At a fair today a customer told me that she makes quilt tops and sends them to a long-arm quilter that charges about $30 a quilt. It made me so sad to hear that. In the same way I am sad to think about the poor workers in China making next to nothing to “hand stitch” cheap quilts, I am sorrowed to think of a woman who has so undervalued her work.

I have used a long-arm quilting machine in my business to quilt the custom T-shirt quilts. I know how much work and money goes into it. The machines are VERY expensive with many of them costing more than a small car. When quilting on a long-arm, it’s not like you can throw the top on and start stitching. There’s so much more to it than that. There is at least an hour of preparation involved in getting the machine ready, pinning up the quilt and backing, testing thread tension, winding bobbins, measuring, basting, etc. all must be done before the stitching can begin. Thread breaks, bobbin changes, etc. add to the time it takes to quilt when actually stitching. It made me sad that a professional quilter would so grossly undervalue what she’s worth.