Lots Of Sew-How at The Quilt Academy

"Quilting is kind of recession-proof. Women are still going to quilt. It's a hobby but it's an addiction too," says Lorraine Harnish.

With that knowledge and confidence, the Langhorne resident and two other women who used to teach at the former Quilting Circle in Bensalem recently opened their own business in the township. - run by Harnish, Linda Armbruster and Linda Weingard -- opened in May at 3671 Hulmeville Road.

And Harnish, a young retiree who used to teach health and physical education, says business has been better than expected.

"We're paying the bills and that's what we wanted to do," she says. "Now," she adds with a smile, "if we could start to pay ourselves that would be even better."

The Quilt Academy, as its name suggests, focuses on teaching even though it does have supplies for what Harnish says is a billion dollar industry.

Classes cost $45 per month, for attendance at one two-hour session each week. It's $75 for two months and $90 for three months.

The Quilt Academy has long-arm machines that sew together all three layers -- both sides and the batting in the middle -- much quicker and easier than doing that work on a domestic machine.

"It can be three hours versus weeks at home," Harnish says.

And Harnish and her partners will teach folks how to use the long arm- machine -- which costs more than $17,000 and has a $12,500 computer attached -- if that's a sought-after skill.

"They can say they did the quilt from start to finish," Harnish says.

And, Harnish adds, it's just not the same as buying a pre-made inexpensive import.

"The difference is in the quality and the fact that you get a sense of accomplishment. A lot of people come in and don't know if they're going to enjoy it. I'd say the majority say this is so cool and 'I've done it on my own.'"

If you're less creative, you can get a made-to-order custom quilt, such as a popular memory quilt, created at the township business.

Between the three owners, there's a lot of sew-how.

"I've been quilting and on-and-off teaching since 1992," says Harnish. "I just went to a quilt class and loved it."

Starting their own business, she says, wasn't that difficult a a decision. Besides the aforementioned customer "addiction," the teachers already had their customer base from The Quilting Circle, which was located in the Street Road Plaza.

"This location is a lot better than The Quilting Circle," Harnish says. "We get a lot of walk-ins and that's really good, and it's easy for our (pre-existing) customers to get to."

Bensalem also is a great location because the nearest competition is in Burlington, N.J., according to the co-owner.

"There's no other place around."