Enchanted Quilter

I have had my machine over 20yrs sewn many quilts some for $$ but mostly for my own pleasure. I agree with the above I don't need any stress got rid of it when I retired. I was a bill collector for a Major crdt card co 25yrs.

hatchet

Now that had to be stressful!!

Mizgoodie

I would love to have one but I'm afraid of not being able to learn to use it. It would just be for me and for the few I do for myself and family. I'm not nearly as talented as some of you are so it would purely be for selfish reasons only.

sewwhat85

if only i could find a great cheap used one with about 3 months of lessons and all the accessories LOL

sweatnesNlite

o honey, their is no stupic questionz. U liv N u leanr.

Sweatie

funquilter

I got a very used LA ( 15 yrs old) works well no bells & whistles. I figure the quilts I have done on it for my own fun have covered the cost. Besides if we had a boat one wouldn't think it would have to pay for itself!

patricej

my friend's husband bought her a professional sized longarm setup some years ago. his only reason was that her daughter told him he should. it was a surprise gift to my friend.

she said that before they had even finished setting it up, there was a line of quilters begging for her services. she hadn't yet learned to use it and hadn't been considering "going pro".

it's been non-stop for her from that day on. she told me the whole thing was paid for by the end of the first year.

as others have already pointed out nobody can count on their story ending that well. but ... apparently ... it's possible that a longarm rig will pay for itself within a reasonable length of time.

Shelbie

There's more to long arm quilting than just making money to pay for the machine. My friend bought a long arm Gammil with the thought of making it a full time business. She is really an artist at heart and found that she was spending so much time on customer quilts (she does a great job!) that she had no time or interest in working on her own. Having to work for $ to pay off her machine and the rent of the space to run her business made it all work and no fun. She finally decided to go back to her nursing, move her machine to her porch so she could get rid of her rental space and just quilt a few quilts for special friends and pursue her hobby once again. The longarm business doesn't work for everyone.

Hen3rietta

I don't have a longarm business, but I have an artisanal glass business. Custom work, shows etc. The best advice is that you do it because you love it and if you are perchance lucky enough that it evolves into a full paying business, then quit your day job. At the same time, if you are going into it to make money, then you need to investigate the best ways to do that before buying all the equipment and how can you deal with a downturn in the bigger stuff. In my own case, I've been making a lot of what I call ornaments, because for the last few years with this economy, that it all that have been selling.

smockingRN

Hi Hatchet,
This is a very good question and set me to thinking. I paid to have 2 tops longarm quilted in 2007. They were so beautifully done, and so expensive that I decided to invest in a machine. I bought my APQS in 2007, intending to quilt as a business, when I retired from nursing. I'm STILL not retired, but have grown to LOVE longarming. I think I would be quilting full-time if not for my well paid nursing job.
It is surprisingly difficult to master longarm quilting. I say surprising, because I've been sewing all my life and most sewing skills came easily...NOT so with longarm quilting. I think it takes a few years to master feathers, freehanding, etc. It is quite an impressive skill set!
I do believe that I could have paid for my setup costs ($30,000, including the portable building, rulers, batting, etc, etc, etc) by quilting, IF I had retired from nursing and quilted full-time. Alot depends on your area, demand, the economy, etc. Good Luck!
Karen in La.