Return on investment

Most people who are thinking about starting their own quilting business want to know roughly how long it will take them to pay for the machine.

We studied machine quilting services and pricing from all around the United States and we put together some averages.

Estimates to pay off longarm

  • Average queen size quilt is approximately 90 X 100 inches and takes about 3-5 hours to quilt.
  • The average price for machine quilting with a design that is fairly simple (by no means heirloom quality) is approximately $0.015-$0.025 cents and up per square inch.
  • At this price, that queen-sized quilt would bring you approximately $135 – $225 in labor costs alone.
  • It would take approximately 156 quilts to pay off our top-of-the-line Millie30 at $28,000. This would be an average of 3.0 quilts per week for the first year of your business.
  • It would take approximately 138 quilts to pay off our top-of-the-line Millie at $24,900. This would be an average of 2.65 quilts per week for the first year of your business.
  • It would take approximately 128 quilts for that first year to pay for a Freddie at $23,100. Average: 2.46 quilts per week.
  • For the Lucey, priced at only $17,500, it would take approximately 97 quilts with an average of 1.87 quilts per week for the first year.
  • For the Lenni, priced at $14,800, it would take approximately 82 quilts with an average of 1.58 quilts per week for the first year.
  • For Larry, priced at $8,900, it would take approximately 50 quilts with an average of  0.96 quilts per week for the first year.