Job Responsibilities
I am self-employed. I have contracts with two shops in
Pennsylvania. They send me designs and fabrics and I prepared
them to be applique. When they are appliqued, I sew the complete
top, center, sashes (if there's any), and borders together to
make a complete quilt and send them back to the shops for their
final step which is quilt.
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Job Requirements
In my line of work,
there's no formal education. I received help from families and
friends.
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Uppers
The best parts of my job is that I can decide if I want to make the complete
quilt of just part of the quilt. I can decide qho I want to pay for the services
for the parts that I don't want to do and how much I will pay them. After I am
finished with my part of the job, I can go right into something else or just
spend a relaxing day with my children.
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Downers
The worst part of the job is not obtaining enough work. It goes
very well with an Asian expression, "tsov tshaib tsov tsau".
That means, you get a lot of money this month, so you have
plenty, but you may not get anything next month, so you'll be
hungry just like a tiger.
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Lifestyle
My lifestyle is pretty much home-bound. I work for about two hours a day in an
average week. I don't travel much except to the post office to ship my finished
products. I am an individual, so I don't have company social events. And there is
no dress code. Lastly, I interact with people who provides the services for my
work, the shop owners, and people at the post office. Other then that, there's
not much. I could, of course, expand myself to self-market, but it would require
a lot of effort, money, and time which I have very little. In addition to the
time, money and effort, I don't absolutely love quilting. I began it so that I
could stay home with my children. So, now that my children are growing up and
requires more money, I'm ready to get out there and try something new. And,
that's how I came across Colorado Technical University Online.
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Compensation
I get paid by piece-work. Depending on the quantity, quality,
and details of the work ordered. For example, if I only have to
make one queen quilt with the pillow and center appliqued and
plain borders, the range would be around $125 - 250. But, if I
was making one with appliqued pillow, center, and sashes or
borders, then the pay may be above $300. Again, the rate depends
largely on how much detail you put on and the size of the quilt.
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Advice to Jobseekers
Quiltmakers or quilters have to be people with absolute patience
and a love for quilts. It takes a long time to produce a quilt,
and others may not appreciate the time or quality or design you
put into the quilt, especially those who are looking to save
money. I do not recommend this for people who are looking to
make money from home. If anyone decides to make quilt for a
living, you will have to make sure that that is what you
absolutely love to do. Otherwise, you could be very disappointed
at the end. I've been successful only because I absolutely
desired to work for myself and was and am desired to be with my
child 24/7. I would do anything for my children to have their
mother home with them. Again, I am looking forward to the
changes, but who knows, I may end up expanding instead.
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