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Hi all--well my studio is finished and I put on just a piece to practice yesterday and had a lot of fun--first I find freehand MUCH easier than pantos--so they will take some practice--

Anyway--an employee at LQS that I deal with and is going to offer my services when I am ready has a quilt that needs a rush job and the other quilters are too busy--so I told her I would do it--because I need tops to practice--and a prolific quilter from town talked to me in school today and is bringing one tomorrow for practice----my question is???

What have any of you charged for "practice" quilts--I was considering half of what the normal cost would be--they are both bringing the batting as I don't have any on hand yet??

I am off to my sewing room to make some tops of my own--so I don't have this dilema!! Anyway--my DH--who is my biggest skeptic--thinks it pretty cool--now maybe he will believe me that this will work!!

Thanks--Terri

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Hi Terri,

Congratulations on your business! How nice to have quilts coming in already...even if only for practice. I am not too far away from you....in Cleghorn Iowa, between LeMars and Cherokee. I have no answer to your question...just wish I had been so lucky to get customers so early after getting my machine!! The best of luck to you!!!!

Janette :)

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Terri when I frist started my business I established prices that compared to other longarmers. My prices are still pretty close to that today. What I did was discount those prices that way as my work improved the discounts got smaller but the customers were still seeing the price as the same the disount is what changed.

I began at about a penny an inch for good friends only. Now that said do be careful about this becasuse those first quilts will still be out there as examples of your work even when you are MUCH better at quilting. I look at my first customer quilts and cringe!

You might be best off doing some charity quilts first and then donate them and make sure nobody knows who did the quilting until your work is the quality you want it to be.

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Hi Terri,

Most people don't care for my method, but I offered a 50% discount until a certain date. I got a lot of business, and no return customers. Live and learn. I would say if you are good enough to hang out your shingle you are good enough to charge the going rate. Of course you will learn as you go, and I'll bet the seasoned professionals here on this forum would agree you keep learning everyday. You may not be able to quilt as fast as someone who has been at it a while, but take your time, do a good job and don't bite off more than you can chew.

Now get busy!!;)

Mary Beth

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I just got a call from a church needing some charity quilts done, and I don't have my machine yet (not until mid-September). So, I'm booked on charity quilts already! Yikes, it's happening and I'm not in business yet. I'll be ready for it though. Good luck and welcome to the chat!

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Thanks for all the suggestions and encouragement!!

I finished the top for the LQS and was going to charge her half price as it was my first one--but she refused to pay that and gave me the whole price!!! I am so excited to put my first check in the bank tomorrow--I am going to need quite a few more to make my first loan payment in August--but it's a start and it feels so good!!!

I forgot to take a picture--but will try remember for the next one--I was a little worried because the top was batiks and the backing flannel--but put some cotton thread on and did some free hand flames on it--the customer loved it--was for their pastor--so thought the flames would be appropriate.

This site is great and I have learned much already!!!

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Has anyone volunteered to quilt the Project Linus quilts for free? Just to show-off or practice their work...Is this a bad idea?

I'm thinking of offering "this special" for the first 5 Linus Quilts just to introduce myself to the guild members in my area and to give me work for designs and samples.

And trying to figure out how to price services is so difficult!!!! Looks like 100 ways to do it and no answer is right or wrong. The good news is you own your business.... The bad news is ...you own your business.

Thanks for any input and yes...I want to see your quilt too Terri! Plus, when you post, let me know how you did it:)

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yeah--about that posting pics--we are still on dial up internet--and must have something wonky going on lately--because I couldn't get them to work--will have to have DD show me how!!

Been working on some SID today--interesting!!

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Originally posted by yeoldeforest

Has anyone volunteered to quilt the Project Linus quilts for free? Just to show-off or practice their work...Is this a bad idea?

I'm thinking of offering "this special" for the first 5 Linus Quilts just to introduce myself to the guild members in my area and to give me work for designs and samples.

Last year I voluntered to make and quilt several Project Linus quilts for them to raffle off, so they could generate cash for our local chapters expenses. They were a big hit, and the chapter cordinator told me they generated more raffle sales from my quilts than any other quilts that they raffled off in the past. She also handed out my business cards with every ticket sold. I got a few calls from that. And I even received a thank you note from a winner of one of the quilts that were raffled off. That meant a lot to me.

