How Claire Marks Prices Longarm Quilting—and Finds the Right Customers

How Much to Charge for Longarm Quilting: Claire’s Exact Rates

If you’re wondering how much to charge for longarm quilting, Claire Marks offers a clear, real-world answer. For edge-to-edge quilting, she charges 2¢ per square inch. For custom quilting, her rate is 8¢ per square inch. “We’re gonna do two cents per square inch,” she says of her edge-to-edge work in her rural California market. “I know if you’re by, like, San Francisco, it’s like 2.5, but for here, because it’s out in the country, I’m gonna do two cents per square inch”.21:25 Thread is charged as a small extra fee, and batting is sold by the quilt shop owner, not Claire herself.21:49

Claire is candid about the realities of pricing in different regions. She notes that in more urban markets, such as San Francisco, rates can be higher, but she adjusts for her rural clientele. “For here, because it’s out in the country, I’m gonna do two cents per square inch,” she explains.21:33 This sensitivity to local economics helps her stay competitive while still valuing her work. She also emphasizes the importance of clear communication with customers about what is included in the price and what is extra, such as thread and batting.21:49

Her pricing structure reflects her experience with both custom and edge-to-edge work, and she encourages other quilters to consider their own market and costs when setting rates. “At eight cents per square inch, it makes a big difference to me,” she says of her custom work.12:04

Custom Quilting vs. Edge-to-Edge: Different Markets, Different Workflows

Claire’s business began with custom quilting, a niche she describes as “very small, little tiny category.” She typically handled about six custom quilts a year, each often on the machine for months. “Custom show quilting is very small, little tiny category. I don’t get all the people. I get only a small amount of people. And I’m willing to pay for it being worked on for a long time. Because sometimes it’s on the long arm for like three or four months,” she explains.11:04

Custom quilting clients are few, but they are loyal and willing to pay for the time and artistry involved. “On my best times, I would do like six customers a year. And that’s not that much. But it’s enough for me to keep going. At eight cents per square inch, it makes a big difference to me”.11:54 This allowed Claire to fund her own competition entries and quilting supplies, keeping her business sustainable without needing a high volume of clients.

After moving to rural California, she found less demand for custom work and more for edge-to-edge. This shift led her to invest in a computerized longarm to handle the increased volume and the different style of quilting her new customers wanted. “People are just lining up out the door for me to do that,” she says of edge-to-edge quilting.12:51 She notes that while she still does custom work for herself and a select few, the bulk of her business now comes from edge-to-edge, which is more scalable and less time-consuming per quilt.

Building a Customer Base: Guilds, Shows, and Lectures

Claire’s primary strategy for finding customers is through quilt guilds and show quilts. “Guilds are always a good place to find somebody. They’re always looking for people to quilt their stuff. I usually join the biggest guild I can find in my area,” she says.17:21

She also enters her quilts in shows and offers to lecture at guild meetings, bringing her finished work for members to see and touch. “If you’re winning awards and you’re entering competitions and it’s going all over the United States, people are going to go, oh my gosh, look at that quilting. And then they’re going to look up my name. And then they’re going to find my website or my Facebook. And then they can get a hold of me. And that’s how I get a lot of my customers,” Claire explains.17:45

Lecturing and trunk shows also help: “I go to them, and I ask to be a lecturer…I get to do a little trunk show, where I bring all my quilts, and I get to show them, and talk about them, which is really fun…That has made a big difference, because there’s only, you know, so many people in one guild, but there’s many guilds around you”.27:11

Claire’s approach is hands-on and personal. She brings her quilts to guild meetings, lets people touch and examine them, and answers questions about her process. This direct engagement builds trust and helps potential clients understand the value of her work. She also notes that word-of-mouth referrals from guild members have been essential to growing her business in both Washington and California.17:21

Adapting to Change: Moving and Rebuilding a Quilting Business

Moving states meant Claire had to rebuild her business from scratch. “Moving was…hard, and then finding people to be your customers is hard, and building that up, and finding space to put it, like, it’s a big machine,” she shares.22:59

In her previous home in Washington, quilting was popular due to the climate. In rural California, she found herself needing to adapt: “Here they’re like, you make what? I’m like quilts. And they’re like, you know, it’s 106. And you’re like, I know”.19:29 The cultural and climate differences meant she had to rethink her marketing and service offerings.

