The first month at Dot’s December 6, 2009

Almost a month has gone by since I last posted.  Not because I have lost interest but simply because I have been having such an incredible time working at Dot’s Quilts.  It feels alot longer than a month ago that I started working for Dorothy.   I have learnt a whole lot of new things about quilting and I will continue to eagerly learn.

What have I been doing at Dot’s Quilts ?  It is hard to know where to start so I thought the best way to convey what I have been doing is to put it in pictures.  However there are more photos on my mobile but I have mislaid that data cable for download onto my laptop.

2 quilts which we put together in a morning made up of squares painted by children

The front of a quilt made up of Amy Butler fabrics

'Amy's' quilt with the border attached

The next pictures are of my current favourite.  This is actually the backing for the ‘Amy’ quilt.  I started this quilt piecing feeling very uninspired.  I could not ‘feel’ the quilt and how to piece it together until Dorothy showed me ideas from her collection of patterns on the PC.   When  I saw  pattern of Amy Butler’s, it all fell into place for me.  I love the colours of this quilt.   This quilt still needs to be quilted which Dorothy will do over the holidays on her new quilting frame.  It is roughly around 80 x 90 inches in size.

Close up of the fabrics

Half of the quilt

I will take more photos of the finished quilt this week before we close for Christmas.

I cannot imagine myself going back to office work and I really hope that I will never have to do so again.   I enjoy my days sewing so much and I wish the days were longer that I was working in order for me to finish more quilts.  I  look forward to many more months of quilting if the first month is anything to gauge.

Tomorrow is the start of something new November 9, 2009

A few weeks ago I went to Bernina for another lesson with my lovely teacher.  She told me about a woman who has recently opened her own quilting business and who is looking for a seamstress to help her out.  My teacher suggested that I contact her and see what she has to offer.

At the time I was in the throws of packing up the house for the move to the bigger house.  So I called Dorothy to introduce myself.  The phone call went well and I promised to contact her once the move was over.   Which is what I did last week and we agreed to meet last Friday.

I met with Dorothy and I felt like we clicked from the word go.  She has her shop and business set up in a light industrial unit in Epping and it is very nice.    She offered me a job 3 days a week with a low salary.    I am really looking at the bigger picture and I am so excited about what I am going to learn and the equipment which I will gain experience using.

I start tomorrow and I can hardly contain my excitement.   Here I am at 34 years old and about to embark on a total change of career and what is more doing something that I am truly passionate about.

Take a look at the website for Dots Quilts

My first of many R100 notes!! September 24, 2009

After my trial pricing run the same friend I mentioned in my previous post referred a client from her salon to me.  The client wanted a batman suit to be altered for her 3 year old son.

Alterations are not my favourite sewing and I cringe when people ask me about doing it.  But this time I thought I need to look at it differently.  It may mean a customer who will return for a quilt or something else to be made.

As it turned out the alteration took me an hour and a half.    They paid me R100 for the work done.  So in effect I have made my first R100 with little effort.

Trial run September 24, 2009

Last week a friend of mine referred her sister to me for my first ‘order’.  The sister wanted to cot quilts to be made for her niece and nephew before the end of September.

I felt totally thrown in the deep end as I had no idea what to charge or the cost of fabrics.   I did some quick research and I was amazed at the prices I must charge.

I went down to a fabric shop and took some photos of fabrics which I thought would look suitable and made a costing of whow much I needed and what it would cost me.  I am unsure what to charge for my labour so I went onto a local crafting website which I subcribe to.   I posted a question about this topic and I was at first stunned at the response I received.  A woman replied and I thought at first that she was rather harsh but I realised that she was being realistic in her opionion if I want to make this dream of mine work.

I have ALOT of homework and research to do before I start with this project.  Here is what I posted and her reply:

Hi

I would like some advice from all the quilters who make quilts to sell.

