Peckish

I wonder what the quilting is like and how many customers they have. I took a class from Carla Barrett, who was a phenomenal quilter and then transitioned into a longarm teacher. Margaret Solomon Gunn was one of her students. Carla said she got to the point where she was so in demand that she raised her prices, then raised them again, because she was so inundated with customers. The demand was there and people were willing to pay the price. She finally would only do quilts for certain people, then eventually I believe she retired from quilting for others altogether. Now she just teaches.

I have a friend who has 2 longarms in her shop in the Portland area. Her rates:

Basic e2e (edge to edge) $.018 per inch
moderate $.025/inch
high $.028/inch

custom starting at $.035/inch
heirloom starting at $.060/inch

quiltingshorttimer

I'm a LAQ in KS (outside the KC area) and charge about what is shown above. I'm not partial to doing pantos--hurts my neck to work from the back of the machine, and find that many of my clients want ruler work, so when I was spending 20-30 hrs and several thread changes on a queen or king size quilt, I raised them to what you show.
BobbieLinks--if you are doing custom work, with thread changes &/or rulers, then you should raise your prices!

GEMRM

Interesting discussion here, I've never really known exactly what a longarm quilter would charge....

ckcowl

Location matters— no idea where you are so no idea what the prices are like in your area.
Each long arm quilter has their own formulas for pricing. Not all long arm quilts have machines with ( built in designs) I’ve been quilting for 15 years for customers, I do hand guided free motion quilting. There is a list here on the board of long arm quilters arranged by location. Maybe you could check the list & contact someone in your area to see what prices are offered. I know here the quilters who have the computerized systems that digitize designs charge about double what those of us without those systems charge.

jmoore

At a sit & sew last week, I heard discussion that our LQS charges 1.5 cents which I think is reasonable but I started quilting my own about 4 years ago. Unfortunately, I have to drive 45 minutes to rent a LA for my larger quilts but I do lap and baby on my DSM.

Cindy60545

I'm another Longarmer for hire here in Texas, just east of Dallas. I'm with the majority with my price range. Bobbielink, you're selling yourself short on your talents & your profits with your prices so low. It also gives customers a wrong impression as to what should be charged for our services. We've spent a lot of money for our machines ($10,000+), threads, tools, rulers, classes, etc. In general, about 4 times what general quilting stuff costs. To recoup any part of it, we have to charge a reasonable fee. As our skills improve & our demand gets greater, we can then raise those fees accordingly.
To answer you, BusyLizzie, .02 cents per square inch is pretty much the standard for an overall edge-to-edge pattern.

Shorebird

I am a long arm quilter in Winchester, VA. My rate for a basic e2e design is $0.0185 per sq inch, and customers furnish their own backing and batting. If the design chosen is a dense one, the rate goes up to $0.0195 er sq inch. I have recently had to begin charging for thread, and that is $1.00 per bobbin. These rates are for computer-assisted designs.

costumegirl

I do not LA and have taken my tops to a variety of quilters who do. I am very appreciative of their different skill and creativity levels and think that they do not get the credit that they deserve for making lovely tops outstanding. Quilting can really make the difference, as you all know, in a top being "nice and pretty" to "really fantastic" and I believe LA's deserve compensation for their hard work.

QuiltyReese

You may be able to get a deal for long arm quilting from a newish quilter trying to get experience and/or customers. Especially if you are sending in multiple tops. Let me know if that interests you and I can get you some contact info.

Peckish

Just be sure you and the new longarmer have a very detailed conversation about what your expectations and her skills are. There's a story on The Quilt Show's blog about a quilter who used a new longarmer. She made a quilt with southwestern colors and wanted it quilted with a cactus and some coyotes. When she went to pick it up, the cactus was there, but the longarmer explained she didn't know how to quilt coyotes, so she drew them on the quilt with a permanent marker. I think this was a person who had never made or even owned a quilt in her life, and that's NOT the longarmer I'd want working on my quilts!