So if you have a chance to quilt for Project Linus, go for it. It is a great charity.

Joann

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I have quilted many quilts for Project Linus, mostly ones I have made, but a few for others..I would never charge as this is a 100% donation to a wonderful charity and most of the quilts are small and you get to do whatever you want on them.

AND we have a brand new Millie owner who is President of the So Calif chapter of Project Linus, Suzanne Mc G. who I'm sure we will all be hearing from soon..It was my pleasure to let her come play with my machine to see if a Milli was right for her..it took her all of about 10 mins to "fall in love". I know she reads the list so she'll probably join in our discussions in the near future.

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When I sold my Gammill and bought my Millie last year, a guild member gave me 47 finished quilt tops 50" x 60" for Project Linus. I had just volunteered to be my guild's Project Linus Coordinator. Guild members quilted and tied half of them and I quilted the other half.

It was a wonderful way to practice various techniques on the new machine and work out all those"bugs". By the time I had finished the charity quilts (no charge) I was ready to continue with my regular customers' quilts.

I do take off the cost of quilting, thread and batting on my taxes, though.

Sue

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HI All. It's very generous of Long arms to donate time to quilt up the charity quilts. More power to us for doing so many. :) Please remember that Quilts of Valor, www.qovf.org, also needs long arms to be matched with the *toppers*. Like Project Linus, it's a nice way to practice new techniques before quilting them on clients quilts. I bought a couple of cones of King Tut that I keep just for charity quilts, one Red white and Blue, and a nice variegated beige. I was able to claim the cost on my taxes.

Question:

Does anyone know if the law passed, that would give us the opportunity to take off our labor cost on taxes as a charitable donation? I know the bill was in the House last year, but don't know if it passed.

Ta,

Lisa

Lisa Langlais

Authorized APQS Rep.

Springfield, VA 22153 (Wash. DC area.)

703-440-8157, Cell 703-967-2675

APQSQuilter@aol.com

WWW.APQS.COM

Revel in each other's success, knowing full well there is enough to go around. ~~~Anonymous

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I'm in the same situation right now! I decided to extend an offer of a 50% "Pre-Opening" special with a disclaimer that the quilts are being used for practice and the prices will go up as of Aug. 1st, with a list of what they will be. Everyone has loved the work I've done so far and have said they will be return customers. :P

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Hi Lisa,

I will check out the Quilts of Valor website. I just did a couple of quilt labels for someone who quilted one of these quilts.

Your question about writing off your "labor cost" for charity may come back to the state laws.

I know in NC, I can not write off my "services" from my tax service as a CPA. I am also charging for long arm services so if I volunteer to quilt a top, then I can't write off the "value of my time" but I can write off the cost of the material, batting, mileage, etc. Funny, I just had this same conversation with a co-worker today.

I could, however, argue that if I lived in a state that did not consider long arm quilting to not be a service but a product, like mentioned by others in various posts, that possibly one could get away with it...???

I will research further and would love to hear from others on this subject. Can doctor's and attorney's write off their donated time?

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I have done quite a few of the Linus quilts for my LQG and LQS. They are very behind in getting the tops quilted. So we are pushing to get as many done by October. Also I do 1-2 QoV's a month. Since I haven't finished ANY of my own quilt tops yets, I needed something to practice on when I started last year. I got alot of positive feedback from the QoV toppers which really encouraged me. I will continue to do the charity quilts just because these are very good causes.

One of the ladies in my LQG bought an e-bay quilt (pieces) which she finished. She asked me it I wanted to practice with it. I quilted it. She bound it. Then gave it back to me and we donated it to a Dorothy Day home that I friend of mine does volunteer work at. This same lady asked me to do a "for pay" quilt a month later!

Like they say, give and it will be given unto you. (Hope I'm still feeling it when I get really busy with paying customer!)

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  • 2 months later...

Here is my two cents:

Be very, very careful about opening yourself up to being the charity queen if your goal is to have a business.

My stingy advice:mad: is to decide up front what your business/charity goal is. I'm all for charity work, so don't take this the wrong way, but I'm a firm believer in limiting this. Why? There are always charity quilts to quilt. There are always people in need. When the word gets out that you are the gal who does all the charity quilts--you will be expected to quilt them all, and people will get annoyed with you when you decide to shift into less charity quilts and more customer quilts. Also, it will get annoying to you when you get handed some really yucky quilts to quilt for charity and you end up spending hours 'fixing' them before you can quilt them. Not everyone has high standards for charity quilts.

