Business Overview:

If you enjoy making quilts for people in your spare time and are looking for a great business venture, you should consider starting a quilting business. For every person who loves to quilt, there are hundreds who share your love of quilts but only wish they knew how to design and create them. These people are willing to pay top dollar for quilts made by someone else. That someone else could be you. There are many milestone events for which quilts are given as gifts – weddings, births, anniversaries – and quilts make great gifts for any occasion so this market has plenty of room for a newcomer. Before you start on your first quilt for sale, however, you need to create a quilt shop business plan. Even though you don’t need an actual physical storefront, your business is considered a quilt shop business and your home office will serve as your storefront. In your business plan you will want to include your market. Your market will initially be what’s called your natural market – friends, family, acquaintances – and grow to include those you can reach via Internet marketing. When you begin to research how to start a quilting business you will be pleasantly surprised to learn that you can make as much as $100 an hour quilting for someone else. You can also make thousands of dollars quilting sentimental pieces such as childhood blankets and clothing into quilts. It’s easy to see that this is a great business idea for a quilter willing to put in a little time and effort to own a successful quilting business. If you’d like to grow your business to supersize you can eventually hire others to do the quilting for you. Before long you’ll have a team of people working for you and be able to offer a wide variety of quilts for sale.

A Day in the Life of a Quilting Business Owner:

This article brought to you by Business Ideas! If you enjoyed this article, make sure to subscribe to the Business Ideas Newsletter to get ideas sent straight to your email inbox.Your day will begin with a check of any orders in progress. Quilting is not a quick process so you will likely be working on several projects at the same time for long periods of time. Time management and project management skills are essential in order to stay on top of your orders. Be sure to set a realistic timeframe with your customers regarding completion of special orders. If you have a team of people quilting for you each day will also include verifying what they are working on what the expected completion date is for each piece. You will also need to check any online orders and contact those clients regarding their specific needs and if there is a deadline involved for delivery of their quilts. You’ll check your supply inventory and make a run to the fabric store if you are running low on fabrics, thread or any other quilting supplies. Be sure to visit your finances to make sure all your invoices have gone out and all your bills have been paid.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will be people looking for a quilt as a gift or for themselves.

What You Need to Start:

• Sewing machine
• Fabric, thread, other quilting supplies
• Marketing plan
• Business plan
• Computer with bookkeeping software

The Good:

• If you enjoy quilting, you can spend your time doing something you love.
• It is rewarding to share your talents with your customers who really appreciate your products.
• Return on investment can be very high.
• Overhead is extremely low.

The Bad:

• It could take some time to get the word out about your new business.
• If you decide not to hire other quilters to work for you, your business will be limited by your ability to create new quilts on your own.

Resources:

• National Quilting Association
• International Quilt Association
• Wikipedia on Quilting

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