks. It was disgusting. I folded it up quickly and handed it back and said I will not quilt anything in this condition with this hair on it. I told her I can't risk getting dog hair all over my machine and leaders and other customer quilts. The lady was offended and made a snotty remark and left. As she drove away, I said to myself "OK buh bye!"

[mamu]

I have been fairly fortunate with the few ladies I quilt for.  All of them are friends and understand my time frame and requirements for quilt tops I quilt.  I did get a phone call from someone I did not know asking if I would quilt a quilt for her.  She was rather pushy on the phone wanting to meet with me and go over what I would do for quilting designs.  I stopped her and told her my prices and she got quiet and then said "Oh, well thank you for your time" and that was the end of it.

There is a QS here that does quilting for lots of people. I do not support this QS due to their shady practices. However, I did have one of their customers and friend, call me stating that she wasn't happy with the last quilt they did.  She started asking me all sorts of questions about cost and requirements stating that she would be giving me a quilt to do within the month.  I have never heard back from her and am now thinking that she was gathering information about my policies to report back the QS. Lesson learned to not give out info unless you are sure about the person you are dealing with.

Everyone's time is valuable ... now days a person has to be very careful about people taking advantage of you, your skill and your business.  It is hard, but we have to do what we need to protect ourselves.

[ffq-lar]

I concur with Laura--protect yourself with good solid business practices, be friendly but maybe not "friends" with your customers, watch out for suspicious calls and time-wasting people, get it in writing with a new customer, and with all the warnings, still have fun and make pretty product.

 

Talking to Den yesterday about the business and I told him (after discussing a newbie piecer and her quilt top that recently kicked my butt and which I never should have accepted) that when it stopped being fun I would quit. He asked if it was still fun and I answered with a rousing YES! 

[diane c]

I have said no to several quilts this year.  Two of the quilts were from the same customer, and I refused to quilt them due the batting that the customer insisted that I use.  I refused another quilt due to unrealistic expectations of the piecer.  All these quilts were nicely pieced.  I just paid attention to the red flags, and said no.

 

Like Sylvia said, I said no, and I don't feel bad about it either.  It feels good to say no sometimes! 

 

Diane in MN

[GrandmaLKB]

A lovely word.............."NO"...........took me a while to learn to say it, but it is easier than I thought.   haha   Some people aren't used to hearing it and don't like it much, but.........life's tough sometimes.