Woolwich nurse practitioner Lori Brodsky offers quilt fans an opportunity to create their own design and color schemes with a click of a computer mouse, leaving the sewing to professionals. This is Coast of Maine Quilters.
Q: When was your business started?
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A: We incorporated in 2005.
Q: Tell me about your business.
A: We are an online quilt-making business that offers our customers access to an Internet tool called Quilting Studio that helps them design custom quilts that are then handmade by professional quilters.
Q: How does that work?
A: Potential customers go to our website, select a quilt pattern and then choose from hundreds of fabric swatch colors and prints to design their own quilt. Customers click and drag the fabric swatches where they want them on their (virtual) quilt blocks and then organize the blocks to form a pattern or design that they like. There is also a special page that allows you to adjust your computer to make sure the swatch colors are more accurate. A save feature in the program allows customers to save their work and come back to it later or create many different style and color choices to compare styles. You can create as many color combinations as you like. The sky is the limit. One customer did 60 variations. The software is easy to use and begins with a tutorial about the anatomy of a quilt, including recommendations on how to select the best contrasting colors.
Q: Do you also have a physical location that people can come in for consultation?
A: No. This web program allows me to view what customers are creating online and make recommendations or field any questions they may have.
Q: Where do the materials come from?
A: I work directly with the Mariners Compass Quilt Shop in Bath, which supplies the materials and labor for the quilts.
Q: How did you get into this line of work?
A: I took a few quilting classes at the Mariner’s Compass and met these amazingly talented quilters. I loved the process and began making quilts and attending various craft fairs to view other quilts. They were beautiful and people bought them but they were not custom made. I thought it would be a great idea to offer a service where people could have something that matched their home decor or color preferences but still made by professional quilters.
Q: What kind of fabric are the quilts made of?
A: High-quality, 100-percent cotton. It’s a fabric that keeps its color and doesn’t fade or bleed. We rotate our stock every month. There are some stock fabrics in the quilting world that you can always get and others that are only available for a limited time. When the color is no longer available, we take it off the website. Though, we can also try to find some of the limited stock through fabric distributors or other quilt shops around the country.
Q: Are the quilts color safe and washable? Or, should they be dry cleaned.
A: Do not dry clean them! That can ruin them. These quilts are meant to be washed using cool water in your washing machine’s gentle cycle. We include laundering instructions with every order.
Q: Tell me about your quilters.
A: We have about six quilters, who are independent contractors. We rotate incoming orders with them. Though, sometimes a person is assigned to do a quilt because they specialize in a certain style or pattern that has been selected.
Q: Do folks purchase quilts for themselves or as gifts?
A: Mostly for gifts, like weddings and anniversaries. We also offer gift certificates so gift recipients can choose their own design and color scheme.
Q: How much do you charge for the works?
A: Anywhere from $140 for a wall hanging to $1,500 for a king-sized custom quilt. The price depends on the amount of detail work being done. That price includes the cost of a custom-made, wooden box that we ship all of our quilts in. The dovetailed boxes are created by local artist Eric Glass, who makes them by hand using an old-fashioned coping saw and plow plane. As soon as we receive an order, we call Eric to create a box for the quilt. The quilts are packed in acid-free paper to protect them in the box before they are shipped. The presentation is intended to be very special for the recipient.
Q: What is the turnaround time for completing an order?
A: About six weeks.
Q: What is special about a quilt?
A: It’s a custom-made work of art and an heirloom that imparts a sense of warmth to the recipient. It’s very personal.
The best part of what we do is seeing the customers vision realized. One lady commissioned a quilt for her parents 50th wedding anniversary. She had us custom embroider the dates of various milestones in their marriage along the border of the quilt to personalize it as a testament of their commitment to each other. She was so thrilled with the finished product. … We are pairing an old-fashioned art form with modern technology to create something that many people love but don’t have the time or inclination to make for themselves.
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