I am starting out with making and selling items which I have quilted. I am going to be doing this full time from October but I have someone wanting an order done before 30 September and I need to give her a quote. (I had planned to do my research in October when I am no longer working fulltime but I cannot turn this lady away so I have to rush to get her a quote and the work done)

I was wondering if you could give me an idea of what is a reasonable price to quote for making quilts? The price would need to include the fabrics. What is the going rate for labour per hour for quilting or sewing?

The lady needing the quote would like me to make 2 cot quilts as a gift for someone. Both children are sleeping in camp cots so I thought the size I would make for the quilt will be around the size of 115 x 130cm. (Is this a fair size?) I am going to source the fabrics myself and possibly include some embroidery design/s on the quilts depending on the fabrics I find.

She have also requested that I personalise face cloths and towels. I have requested that she purchase these items and I will embroider on them. What could I charge for these items? With this order I will be using designs I already have on my PC so I wont be digitizing the design – not sure if this affects the price.

I really appreciate your help and advice.
Regards Laura

Here is the reply:

Hi Laura,
Please look underthe Forum discussion ” What To Charge For Highly Skilled Work”. There has been a huge amount of discussion around this topic over the past two weeks with a lot of information about how to price the materials and your labour.

DONT think of making quilts – or any craftwork for that matter your business unless you have researched it properly as you WILL come horribly short. It’s not a maybe or possibility – you will. From the gist of your email it sounds as though you havent even begun to start researching quilt making as a business and you should turn down this current commission as I am betting that the customer thinks she will be getting a couple of quilts for around 200.00 a piece-if not less.

Just the quilting alone on one quilt would probably be in the region of R250.00 excluding batting and backing and that would be at my cheapest price and I can tell you that on a long arm it will probably take about an hour with setup and take down included. Binding? 50c per running inch =R123.00 if sewn down by hand. Backing ? 1.35 X R90.00 =R121.00. Batting R34.00. You can only buy fabrics and batting retail so you will be paying premium prices.So far we are hitting around R500.00 without the fabrics and the labour for the top.

I can tell you that I charge around R1000.00 for a cot quilt with a very simple design.

With regard to the embroidery designs be very careful that they are not for personal use only – as most of them are. If they are you are running the risk of infringing copyright.Have you found out how commission embroiderers charge? If you havent then you have some homework to do.

So what happened?  I quote the sister R700 per quilt and she turned me down as she was expecting to pay R200 per quilt!!!  My first lesson in this business which is new to me.

It was a very good exercise and trial run for me and I did feel rather let down afterwards and unsure but now I am more inspired to get it right the next time around.  I will not work until I am sure about my prices and not accept anything less.

My dream is progressing! September 11, 2009

This blog should become a very busy blog after September.  I have resigned from my job and I will have the time to properly begin my dream for Lasting Creations.

I have been a busy girl over the last couple of months.  In the previous post I listed a few things which I was keen to get going.   The first was a Quilting course.  I have completed the course and I loved every single moment of it and as a result I am now hooked on quilting.   I must take a photo of the quilted bag I made at the classes and post it here.

I met other like minded woman at the quilting class and one lady has invited me to join a crafting club which she attends every Wednesday morning.  I am looking forward to trying this one out in October.

With regards to the emboidery lessons.  I have completed the lessons on the embroidery digitizing software but I still need to do alot more practice.  I feel that I have not given myself enough time to learn as it has been very interupted learning.  I plan to go over all the lessons on my own during my time off.  Bernina also hold additonal classes for software should I wish to learn more.    I must still need to complete the lessons on the embroidery machine which I have stopped going to until I am at home.

The weekends over the last couple of months have been centred around me going to sewing classes.  DH has been fantastic with looking after the kids for  these Saturday mornings.  So I decided to wait to complete the lessons in order to give him some time off.   He is being very supportive of this venture and I could simply not have done this without him behind me.

I am delighted with the progress I am making towards my dream.   I have to pinch myself to make me believe that it is all real!

