Picking a Longarm Quilter

There are many stages in your quilting life when you might find yourself in the market for a longarm quilter. It could be that you are ready to try the service for the first time. Or maybe the individual you’ve used for years has made some changes and you are ready to look around and see what else is out there. As a longarmer, here are my thoughts on what to look for when choosing your first, or next, longarm quilter.

Considerations When Picking a Longarmer

Location: Ideally, everyone would have a longarmer in their backyard that matches their aesthetic, budget, and turnaround needs. You will be supporting your community and eliminating the risks and expenses that come with shipping. Plus, it’s an opportunity to bond with your local quilting community. Take a look around and see if that is true for you!

If you don’t find what you need locally, expand your search. Those of us taking mail-in projects do our best to provide the same experience from a distance. I know many longarmers, myself included, who have some wonderful working relationships with customers who send their quilts via mail.

Pictured here: Myself and Ashley from Henhouse Quilting

Aesthetic/General Vibe: You want to connect with your longarmer like you do your hair stylist. If you go in for an updo, you want to know if your stylist is more likely to give you a Dolly Parton or a Jennifer Aniston. Longarming is a creative process and we often have input on pantographs, scale, and thread color. If you select someone who is working on quilts you like and producing results you love, you are much more likely to have a successful transaction.

Services Offered: Do they offer binding services? Trim your quilt? Sell backing fabric? Take photos throughout the process? Check to see that a longarmer offers all the services you would like to use.

Pricing: While I always hope it isn’t, it would be silly of me to ignore that pricing is one of the first things you will likely consider when looking for a longarm service. I get it and I won’t set it aside as an unimportant consideration. However, it is important to know neither high nor low pricing means any particular longarmer will be right for you. It’s all of the elements discussed here, collectively, that will help you find the best fit. As you’ve likely already spent a lot of time and money on the quilt, it would be heartbreaking to have this last step not meet your vision because you’ve based your decision on cost alone.

Helpful to Know

#1: It’s okay to try out a few folks! Sometimes it takes time to find someone that checks all of your boxes. You won’t hurt anyone’s feelings and once you find that special connection, you’ll know looking around was a good investment.

#2: It’s okay to have multiple longarmers! It would be cool if all my customers had 100% loyalty and sent all of their quilts my way. But I also know that some have a local gal they support when they can and use me on special occasions. I also may not offer all the services folks may need for a particular project. I know some customers have a longarmer they use for custom work and bring their edge to edge projects to me because of my turnaround, pricing, or the relationship we’ve built.

Pictured here: Mindy and Todd from Wild Phil Quilting

Where to Look

There are several places to look for longarmers. First, simply Google ‘Longarmers near me’. You might be surprised at who and how many are near you! Next, there are several great lists to consult. My first and favorite is my own ‘Friends of TCQ’ list. These are folks I know personally and have seen their work up close and in person. In addition to being great quilters, they are great humans. My two favorite outside directories are from the Longarm League and the Ultimate Guide to Longarmer Quilters on the Suzy Quilts website.

Pictured here: Barbie from The Quilting Mill, and Jess from The Longarm League

Bottom line: You have choices and I’m just one of them. Everyone wins when we find the best fit and hopefully the guidance above will lead you to your dream longarmer! (Me, right? Your dream longarmer is TCQ. HA! J/K. :) ) Good luck in your search!

-Lilo and the TCQ team