Commissioning Quilts -- Are you Good Enough?

Edna--just wanted to say that my original post had absolutely nothing to do with the recent thread/discussion about your new project. Actually I admire your confidence and the gusto with which you've taken it on! There's a lot of envy in my heart too (but it's a good envy)....because I really wish I did have that kind of confidence. Lord knows it would be nice if I could bring some income into this house. But go for it, girl! I'm right behind you cheering you on. When I did the baby quilt for money, I freaked out over everything. I freaked out over fabric choice. I freaked out every time the cats jumped on it. (and they are not used to that!) And so on, and so on. It sucked the fun right out of it.

I am very sorry if my post sounded otherwise or was the catalyst for what you may think was criticism.

Hey I just had a thought.....(I've been working on income taxes).....My total income for my quilting adventure of the last four years has been $200. That is one baby quilt, one first-place cash show award and one first-place baby quilt cash award. Now if we tally that up against what I've spent on tools, supplies and fabric....naw, let's not do that. :-)

Sherry

When people ask about baby quilts, they invariably say the word "heirloom." I think these are people who had a gramma who quilted and whose quilts were dearly loved and cherished. There aren't many quilters around here, and even fewer hand-quilters. I get the idea that money isn't a great issue. I can turn out a nice baby quilt pretty quickly, and enjoy doing it as long as I was making it for *me* to decide later if I will sell it or donate it or let the cats sleep on it. I'd be happy with $150 (which is the price the lady paid for the quilt I mentioned) Even though that probably wouldn't work out to much money per hour, the benefits are great. Handquilting calms me down. It makes the dreadfully long days home alone less long. I don't worry about the bills, or the kids, or think about how sick I am when I am handquilting. I think you have a good idea, for my situation anyway. I love doing baby quilts. I am pretty good at it. I have lots of suitable stash and even more batting, and there's lots of winter left. I don't work and don't have any income of my own. It would be really nice to have a little mad money here and there for guilt-free fabric shopping. So there it is! No stress, no deadline for finishing, Never hurts to try, no?

Sherry

Well, then. I need to warn you. Sometimes, I make a quilt that along the way I decide is Ugly. The last one was a Dale Earnhardt #3 black, white and red. I just barely made me finish it and didn't even think the Yorkie would sleep on it. Wouldn't you just know? My sister came tearing through on her way to a baby shower and had to have the perfect crib quilt. There were at least a dozen crib quilts here. Their destination was for NIN; I can't sell them or the irs and ss and nbc would have a fit. Anyhow. Which one did she just have a fit over and carry off to the shower so pleased and proud that she had the Perfect gift? You know. The #3. In conclusion? If you're going to have some around that you might sell, go ahead and make some whose colors/taste decor whatever? is peculiar. Beauty in the eye of the beholder and all that. Polly

When people ask about baby quilts, they invariably say the word "heirloom." I think these are people who had a gramma who quilted and whose quilts were dearly loved and cherished. There aren't many quilters around here, and even fewer hand-quilters. I get the idea that money isn't a great issue. I can turn out a nice baby quilt pretty quickly, and enjoy doing it as long as I was making it for *me* to decide later if I will sell it or donate it or let the cats sleep on it. I'd be happy with $150 (which is the price the lady paid for the quilt I mentioned) Even though that probably wouldn't work out to much money per hour, the benefits are great. Handquilting calms me down. It makes the dreadfully long days home alone less long. I don't worry about the bills, or the kids, or think about how sick I am when I am handquilting. I think you have a good idea, for my situation anyway. I love doing baby quilts. I am pretty good at it. I have lots of suitable stash and even more batting, and there's lots of winter left. I don't work and don't have any income of my own. It would be really nice to have a little mad money here and there for guilt-free fabric shopping. So there it is! No stress, no deadline for finishing, Never hurts to try, no?

Sherry

Howdy!

Okay, so I'm not getting this - where's the hostility(?) coming from? You get to say what you want to say, same here. No dissing from me; some of my best friends are lawyers. No competition, either; It's Just Quilting. I do things my way- funny how most people could say the same, "I do things my way." hmmm... I know I've heard that somewhere....

As I said, "Quilt what you like; like what you quilt."

Good luck to you; you've taken on a big project, and appear to be enjoying it. Cool. Cheers!

R/Sandy ;-D

My response would have been "Damn skippy I don't. Here's your quilt. Give me my money back."

Then let everyone you know not to go to her......

I don't know what's wrong with her. I can't imagine that her taste is that far off---I can't imagine that she'd consider that acceptable work if the quilt was for herself.

Which leads me to wonder if she doesn't have psychological problems rather than artistic problems: "Well, that's good enough for YOU. Good enough for "I'm only doing it for the money." It's not like I'm doing it for anyone I CARE about." Especially with that sort of manipulative bullying her into accepting a piece of crap as an end product for full price.

--pig

The one time I did a commissioned quilt, was for the local library. They asked me to do one to fill a particular space in the Computer area. I did a 4' x8' horizontal quilt and hung it in place, and everybody raved about it and it made the local paper. Everything went fine for about a year. Enter the new Fire Chief from the local Volunteer Fire Dept. fresh from a course on fire safety and wanting to exercise his newfound power. He took it upon himself to declare that because the quilt was hanging above the computer workstation area it was endangering the building by providing a vehicle for fire from a computer that spontaneously combusts, or otherwise catches fire, to migrate to the ceiling. He then proceeded to lower the quilt so that half of the quilt was covered by the computer workstation, and did a bad job of hanging it to boot. All this to a quilt that was hung on a Brick wall. The walls of the library are covered by quilts, but mine got the fire safety treatment. The librarian was very apologetic and said that there was nothing she could do about it. I rehung the quilt properly in the required position as dictated by the Chief. and said Oh Well, thats life. The last time I was in the library I noticed that they had removed the computer station and there was the quilt in full exposure, with nothing blocking it's view. I guess they like the quilt better than the view of the quilt with a computer in front of it. Maybe there is some justice in the world, after all. I think that when others enter into the process of quilting, that becomes one too many participants. That is my one experience with commissioned quilts. Need I say, it is also my last? So be it. John

