How Christine Duvall Built Her Longarm Quilting Business in Year One

Jumping In: Why Christine Started Her Longarm Quilting Business

Christine Duvall’s journey to starting a longarm quilting business began with a leap of faith. Despite having quilted for over a decade, she had never used a longarm machine before opening her shop in Elmira, New York. “I had rented a long arm once, maybe 10 years ago… but I had never long armed before. Cold turkey. I jumped in with both feet,” she recalls.2:22 Her decision was sparked when the only local storefront longarmer considered retiring, and Christine realized the opportunity to fill a community need. After the original plan to buy that shop fell through, she bought a former hair salon two blocks from her home and decided to start fresh with a new machine.6:03

Christine’s story shows that starting a longarm quilting business doesn’t require years of longarm experience, but it does demand a willingness to learn, a strong work ethic, and a passion for quilting. Her business background—owning a laundromat, rental properties, and previous restaurants—gave her the confidence to take the plunge and the discipline to do the research and due diligence needed for success.6:30

Setting Up Shop: Equipment, Training, and Workflow

Christine opted for a brand new Gammill Ascend, prioritizing a strong commercial warranty and reliable customer support. “I decided to get a brand new machine. So all the problems, I don’t inherit any, anybody’s problems. I went with a brand new Ascend… and I just ordered my second one yesterday”.6:54 She also invested in the Gammill laptop and Creative Studio software, which allowed tech support to help her remotely when needed.13:11

Her approach to learning was hands-on and intensive. Christine watched all the manufacturer’s videos, attended owner training, and leaned on the supportive online quilting community. “Quilters are such a supportive community… any question, my very first trouble that I ran into with a quilt, I put it up on there and within three minutes, I had 10 people answer my question”.10:44

Christine’s workflow quickly ramped up: “I’ve done over a hundred customer quilts now, and probably 70 Quilts of Valor, which I do pro bono. And I learn with every single quilt still, every single one”.9:34

Finding Customers and Growing Organically

Rather than launching with heavy advertising, Christine let her business grow organically through word of mouth and her local quilt guild. “I chose to let it grow organically instead of getting out there and promoting it and advertising or anything like that. I belong to the local quilt guild. It’s a very tight knit community, but people are also very loyal to their long armors too”.15:17

Her first few months were modest: “In October, I did maybe, I don’t know, eight quilts or 10 quilts, and it’s been pretty much doubling every month”.15:43 The local quilt show in April brought more exposure, with 15–20 of the quilts in the show having her name as the longarmer.16:09

Christine’s shop is open four days a week, but she’s often there seven, and now sees “three to five new faces” each day she’s open, in addition to repeat customers.16:43 She attributes her steady growth to quality work, fast turnaround, and a collaborative, welcoming environment.

Pricing Strategies and Building a Pattern Library

Christine set her edge-to-edge quilting rate at 1.75 cents per square inch, planning to increase to 2 cents as her business and reputation grow.31:22 “My rate per square inch is below market, but I said, either when I get my next machine or I hit my one year anniversary, I’m going to go up to market,” she explains.22:39

To build her pattern library and attract customers, Christine offered to purchase any pattern a customer wanted for their quilt during her grand opening period. “For the first nine months, if you want to pick out a pattern that I don’t have, I will buy it. So there’s $15 right off the top, 12 to $15 of profit, but I’m putting it back in the business because I get to keep those patterns”.22:01 She has added about 200 patterns in her first seven months.22:19

Custom quilting pricing is still evolving for her, and she’s learning what the local market will bear. “Most people charge about $45 an hour for custom, but some do it by the square inch, anywhere from three to 13 cents a square inch, depending on the level of custom”.32:34

Balancing Custom Work and Scaling Up

As Christine’s reputation grew, she began taking on more custom quilting jobs. “I just started doing some custom quilts this past month. So it was nerve wracking and I’m very slow… that’s when I said, I definitely need a second machine because with the custom quilts, they were on the frame for so long. I was getting back up with the regular edge that were coming in”.11:35

Her solution was to order a second machine, so she can keep edge-to-edge work flowing while custom projects are on the frame. “Now the second machine, I can put the custom quilts on there, do my classes on there while I’m running the other one edge to edge and paying the rent or paying the mortgage”.12:02

Christine currently works alone but anticipates hiring help for pressing, trimming, and binding as her business grows. “I think in the beginning, I’d probably have somebody just pressing and trimming the quilts, maybe, you know, doing bindings because bindings can become time consuming too”.36:57

Customer Service and Creating a Welcoming Space

Christine’s shop is designed to be a welcoming, collaborative space. “I set the shop up as kind of a tea room. So there’s a real tea room feel. When they come in, I quilted about 50 or 75 little mini quilts so they could feel different battings and feel different densities”.28:30

She involves customers in the design process, texting them several pattern options and discussing their preferences. “It’s a real collaborative process… people have really gotten pretty jazzed about being part of the process”.29:00

Christine is also transparent about challenges, especially when quilts aren’t square or have issues. “I keep the customer in the loop. I send pictures and say, look, this is how wavy it is on the sides. I will do my absolute darndest not to pleat it… but if you keep, always keep your customer in the loop. For me, I don’t make any executive decisions”.26:47

Work-Life Balance and Advice for New Longarmers

Christine works about 50 hours a week in her shop, plus time at home on social media and research. “I’m always working on it. I’m watching videos when I’m home or posting pictures on Facebook… I eat, sleep, and breathe it right now”.21:16 She believes in reinvesting all profits in the first year and cautions against burning out: “The first year of business… you pour all your profits back into the business and you just work seven days a week. Everything in that first year is about the business”.21:26

She’s mindful of making time for her own piecing, recognizing the risk of burnout: “I’m quilting a lot of other people’s quilts, but I haven’t done any piecing, but it’s coming. I don’t want to burn out… I’m going to take a day and it’s just going to be for me. I’m going to come in here and do some piecing, because it makes me happy”.24:05

Her advice for newcomers: “If you don’t belong to your local quilt guild definitely get involved… being, I reached out to Quilts of Valor immediately like my first week that I opened because I really am passionate about helping the veterans, but it was great… my learning curve was cut down a lot by doing those Quilts of Valor in the beginning”.42:14

Looking Ahead: Growth, Community, and Joy

Christine is preparing to sell her other businesses and focus solely on quilting. “I’m selling my last rental property… and then I’m going to get rid of my laundromat and this’ll be it”.36:46 She sees quilting as both a business and a source of personal fulfillment: “When I come in here… this is my Zen space, this is my happy place… If you do what you love, you will never work a day in your life”.40:17

She’s excited about the future of the industry and encourages others to jump in: “If you’re like me and a very fact-based… the growth in the quilting industry… they’re expecting it by 2027 to hit five billion dollars a year. That’s huge… So, I mean, some people consider it still a niche industry, it’s not, it’s becoming much more mainstream. A lot of really young quilters are getting into it now”.45:16