chickenscratch Posted October 10, 2007 Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 HOpe this isn't posted by one of you guys, but I was shocked when I saw the price this person is charging. This is like half a penny per square inch, batting included. Crazy. "you can have any size quilt up to 11,500 sq inches quilted for $68.00 (the price for a Full size) and get a second quilt up to 10,000 sq inches quilted for $59.00 along with discounted express shipping! This price is for Edge to Edge quilting only and includes the thread and Hobbs Batting (your choice of 80/20 or Polydown Plus). " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Beth Posted October 10, 2007 Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 Quality!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlene Posted October 10, 2007 Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 Hi Teresa, I know what you mean. There is a girl here in town that quilts for next to nothing. But like Mary Beth said, it is quality that we have to look at. The cheap quilter just does a random quilting and I can offer quality quilting with definitely more than a random meander. I guess we just have to remember that there are all kinds of budgets in this world and that you pay for what you get. Char Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stagecl Posted October 10, 2007 Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 I haven't heard of anyone in my area who sends their quilt tops to people on E-bay. I have heard from people who know other quilters who were sorely disappointed with what they got for there inexpensive quilting job. The old saying goes..."you get what you pay for". I, too, can quilt for cheap, but so can anyone. My time is worth something and I am not going to give it away. Quality vs. quantity...quality all ways wins in the long run with returning customers. Yes, some can only afford inexpensive quilting so it is not by choice they send them out to people who are quilting for cheap. I think, too, we must remember that it does take time to build a customer base. I know not all of us can wait to build that base because we need the income now. My first two years were slim...but I am doing just fine with maybe a few too many for my stress level, but Christmas is coming. January is always slower so I take a breather then. Cheryl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewingupastorm Posted October 10, 2007 Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 Yep and I could offer those prices too if I raced my machine over the top as fast as I can! Nope my customers come to me because they love what I do to their quilts. Do not let those prices get to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Linda S Posted October 10, 2007 Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 Trust me - that's no competition. You get what you pay for. Linda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted October 10, 2007 Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 Comparison---- McDonald's drive-thru=$68 quilt job w/ batting included. Dinner at the Space Needle=an experienced professional with design ideas and a caring attitude. There is room for both sides. (Hey, I like McDonalds on occasion!) Don't agonize over cheapies--they do not do what you do. But they do charge what their work is worth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tangled Threads Posted October 11, 2007 Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 Linda, I like that analogy.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudyL Posted October 11, 2007 Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 As others have said, I don't even consider that competition and I surely don't concern myself with it. First, that person may be just trying to get business. I suppose if you have a machine sitting there and are doing NOTHING, doing something for almost free is better than having the machine sit idle. Also, if she's trying to build a customer base, maybe she's hoping to get a few takers that will share her name with their quilting buddies. Even if she's only breaking even by throwing in the batting and discounted shipping, she may be considering it as "free" advertising and it may work. I would almost bet my Millennium that she won't keep quilting at this price for long. The bad news is . . when she raises her prices or throws in the towel, there will be another one right behind her to offer the same prices. My advice, for whatever it may be worth, is to do the best you can and don't worry about what you cannot change or what's out of your control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted October 11, 2007 Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 Teresa, you recieved some great advice by everyone above. Here is just another tidbit of info from me...this is how I see it: OK, I might be risking myself and sounding like a quilt snob, but so be it! Those who quilt for their customers on the cheap usually attract the customers who piece their tops on the cheap, too. These cheap longarm quilters probably get the customers who have that low quality cheesy, stinky fabric that is pieced together by someone who does not know the difference between a quarter inch and a quarter mile; many of these same customers have little or no classroom experience with quality instruction on how to accurately piece their tops together. Frankly, I would not want to deal with those types of customers and all of their tops have the Double D cups and wonky wavy borders; backing all out of whack. Oh what fun and joy these are to handle...Can you imagine one quilt after another after another? The fun never stops. Sure, I still have a lot of hair on my head, and that hair is getting some gray, but I earned that gray hair the hard way, so I'd like to keep that hair imbedded in my scalp and not be ripping it out in frustration over a customer who really could care less about their quilt top because they only want to get the #$%@& thing quilted on the cheap. Or, giving them the benefit of the doubt, maybe they are inexperienced and uneducated about "what you pay for is what you get?" That just might be the case! Just my humble $.02 PS: My dear MIL (before she knew better) sent some of her beautifully made quilt tops out to a person advertising in a magazine "quilting for cheap" and guessie whaaat? I have a couple of those quilts == they were given to me as gifts many years ago. I love