(Please note that affiliate links have been used in this post.)
Even though there are some really unfortunate things as a result of this social media driven world we live in, there are also some really great things. I’ve made so many ‘friends’ via social media as a result of this quilting blog. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed connecting with others who share similar interests in fabrics and quilting techniques.
I’ve enjoyed meeting so many of YOU who comment here and engage since we share similar tastes. 🙂
Because of the blessings of social media, I’ve been able to complete a number of custom orders for people.
The following are hopefully helpful tidbits of wisdom for fellow bloggers and quilters who are teetering on the fence of the custom order world. Do you sew? Or maybe you have another handicraft of work of art you find yourself trying to perfect.
Others begin to see you creativity. They like the way you paint or sew or draw. Then they ask you if you’d make them something. They even offer to pay you! It’s sounds like the sweetest deal ever, right? You are getting paid for something you love to do.
Seems just about perfect. Right?
Before taking a custom order, here are a few things to think about.
I’ll start with the positive. Here are some of the great things about taking custom orders.
1. I am sewing a project that I know someone will buy. I’m investing my time and fabrics and other resources, and it’s rewarding knowing I’ll reap a monetary reward. It’s different than the random pillows I finish for my Etsy Shop. I never know when or if someone will purchase those pillow covers.
2. Custom orders are a great way to use up my fabric stash. Sometimes there are fabrics I purchased that I soon find sitting on my shelves unused. This would be for no other reason than I had a harder time working them into a quilt than I thought I would. Do you know what has happened in almost all my custom orders?
My customer chooses a fabric that has would up sitting on my shelf unused.
Custom orders, for me, have been a great way to use up some of my fabric stash.
3. Custom orders are a really great way to personally connect with customers and offer superb customer service. When a customer asks you to make them something, it involves communication (sometimes a lot!) to come to a place where the client absolutely loves the combination of fabrics you’ve shown them. Exercised with patience, this can be a great way to build a good reputation.
4. Last, custom orders must get finished. They are built in accountability. One of the best feelings in the world is FINISHING something. I have a number of unfinished quilts, but I have finished every single quilt someone has ever paid me to finish.
I’ve never had a customer back out on a custom order.
What are the hard things about taking custom orders?
1. The communication sometimes feels like it takes forever. I truly (TRULY) want every customer of mine to absolutely love their product. Due to the nature of patchwork, there are usually five, six, seven, eight or more prints of fabric used in one project. I willingly go back and forth and back and forth with a customer until we can find a combination of fabrics THEY love. This is usually done with pictures via email, Etsy, or Instagram.
Sometimes this process, though, can take twenty or thirty pictures of different combinations of fabrics.
2. The greatest joy in sewing and quilting for me is the fabric combinations, and custom orders often mean I put fabrics together that I don’t like together. I just love putting different fabrics together and seeing how they work with each other. But we are all different people, right? With different tastes and preferences.
Sometimes a customer lands on a combination of fabrics that I’d never choose to put together. It’s not near as fun for me sewing something that I personally don’t like aesthetically. I grow concerned as the project goes on. Thankfully, my customers have always been happy with their orders!
3. The project MUST turn out. If you know anything about quilting, you know you can ruin a quilt fast with a small iron burn or a stray toddler with a pair of scissors. This gets even more difficult working with vintage sheets. You may be finished with a project only to find a small faint yellow stain in the corner of the backing. Ugh. It is SO FRUSTRATING.
If something unfortunate like this happens, you have to (first and foremost) be honest with your customer and then figure out how to resolve it.
4. Like I mentioned above, deadlines can be a blessing. You always have to finish! But they can also be really hard when something unexpected comes up. If you made a promise that’d you’d finish their project by the end of the month, you need to do your absolute best to finish their order by the deadline.
If you’ve been following around here for long, you can probably identify a lot of my preferences in fabrics and styles. All the pictures included in this post are pictures of custom orders. Can you see any difference from my usual projects?