Yes, Roberta, there really are. Recently I visited a friend of a friend. She had a litter of baby Yorkies and invited me to come snuggle the puppies. (That was fun.) There were 3 quilts in her living room that she was very proud of and honestly, they were pitiful. 4 stitches to the inch, seams coming loose, shabby fabric. Fortunately, a gang of puppies was grandly distracting and I wasn't forced to say more than 'how nice'. Polly

"Roberta" Are there people out there trying to make their own quilts who have

I do NOT quilt for money. I know my limits and level of "expertise". Even tho I've been quilting for over 30 years, I still won't persue a profit for one of my quilts. That is not to say that I haven't done quilts for gifts. I have. I've even let some family members pay for fabric if they want something special. Each one has been warmly welcomed and used, thank goodness. =)

If you feel you have the confidence to do quilting for cash, by all means, go for it. Who am I to disuade you. As for that woman who made the Bear quilt...shame on her. She gives quilters a bad name.

amy in CNY

Hi Leslie. I nearly had a similar experience. About 4 or 5 years ago I tried to barter for some chiropractic services for DS, DD & me, offering to make a wall hanging quilt (about 3'x5')of the chiropractor's logo. It would have been an awesome applique' quilt in batiks, very stunning. I had brought in a few samples of my work to show him, including some ribbon-winners. It would be combining my education in graphic design along with my experience in sewing & quilting, trading it for his education in chiropractic. I thought it would be a win-win for everyone.

He (& his wife, his office manager) thought about it for awhile, then suggested a big bed quilt (king size, to the floor!) for her parents' upcoming milestone wedding anniversary instead. They wanted it to be meaningful, with family photos on it, maybe some signatures, etc., sort of a "family tree" pieced quilt. I worked up a proposal based on that information, for a pieced quilt. Even bought EQ5 (this was right before EQ6 came out) to make the mock up printout look good. Then they said no, they also wanted a depiction of the St. Lake City Temple on it.

So, I drafted a nice applique' pattern of the temple to use in the center of the quilt, with the pieced blocks around it (where the photos and signatures could be included), and made new mockup printouts. And then they said, no, they really wanted something more like "this" and showed me a picture of the world's ugliest quilt-kit-you-can-buy-and-make-yourself of the SLC temple.

At that point, *I* said no, and stopped going to that chiropractor.

Dragonfly

Great story, D'fly. I particularly like the ending. Polly

"Dragonfly" Hi Leslie. I nearly had a similar experience. About 4 or 5 years ago I tried

Sherry, I took no offense whatsoever from your starting this thread, and I hope I didn't sound like I did. What I *was* trying to do with my reply was to encourage you to believe that you do have the professionalism necessary to do quilts on commission if that's what you want to do! And I tried to offer an illustration with my own experience of dealing with my delightful client on the commission that I've accepted, for whatever use that might be to you.

ep

Edna--just wanted to say that my original post had absolutely nothing to do with the recent thread/discussion about your new project. Actually I admire your confidence and the gusto with which you've taken it on! There's a lot of envy in my heart too (but it's a good envy)....because I really wish I did have that kind of confidence. Lord knows it would be nice if I could bring some income into this house. But go for it, girl! I'm right behind you cheering you on. When I did the baby quilt for money, I freaked out over everything. I freaked out over fabric choice. I freaked out every time the cats jumped on it. (and they are not used to that!) And so on, and so on. It sucked the fun right out of it.

I am very sorry if my post sounded otherwise or was the catalyst for what you may think was criticism.

Hey I just had a thought.....(I've been working on income taxes).....My total income for my quilting adventure of the last four years has been $200. That is one baby quilt, one first-place cash show award and one first-place baby quilt cash award. Now if we tally that up against what I've spent on tools, supplies and fabric....naw, let's not do that. :-)

Sherry

... portion snipped ...

My knee jerk reaction was to say that I am absolutely not good enough to be a "professional" quilter, who would be capable of doing a commissioned quilt. That is, I thought that I simply do not put in sufficient sewing time to be highly accurate and proficient.

I do sew much more accurately than when I first started quilting, which was just a few months after I bought my sewing machine. When I make slight mistakes, I often say to myself, "this is good enough for me" or "I won't care if everything does not match up later". It's not that I cannot fix those minor errors -- I just don't take the time to do so. If I were to do a commissioned quilt, then I would need to take the time to make those corrections and in the process of doing so, it would make me more accurate & proficient. With that said, I am taking baby steps to be both more accurate & proficient -- just without any pressure :-).

So, yes I am capable of sewing a commissioned quilt; however, I think that I would not want to do so. As others noted, it can take the fun out of doing what for me is a hobby. I recently completed a quilt top for my DS. Although it came out very nicely, I did not like the pressure it put on me, even though there was no set deadline. Please note, it was my idea to make it for her -- she did not request it -- so the pressure was all of my own doing. Like you I stressed over everything (and there was a lot to stress over and I did a lot of "firsts" for me in that quilt). Recently (January) I decided that in the future I will either make quilts for myself, DH or anonymous donations. I'm not sure what I would do if a family member requested one, but given what I've been told in the past, I think that's highly unlikely anyway :-).

My opinion might be different if the only way that I could afford my hobby would be to do commissions.

Bev in TX