Holly H NY

Won't skipping the stabilizer make it much more difficult to work with?

bkay

Have you costed out the difference? You know how much of everything it takes, so make two lists. List everything, even the things that don't change, like the thread for the long arm (only way to see how much you could save on material). Compare the two lists of your costs. You may find there's not a whole lot of difference in the two lists. My guess is less than $40.00.

I don't know if this is a viable idea or not. What if you had them prep the tee shirts? (I've not made a t-shirt quilt, so all this is conjecture.) If they think it costs too much money, give them part of the labor (and costs). Make up a tutorial on how to cut the shirts (or copy one off the net) , what kind of fusible to buy and how to do it. (anybody can iron) Make sure they make the squares large enough for you to square them up afterwards to your standard size.

You could also have a standard pattern/color for the sashing, binding and backing. You could have a standard number of t-shirts, so everyone is the same. That way you would have less waste. I think you could buy 100% cotton from some where like Marshall Dry Goods pretty cheap. It won't have as nice a hand, but handles just fine. They also have some of the really wide backing stuff, so you save that construction time. You might even have enough scraps from the backing to do the binding.

If you don't do anything special, by that I mean everything on the "ABC" quilt is standard, you might be able to make some money and sell some quilts. The rule is STANDARD - nothing different and no hand work. You'll get bored with it, but that's about the only way you can make any money. If they start to do the, "could you just add this?" or, "can we make this red?". You say of course you can, but it will no longer be the "ABC" quilt. It becomes your custom "XYZ" quilt and costs "a little" more.

It's just an idea. It might not work. It might, though.

bkay

Melanie Rudy

I completely agree with this. Especially if you are not stabilizing your t-shirting it will be a difficult project, taking the fun out of it for you. I would suggest waiting for your clientele to build up for your better quality quilts.

Mitty

Maybe make a cheap version of your quilt as a test? That way you can see what it's like to make and if it seems good enough to sell. You could also show it to people (if your sales are local) so that people will understand exactly what they're getting. If they see both versions side by side and know the prices of each, who knows which they'll choose.

Would using interfacing but eliminating batting work better than the other way around? I've never made a T-shirt quilt and may not know what I'm talking about, but I would think the interfacing could add some of the warmth and loft lost from the batting.

Onebyone

Yes! I don't like to be around cheap people. They are on my ignore list.

PaperPrincess

I don't think that the quality of your product would be much effected using a nice quality poly batt. As far as the fabric substitutions, I would make my purchases at Connecting Threads. Their non-sale price for wide backing is about what you would pay for a yard of quilting cotton at an LQS. A couple times a year they have it on sale for way way less. I stock up. I would also recommend using their blenders for sashing. As long as it fulfils the batting requirement, a looser quilting pattern would be fine. I wouldn't skip the stabilizer, however.
Using the above adjustments, I would price one out. I have to believe that your time is the biggest cost and except for spending less time long arming, you may not save all that much.

luvspaper

I would worry that two different styles would affect how people view the quality of what you're doing. That can be hard to explain and u might lose business if someone sees the lower quality but hears the higher price

happy2quilt

It takes me 26 hours to make a queen sized t-shirt quilt from start to finish. I do purchase my materials wholesale, but people do want different patterned backs which I usually order retail, since I don't need a whole bolt. I have only been able to sell one quilt at the price I wanted. The other two I sold, I made barely anything.

I don't have any orders. I cannot get people interested in my quilts, even though I get wonderful reviews on my work. I have a hobby, where my friends have drawers full of t-shirts from different races, but will not pay $15.00 a block for a premium quilt.

There is a local lady who is making lots of quilts. She said people don't want stabilizer on their quilts. She uses cheap materials and stays busy and makes money.

I am making a throw quilt now for a lady, and she did pay what I asked.

I did iron some cut shirts to see how they would sew together and I think it's doable. Just press them in my t-shirt press first.

Thanks for all your input!

Jane Quilter

Talking means little to customers who don't quilt. I would show them a quilt made out of your cheap selections and a quilt made out of your premium selections with price tags attached. No surprises.

Onebyone

The cheapest event tee shirt I've seen for sale or for a team is usually $20- $40 dollars. Why is asking $50 per quilt block too much? It's not and I won't make one for less and neither will any of my guild members. Quality fabric, stabilizer, thread, batting, and custom machine quilting. Yes Ma'am $50 a block. If someone says that's too much then we offer to teach them how to make one at guild sew days if they joined the guild. One guild member makes more teaching how to make tee shirt quilts on Saturdays then when she was making them herself.