them dearly, and used them all the time. But ya know...a few years ago I noticed that the topstitching threads were all wearing down and breaking in several places on the top (I take care of my quilts) but even so, I was afraid to use them on my bed any more because it looks like I am going to have to rip out the old topstitching and re-quilt them. Whoever quilted these beautiful tops that my dear MIL made for me ... the threads are all disintegrating--YUCKY CHEAP THREAD! And, to add insult to injury, the "quilt job" was nothing but a VERY WIDE (ugly/boring) giant wave-like edge to edge design that went across the whole quilt...and by the looks of it, that job most likely took nothing more than 20 minutes to quilt that entire king sized quilt. What a shame, huh? Oh, and when my dear MIL got those quilts back in the mail from "Ms. cheapy quilter extraordinairre" they all wreaked of cigarrette smoke. Gross, nasty, disgusting... So much for treating your quilt with care... Here's the icing on the cake that will make your day: Even though the quilting was done at a discount, my MIL was never again a repeat customer... so you take a wild guess as to why? Duh!! LOL! In the end, I ask you this: Was this a "super bargain" or was this a "rip off" -- Honestly, all things considered, I think my MIL got ripped off. You get what you pay for. Geez! Am I getting a little witchy here or whaaaat?? YIKES! Somebody...Please slap my silly butt off of this soap box before I get myself in deep doggy doo doo...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnie Posted October 11, 2007 Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 You just keep standing there Shana...doggy doo doo or not, it was well said and the truth....honestly is the best policy. I would have been more upset with the smoke smell than may be the crappy quilting, but still I too would have not been a repeat customer....as its been said, "Ya get what ya pay for"...and this is why we who care strive, to do our best job for our customers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelalan Posted October 11, 2007 Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 Not to slam the e-bay quilters, but you get what you pay for, very little money you get very little quilting and very little experience quilting your quilt. It's a shame that some people send their quilts to these bargin quilters, especially their better tops. Hang in there, if your quilting is good your customers will be lining up for your quality jobs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PattyJo Posted October 11, 2007 Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 Shana - Just a thought on your post, have you considered re-quilting those quilts? And I don't know anything about how to do that but if they are all bound can't you just pin them to your backing leader and then re-do them (after all the old stitching has been removed of course)? Just wondering..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted October 11, 2007 Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 Yes, I have been considering requilting these myself (some day when the time is right for me)! And, I believe I can "very easily" rip the existing topstitching out of the two quilts in no time flat because like I said, it has super huge wave-like quilting design across the entire thing. It lays nice and flat (square) so I think I can leave the binding around the edges and just pin it to the leaders. One of these quilts is a gorgeous king sized log cabin made with browns and tans that is laid out in the barn raising pattern. I would love to do a meandering feather design on it. I cherish these quilts very much because Ingrid made them for me & Andre during our beginning years and are the first quilts I ever got in my life. I was in awe of their beauty...the quilts. She got me hooked on quilting...it's all her fault that she started me on this entire quilty thing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schnoo Posted October 11, 2007 Report Share Posted October 11, 2007 SHANA!! GIRL YOU SAID A MOUTHFULL !!!! I have to agree with you 120%. Cheap ugly quilting is disrepectful to everyone involved!!!!I pride myself on the doing the very best I can regardless.I have even gone the extra mile for the customer because I know the quilt would benefit AND that's my calling card out there when they see who quilted it. I did not invest in this business to become a human factory/machine that cranks them out like an assembly line!! We are ARTISTS engaging in a COLABORATION WITH THE PIECER. I strive to take as much pride in the finished product as the piecer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeri Posted October 12, 2007 Report Share Posted October 12, 2007 WE have several quilters in this area who quilt for $45.00 per quilt including thread and some sort of poly batting. They do large pantos or a large stipple typ meander only. Whe quilting isn't very good so most of us don't bother to worry about it. jeri Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted October 12, 2007 Report Share Posted October 12, 2007 I couldn't resist--I did the math on the cheapie quilters. Here goes-- $68 cheapie minus the thread and batting (say $8 or so) is $60. Then you minus "express shipping" of perhaps $15. That leaves $45 to play with. Out of that is overhead (not counting the machine payment, if there is one) which can be ignored for now. In order to pay off a Millie at $45 a top, it would take 387 tops with no other financial outlay (thread, needles, tools, pantos, etc.) Triple that number of tops if you want to pay your taxes, replenish thread and batting and make a teeny-tiny profit. ($4 an hour?) That would be 1161 tops or one top every day for 3 years and 3 months. That would pay off your machine and earn you about $16,000 for THREE YEARS work. I guess you could do three tops a day if you had that big a customer base, but that would mean you would have the Millie paid off in one year and still the same amount of profit. And what about repeat business--I don't think there is much of that! Whew!! I got a little carried away! I have convinced myself that doing cheapie jobs is the worst idea in the world!! Why do they do it and how long before they run out of customers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted October 12, 2007 Report Share Posted October 12, 2007 Originally posted by ffq-lar Whew!! I got a little carried away! I have convinced myself that doing cheapie jobs is the worst idea in the world!! Why do they do it and how long before they run out of customers? Oh my, Linda... ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!! :P It's almost like those Islamic Extremists who choose to die a martyr's death over there in Iraq and elsewhere so they can go straight to heaven ...and as a reward for their martyrdom, they recieve 100 virgins when they up get to heaven. Well, I am not a rocket scientist or nuthin' even close to a statistician, but it doesn't take a 3rd grade math whiz too much calculating before one realizes that there just aint enough virgins hanging around up in heaven to cover all those Muslim Extremist martyrs who seem to be working so hard for their ultimate reward. Pretty soon one of these days, I think heaven is going to run out of virgins ..........Sorry, just had to say it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennan100 Posted October 12, 2007 Report Share Posted October 12, 2007 Shana, You sure nailed this one! I agree completely, just cannot see spending the $$, time and effort to make the top and then get a *** quilting job on it. That just doesn't make sense at all. As far as the virgins go...I hope they are all men although that's even more of a long shot! (yes, I said that, I warned you about me and bullies!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollyc Posted October 12, 2007 Report Share Posted October 12, 2007 For years I have used a long arm quilter in Oklahoma who does simple pantographs very cheaply...$27 for a twin, $35 for a queen, $45 for a king...and she supplied the batting in that charge and the thread was about $7 for a king. Any extra money she had she gave to her church. Now, I must say that Dorothy does absolutely perfect work, figure eights, flowers, fluer-de-lei, etc, but no custom quilting...and she was quick...could turn around a quilt in a couple of weeks. However, my quilting has changed over the last 20 years. Initially, I wanted quilts for beds, I never do the same design twice...started with simple patterns. In the last 5 years, my quilts have between 3000 and 6000 pieces per quilt, one with 10,000 pieces...and I do 20-25 quilts per year at least. I have started doing feathers and custom quilting on my bernina and for the type of work I want to customize my scrap quilts, I cannot acheive what I want on my home machine and I knew that you pay for the quality of an expert long arm quilter. I rescue old 30's quilts from ebay and repair them, re-applique them, make new pieces for an old wedding ring background and they just beg for the customized quilting. I have 150 quilts in my closet and 15 that need quilting. I grew up in ND and can't bring myself to make wall hangings or lap quilts so most end up growing into queens and kings. You get what you pay for. The simple pantographs Dorothy has done for me are perfectly done and my quilts are finished. My quilting has advanced so that a long arm will allow me to continue to expand my skills and customize my quilts. Oh, I do get out from under the Bernina, I am an RN, with 20 years ICU, CCU, ER and 10 years in clinic. I work 80% now. I have rambled way too much...so sorry. I don't know how Dorothy has afforded to do the quilts she has done for me, but I have appreciated her efforts for years. My Millenium arrived yesterday...its in the garage...you'll hear lots or questions from me and I totally appreciate all the advice so far from the experts. Holly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted October 12, 2007 Report Share Posted October 12, 2007 Hi Holly, congratulations on your new machine. I enjoyed reading your post. You seem like such a kind person who is very thoughtful and appreciates the simple things (e.g. old hand made quilts), and your friend Dorothy, who quilted your tops for you. And, that you are an RN who cares for people when they are sick. You must be an angel on earth, really. Enjoy putting your new machine up and take your time. I put mine together with a little help. You are right, there are some terrific folks on this chat who give willingly to help newbies and seasoned folks and provide great advice. This is the best spot on the Internet, if you ask me. Enjoy a great day, Holly. I look forward to more of your posts. Shana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnHenry Posted October 29, 2007 Report Share Posted October 29, 2007 My mechanic has a sign on his wall that says, "We can fix your car good, quick, or cheap. Choose any two." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matildanme Posted October 29, 2007 Report Share Posted October 29, 2007 Oh Shana you crack me up. I\'ve thought the same thing re the number of virgins in heaven, you are so on the ball. Me thinks that most of them would also be far too young or ugly. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaryLou5740 Posted November 1, 2007 Report Share Posted November 1, 2007 If I shoot MYSELF over the quilt I have in now,....would I die and go to heaven and get 100 Virginians? Sometimes they almost \'crawl\' onto the machine and everything goes---zip..but once in a while there is one that just doesn\'t fit the profile of \'square\'...back to the machine...enjoy all of the letters, gals..when I have to take a break and RELAX! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeri Posted November 1, 2007 Report Share Posted November 1, 2007 When I first started (2003) there were 2 sisters who charged $45.00 for any size quilt except baby ones that were $20 or $25.00 some even $15.00. That included poly batting and a backing!!!! One sister died suddenly and I have heard the other stopped quilting for others after that. There was another man who did about the same, he has also quit quilting. There are still several women around the area that do quilts really really cheap--you can always tell their work as it\'s not very good and usually old pantos or ones with very little quilting. We also have Stover not too far away. They do quilting cheaply. From talking to one of their quilters somewhere in my travels it\'s like a quilting factory. They are trained to do certain patterns and just do that. If the tension is wrong, the patterns don\'t go with the quilt, the piecing has problems, they just quilt it and don\'t worry. That\'s all they know, most of the "quilters" are just doing their job. I quit worrying about them. jeri Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.