So much to do July 9, 2009

Since buying the Bernina machine and starting the lessons at their shop, I have  discovered that there are so many things that I can get involved with and meet other people with similar interests and talants.   Bernina hold various workshops and events across the whole board, catering for Beginners to Professionals.     I put myself somewhere inbetween as I am sure that there is so much more that I can learn.

My wish list of learning is as follows in no particular order:
Quilt making
Dress pattern making and design
Continuation of the Digitizing of embroidery designs
Continuation of machine embroidery

My wish list of things to become involved in:
Bernina Club Days - held monthly
Embroidery Club – held monthly
External Embroidery Club – held monthly at a local church hall.

So without taking into account of any days for learning new techniques, I am already wanting at least 1½ days off work per month.   These events are all held during office hours – which leaves me with a problem of somehow fitting them in or simply missing out.

It is rough to choose as I would like to be involved in all of the above.   Something needs to be done in order for me to really get involved with what I am so passionate about.   Right now I am unhappy in my job and the only thing I like about it, is that it helps pay the bills at the end of the month.  

When I am sitting quietly the thoughts which are dominating my mind are about taking the next step and the uncertainly of how I am going to do it.   I so desperately want to make the step. However there are so many factors to think about as well as getting the timing right and not leaving myself without any income.

Thankfully there is also an online community which I can get involved, without jeopdising my current job and setup.   So far I have registered on a few websites which cater for people who are doing various crafts as well as sites specifically for embroiderers. 

Last week I attended the Embroidery Club day at Bernina.  It was very interesting as we learnt some new techniques for digitizing designs.   The Club will cover many aspects of machine embroidery which I look forward to learning.  

There is so much to do where do I start?

Free Couch! June 26, 2009

Who says that there is nothing free in life.   Almost 2 years ago I managed to pick up a couch for free.   The only problem with it was that it lacked cushions.  The rest of it was/is in very sound condition with a bit of mending to the loose cover.   I set about with great determination to make cushions for the couch only to fail to finish the cushion covers.  So for 2 years I have begun to hate to look of the couch.  The cushions were not quite right and kept on losing shape.  I had even begun to look at replacing the couch but the cost of a new couch put me off.

But all is not lost as I completed the job about 2 weeks ago and now I wonder why I took so long.  The couch looks great and DH has dressed it with scatter cushions and a throw on the seat of the couch.   Make me proud of my talent for sewing.

My Baby’s first Creation June 9, 2009

I did my first piece of machine embroidery the other night.  It is for the tutorial lesson which I go to every Tuesday evening at Bernina.   So I have not tidied up this piece in order for my teacher to crit me on it this evening.  I am rather nervous and very critical of my own work. 

I think I could have done better.  I suspect I did not hoop the material correctly as it looks a bit bumpy in places around the embroidery.    So I will wait to see what my teacher thinks of it.

Design #1

My Bernina baby June 9, 2009

Her name is Benette Deco 340, she is still very new and only been used a few times.  But I see that this new love affair is going to last for many years to come.  Here she is!

My third Baby!

Starting my dream….. June 9, 2009

Starting my dream…… here is where it begins. 

My dream is to run my own sewing business.  The last few months I have felt the closest to this life long dream than I have ever felt before.  I am determined more than ever to make this work.  So I will start here by putting my dream to a reality.  I don’t know all the details but I will work them out as I go along.  I have made excuses for too long as to why I am unable to make this dream a reality.

A friend told me the other day that I should look at ’2009′ as the year of ’2000 and mine’.   It is a nice thought and if I don’t start now then I may never get myself into gear.  The year is almost half gone and what have I got to show for it.

My wonderful DH has bought me my first embroidery sewing machine.   I got it about 3 weeks ago.  It is great and it increases my potential to do some amazing creations.  I have fantastic digitising software whicham learning how to use.   

I have begun looking at clothing which has embroidery designs with new eyes and think to myself I can do better or even that it will be so easy create similar items.

So watch this space in the next coming weeks, months or even years.

The dawn of ‘LASTING CREATIONS’