Set your prices according to your geographical area. A first time customer discount of 10% or so is appropriate, but don't give your work away. People shop around for the new, cheap quilter. People will dump tops on you and expect you to work like a dog for nothing. Don't let that happen to you. I know that it is hard to start up and you feel like any business is good business---that is a very short-sighted vision. Your skills will improve greatly in a few months. A lady that got 'cheap' quilting from you last year will get annoyed with you this year when you are no longer the 'cheap' quilter. Set your prices and stick to them, you won't be sorry that you did.

Again, set your charity limit as you see fit. It will amaze you how quickly it will become difficult to quilt a couple of charity quilts every month once your business gets rolling. Don't shoot yourself in the foot when starting out.

I quilt my share of charity quilts---but on my own clock and for the charity of my choosing. I've found that I feel much better about my contribution that way.

Again, just my two cents. We all have to do what is right for us. I just would hate for people to be taken advantage of. It's very easy to give the impression that longarming is an easy job. It isn't chopping wood, picking potatoes, or shovelling out outhouses, but it can be pretty grueling. If you give off the impression that all of that free quilting is no big deal---people will think that all that quilting is no big deal. You will become the hamster in the ball, and who wants to be that?

God Bless!

Jill Kerekes

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When I first started, I did not charge for the first 30 days or so (can't remember exactly) because I was just getting used to my Millie. I felt that if they were willing to trust me with their quilts knowing that I was brand new, I thanked them for letting me practice on them. After this first period of time, I set my prices about 5% lower than other quilters in the area for the first year. Now that time period is passed and I'm up to the same prices as others in my area. I just didn't feel that I could charge full price when I was also learning on their quilts. Also, I belong to a quilt group at our church and I do all of the charity quilts that we make. I feel that this is a ministry for me and as long as I have time to do this, I will continue. To the best of my knowlege, I have not missed out on doing any quilts because my prices were raised up to the local standard, so I think it depends on the relationship that you have with the quilters that know you. Anyway, there is my nickles worth. ;)

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My take on this is that when you are starting out in a long arm quilting business you need to pay your dues, so to speak. No one just starting out with long arming (never touched one before and then suddenly finding themselves with one and opening a business) is seasoned enough to expect ot get paid top dollar or top of the spectrum in there area when they are just learning the techniques that make a truely good long armer. This comes with lots of practice and time to develop the skills that brings in top dollar.

This is why when someone starts out in this business you do set your prices along the average of the other long armers in your area but you offer discounts through out the year to reflect your inexperience. My first year I gave 25% off discounts 6 months out of the year off of ETE/panto designs through customs. This past year my second year I raised my discount from 25% off 6months per year to 15% off over a 6 month time and only on the ETE/ panto designs and next year my 3rd year in business I am eliminating this discount all together and will only have what I call the Quilter's Dozen promotion/rewards. Where if a customer is loyal enough to have brought me 12 quilts (on going and is carried over year to year) I will provide them with a free ETE/ Panto quilting service for free on their 13th quilt. I have a very good solid customer base that have stuck by me since the begining and are willing to give up the discounts for my experience that I have gain over the years. No one has ever complained about my lack of discounts (because right from the begining my prices where set to be competitive with the others in the area. My reputation in my area is good, not only for fair pricing but also for quality work which is what keeps the customers comming back and what attracks new customers.

I have never felt like I have "given my quilting away" and I am very grateful to my customers for giving me a chance to quilt for them, this is why I have the Quilter's Dozen rewards promo. Customers like to be appreciated and not treated like they are just a dollar sign to the long armer. I feel this is why that about 60% of all my customers since I started my business back in 2005 have been loyal repeat customers over the years that have made my business very profitable.

As far as charity quilts go I see that as long as you limit yourself to a certain amount per month to do and let it be known up front that is all you will be willing to do this won't be an issue either. It's when you can't say no to fellow guild members or quilt friends & relatives that will get you into trouble. Alsio doing charity quilts is another good way to practice the new techniques and skills without the pressure.

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