Partnering with a local quilt shop helped her get established in her new area. “There is one and she was really, really awesome to give me a chance, which is rare. It’s hard to find somebody that will be like, look, I want to come here and do stuff with you. And she’s like, all right, sure,” Claire says.19:43 She also had to make tough choices about space at home: “Do you want the TV or a couch, because one of them’s got to go…so then he gets to keep the TV, and then I put the long arm in the back, and I got him a little chair from Costco, it’s fine”.23:18

Claire’s story highlights the resilience required to move a quilting business. She emphasizes the importance of community connections, adaptability, and a willingness to start over when necessary. She also shares the logistical challenges of moving large equipment and finding suitable space in a new home.22:46

Equipment Choices: Hand-Guided and Computerized Longarms

Claire started with a 16-inch midarm, then upgraded to a Gammill Vision 2.0 (22” throat, 10’ table) for hand-guided work, and recently added a Gammill Statler (30” throat, 14’ table) for computerized quilting.24:16 She keeps the Vision at home and the Statler at a local shop, sharing space with the owner.7:01

She notes the importance of machine reliability: “I had heard that it had a really good reputation for being industrial…I just wanted something that I didn’t have to worry about that was just going to go for 35 years,” she says.10:08 Her decision was influenced by conversations with experienced quilters who had used the same machine for decades without issues.9:51

Claire also learned the hard way about ergonomics and training: “He set it up really low and I didn’t realize that I needed it higher. If you’re going to be doing that with your elbows all day long for hours and hours, that hurts. I actually hurt my elbow…I wish I had known that”.34:26 She encourages others to seek out proper machine setup and training to avoid injury and frustration.

Her experience also shows the importance of matching equipment to the type of work and volume you plan to do. The addition of a computerized machine allowed her to efficiently handle the increased demand for edge-to-edge quilting in her new market.12:51

Workflow and Work-Life Balance

Claire quilts about 14 hours a week—12 hours at home and 2 at the shop—plus time spent designing patterns for her Etsy store.20:29 She values the flexibility this business gives her: “I just do this, that’s it, and I’m a mom and I used to be a Navy wife, which was a job on its own, but now he’s retired, so we get to just have fun”.20:00

For Claire, quilting income is “fun money” that pays for trips to shows, supplies, and even home repairs. “The amount of money that I’ve made has led me to do such fun things. Like I use my money for me and my mom to go to shows that I’m in…and I still have extras so that when my husband’s like, oh, the windows, we need new windows…I can buy quilting windows”.31:17

She is clear that she is not trying to maximize income at the expense of enjoyment. “I know that there’s ladies out there that hustle and do it really, really well and make a lot of money, but I don’t, I don’t want to do that. I just want to have fun money,” she says.31:05 This approach allows her to balance her creative work, family life, and personal fulfillment.

Claire’s workflow is shaped by her priorities: she schedules quilting around her family and uses her business to fund her passions. She also finds satisfaction in being able to contribute to household expenses and enjoy the independence that comes with running her own business.31:52

Lessons Learned: Training, Experimentation, and Advice for New Quilters

Claire is candid about the value of formal training. She wishes she’d had beginner instruction: “I really wish that I had had that beginner instructive video because when I got my machine, the dealer that I bought it from, he sold exclusively computerized…I didn’t know about the coast button…Somebody taught me that four years later. I was like, oh my gosh, that’s amazing. What?”.33:37

She also learned about the importance of proper machine setup and ergonomics only after experiencing pain from a poorly adjusted table height. “If you’re going to be doing that with your elbows all day long for hours and hours, that hurts. I actually hurt my elbow…I wish I had known that”.34:26

Her advice for new longarmers: “To not be scared of your machine, to just go for it, do whatever you want. It can do a lot of things. It won’t break…Go for it. Do the fun things. Make beautiful things. Go for it. Don’t be scared. Just do what makes you happy. Don’t do anything that doesn’t make you happy because then it’s just work”.36:24

Claire also encourages experimentation and creativity. She describes quilting on unconventional materials, like spandex, and winning awards for her innovative work: “I am currently stitching on top of spandex and it is amazing. It does a million awesome things. It’s sparkly. It’s gorgeous. I’ve already won a couple of awards for it”.36:40 Her story is a reminder that success in quilting comes from a willingness to learn, adapt, and pursue what brings you joy.

The Role of Support: Family and Community

Claire credits her husband Jeremy and her mother as her biggest supporters. Her mother, an artist, encouraged her to pursue quilting and even accompanied her to buy her first longarm. “She’s always been the biggest person to push me…She’s the one that took me down to Gammill…That’s the reason why I got it. It was because my mom pushed me. Your mom believed in you. She, she’s the biggest believer. She always believes in me and she goes with me to shows and she’s always there patting my back and pushing me forward”.30:19

Her husband has been supportive—even when it meant rearranging the house or driving the longarm across state lines. “He had, oh, he didn’t tell you that I was so worried about the head and the Gammill machine itself, that I made him drive it from Washington all the way to California, and ride with it in the car, and I’m like, don’t slam on the brakes, just be gentle, and he’s like, you care about the machine more than me”.22:46

Claire’s story demonstrates the importance of a support system, both at home and in the quilting community. She also hopes to pass on the encouragement she received to her own child: “I hope when he grows…he’ll say the same thing about me. I hope so. Somebody has to believe in you before you can believe in yourself, I think sometimes”.33:17