wifemomquilter Posted December 17, 2007 Report Share Posted December 17, 2007 Hi, i'm new to the LA business. my ad comes out in local papers tomorrow. How do you price a quilt with 2 designs. an all-over and a seperate for the border. would you charge the all-over price for the square inches that are done with, say, a simple meander and the panto price for the # of sq.in. in the border? or a 2-design price for the total sq.in.? thanks for your help. Carmen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramona-quilter Posted December 17, 2007 Report Share Posted December 17, 2007 Hi Carmen, Welcome to the forum. Pricing is very subjective. If you have already researched your market and know what to charge, that is half the battle. I think that border quilting really adds something special to a quilt. It frames the quilt. If a piecer is going to take the time and $$ to add borders, I think that the quilt deserves to have the border quilted as a separate design element. Of course, the border will coordinate with the quilt theme-wise and density, too. A quilt with an open panto in the center looks odd with a dense border; it lacks balance. Two things that you have to factor in are: Do you plan to SID (sitich in the ditch) the border(s)? On a longarm, this is not an easy task. It is time-consuming thus should be charged appropriately. Does the border design dictate that the quilt be turned? For example, a freemotion leave or flower border could be quilted after you quilt that panto row. So no quilt turning would be required. But if you decide to do a chain or cable, that is a border design that looks best done in one continuous motion, no stop/starts. You will have to unpin the quilt and turn it and pin again. This all takes time. More time means more money. In my area, if a panto edge to edge costs $100; a panto with a separate border and SID would get charge $125. A panto with a separate border, SID and turning would cost about $135. That is just the way I do it. Hope that helps. You will get other advice on this forum, too. We all like to share. Take what you need and in 6 months or so you will be answering the questions from other newbies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sewingupastorm Posted December 17, 2007 Report Share Posted December 17, 2007 Carnen welcome to the longarm business. A couple of years ago I was asking all those same questions. There is unfortunalty no set prices for longarm work. Here is how I decided to set my prices. 1. I began at a lower rate as my work was not as refined as some that had been working for a long time. Basicly how I handled this was set prices and then gave startup discounts. As my work got better and I gained more customers the discounts went away. I have even raised a few of my prices in the meantime as well. 2. I spent ALOT of time cruising other peoples longarm sites. I looked at what they did, the quality of the work they did and their geographic location. I then went with prices I felt were competitive. 3. One of the biggest things in getting started is getting customers. Once you get a good customer base you will begin to have return business. Some peple (depending on where they live) begin with a good base very fast and other people take longer to gain repeat customers. 4. I think it is very important to try to determine the going rate in your geographic area as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skrat Posted March 26, 2008 Report Share Posted March 26, 2008 To all you helpful people out there. I had a customer ask what I would charge her to baste her quilt on my LA for her to hand quilt. I don\'t have a clue as to what to charge. Can you give me some guidance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Beth Posted March 26, 2008 Report Share Posted March 26, 2008 I charge the same as my minimum fee. So if you have a minimum fo $40...that is what I do...others will have different ideas I am sure! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yeoldeforest Posted March 26, 2008 Report Share Posted March 26, 2008 For basting, I\'ve also seen 1/2 cent with a minimum price of $25 to $40 per quilt...depends on you. When I was new, I took a cut in jobs to get experience so I would quilt for $25.00. I think I remember basting a queen for around $30 to $40 (include a thread charge). You might want to consider using water soluble thread but make sure the quilt maker is going to pre-soak or wash her quilt - you need warm water to remove the soluble thread...otherwise use a cheap thread (not black).... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SandraC Posted March 26, 2008 Report Share Posted March 26, 2008 I also charge my minimum, $40, because even though the basting is a quick procedure there is still the time involved in mounting the quilt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skrat Posted March 26, 2008 Report Share Posted March 26, 2008 Thank you all for your input. I can always come here for answers. You all are great. Now I know what to do. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wifemomquilter Posted March 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 Shannon, what great timing! A week or so ago, I posted a thread wondering just how to do this basting on the LA. losts of wonderful answers came back. I never thought about pricing as my project is for my church guild and I will be doing that free of charge. you can be sure that I will keep track of my time so if a customer needs this done I can charge accordingly. thanks to everybody for all the great info I can soak up on these pages. Carmen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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