Starting a Quilt Business. Advice and hints very welcome!

[Carla G.]

I'm starting a buisness out of necessity. The best motivation I think. I had a previous business in graphic design for over 11 years and had to give it up to focus on my two boys and their special needs. Seven years later and in a tiny town we found out that my husband's company is laying off and cutting checks. Ouch! I am an artist and a quilter and want to go into business creating commitioned wallhanging quilts. Any hints or advice in starting this would be greatly appreciated. I'm hoping to reach the internet market, so time away from my boy's needs will not be an issue. I will be posting some quilts under my profile or just check my website. http://www.claralawrenceart.com

Thanks and all help is appreciated.
Clara :mrgreen:

[Carla G.]

Wow, Clara, your quilts and photography are great. I also enjoy taking pictures of flowers, especially close ups. I'm hoping to make patterns for wall hangings from these pics. However, all I have is a 'point and shoot' camera. If I get a really good pic, it's usually an accident and I don't know how to reproduce it! I'm hoping to get a 'real' camera and maybe take some classes.

Good luck with your new endeavor. With the quality of your work, you will be a success.

Sharon in NE TN

[Lilo B.]

Hello Clara,

What a coincidence that you want information on opening a quilt shop. We are going to have Deb Luttrell (one of our sponsors "Stitchin Heaven") in a chat room coming up soon. She has owned her very successful shop for 10 years. They have a huge internet business. She will be giving us advise on opening and running a quilt shop. Look for the announcement of her chat date soon
Lilo

[Lilo B.]

I will be at that chat for sure! I am in a similar situation myself and not sure which way to turn.

Denise in a hot Minneapolis

[Lilo B.]

Hi,
I have been searching about selling wallhangings and realized that I would need a reseller certificate and business licence in order to buy wholesale. Just haven't figure out how to get these licences and certificates yet.
How are you doing with your business? have you started yet?

x

I'm starting a buisness out of necessity. The best motivation I think. I had a previous business in graphic design for over 11 years and had to give it up to focus on my two boys and their special needs. Seven years later and in a tiny town we found out that my husband's company is laying off and cutting checks. Ouch! I am an artist and a quilter and want to go into business creating commitioned wallhanging quilts. Any hints or advice in starting this would be greatly appreciated. I'm hoping to reach the internet market, so time away from my boy's needs will not be an issue. I will be posting some quilts under my profile or just check my website. http://www.claralawrenceart.com

Thanks and all help is appreciated.
Clara :mrgreen:

[Lilo B.]

Clara I've seen your work before (I think when your quilts hit the TQS gallery!) and only WISH I could be a customer! they're beautiful, and my little Curious George (age 10) is a quilter AND equestrian, he'd love it-- actually, he's seen them here too and wants one...
Anyway, I think one key to success on the internet is getting your site to rise to the top on searches. Wish I could tell you how to do it, but there IS a way, I just don't know it. You want to show up if someone is just looking for "horse art" or "equestrian art" b/c they may not be thinking of a quilt, but your work could easily win someone over!! Also "horse gifts" etc.
Also, from looking around your site, you may want to consolidate some of the info... for instance, the price and size don't show on your quilts for sale. Anything that makes it difficult for the user is a barrier. Even down to the purchasing, you've got the Ebay thing going w/ the photography, expand that to the quilts. I do love the style of your site
If you can advertise, target, target, target. Maybe a horse magazine has a classified section where you could try a small ad & see if that works. And remember, advertising is not an expense, it's a revenue-generator!
Good luck with this, I certainly hope any quilter trying to make a living out of it is successful, but You've really got something special here.
Florence
who will be taking Curious George to his riding lesson in less than an hour on a beautiful day in Virginia

[Lilo B.]

Some ideas came to my mind that I thought I'd share:

Take some of your photos or images of your quilts and turn them into a calendar. (that might make if more affordable for some people).

Try to affiliate yourself with other horse related sites. For example do a search for gifts for horse lovers and look into those that come up at the top of the list. You could sell to or through them, put an advertisement on their site, or simply ask them to link to you.

I think I noticed that you were selling through ebay? Another outlet is to set up a store on Etsy.com.

If you don't already have one, you could start a blog. I've noticed that whenever other bloggers have a give-a-way they get a lot of traffic.

AJ
http://ajquilts.blogspot.com/

[Lilo B.]

Listen to your customers. Ask for suggestions from customers on what you can do to improve your product/services. Granted, not all of them will be feasible or realistic for you at this time or ever, but it may get you thinking in a different direction that produces benefits later. I have made a few suggestions to 2 local quilt shops I frequented over the years. I carefully think before speaking to make sure it's relavent and easily intergrated in their shop. Each time the owner blew smoke at me and never implemented anything. These were suggestions I saw that were highly successfull at other quilt shops. One shop I actually showed the owner a website and said would purchase the fabric (double-sided pre-quilted when it first came out). Too bad, she eventually went belly up because she just wasn't customer freindly. Now we are down to 1 local shop. She will succeed because the next closest shop is 30-35 mintues away. If there was a customer friendly shop closer she might have a hard time because of her unwillingness to adapt to customer needs.

[Lilo B.]

There is a wonderful website for selling handmade things. It is called
Etsy.com. It costs 20cents to list something and 3.5% when it sells. You will also need to set up a paypal account but that is not hard. However, Paypal will also take a percentage. But that is the cost of doing business. It is much less than opening up a store somewhere. Check it out... etsy.com

[Lilo B.]

I don't think I put the link to etsy in right... so just ignore the stuff.
Sorry

[Lilo B.]

Clara, how are things working out with your business? I am working on a business idea myself, and just wondering how your efforts panned out. Kathy B.

[Hannelore N.]

Clara, keep your overhead costs down, your prices realistic (and wide-ranging), offer what your target market really wants, and expect to spend a lot of time establishing useful contacts.

I talked to a quilter last year who said that most of her sales were generated by offering to hang her quilts in a gallery that specializes in art pottery and ceramics. The quilts act as a backdrop to the main products of the gallery, and they do sell. So, look at unusual venues.

And you also need to get to potential customers who have nothing to do with quilting, so won't make a wallhanging themselves, but love beautiful things, and don't mind paying for them.

My dentist has lovely watercolours by a local artist on the walls of his waiting room. They are all for sale. I actually love to go for treatment because I can see which pictures are gone and what new ones are on the walls. The artist also uses the seasons and upcoming events like Christmas in his choice of subjects.

Good luck with your venture!

Lorchen

[Hannelore N.]

Hi, I haven't been to many horse shows/riding contests, so don't know if they generally have craft booths, but that would be a great audience for your quilts! I'm sure they have programs you could advertise in, or a bulletin board at the stable where you could post an ad with permission. Also the local tack shop/or feed & seed shop might post an ad for you -- maybe with those little rip off tabs at the bottom with your phone number? Kathy B.

[Eileen K.]

Hi Kathy,
I've been looking at Etsy too. It might be profitable. All we can do it try, right?
eileenkny