How much to charge?
01-07-2016, 11:20 AM
#11
Power Poster
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Southern USA
Posts: 16,429
I have never made a quilt for money and never will. I get asked a lot how much will you charge to make me a quilt? I say I don't make quilts for others but I can give you the phone numbers of quilters that do. Their prices start at $300 for crib quilt. Saves the other quilters from having someone call that thinks $50 will cover the cost. Price your work on the high end. Never do one for cheap.
01-07-2016, 12:27 PM
#13
Banned
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Victorian Sweatshop Forum
Posts: 4,096
I made one quilt for money for a beloved neighbor. I would have made the quilt anyway, even if she didn't pay me. It was a baby quilt for her DDs BFF. She told me the baby's decor and let me run with it, making whatever I came up with. I had so much fun making that quilt, the money was inconsequential. Would I do it again? For her, in a heart beat. For someone else, probably not.
Cari
Cari
01-08-2016, 12:36 PM
#14
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 1,857
Most people have no idea what it costs to make a quilt. Spend some time and jot down what the materials cost for you to make a couple different type of quilts you have made and how much time it took to make them. Take these costs (figuring in a decent hourly wage for yourself and not forgetting the 'house' costs - power, tools) add in what a local LA costs and then you have a very base cost. When you submit this to the person asking, they may change their mind very quickly. If they are serious, have them go with you and pay for the materials themselves and then get a deposit for the remaining costs BEFORE you start. Also, be very honest about the time it will take you to complete it. Handle it like a professional would handle it - you are contracting for a job.
01-08-2016, 04:21 PM
#15
Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: somewhere in a cornfield,Maine
Posts: 201
I did exactly this several times and have had people ask me if they can make a payment plan (like layaway). I ALWAYS get it in writing and the fabric cost up front before ordering it. After that,its whatever we have agreed to .When it is all paid for by the date it is theirs.If it is defaulted ,then I sell it for what the labor agreement was originally.
I make quilts for customers all the time and I can tell you from experience that you will never get the dollars out of that quilt that you put into it in time. Most people run when you start talking how much fabric costs. My suggestion is to figure up all the costs of fabric, pattern, thread, batting, backing, etc. and double it for your labor cost. Experience makes me tell you to get the cost of materials up front (non-refundable), before ever buying the first yard of fabric. Then require complete payment of labor costs (within 30 days of notification) before releasing the finished quilt. That way if they default on the labor costs, you still have a quilt to sell. Get EVERYTHING in writing, with customer signature. This prevents any future issues on what thread color, quilting pattern, binding and such. It is hard sometimes to do all this with a good friend, but you need to protect yourself first. And if you let one friend do it with no deposit, the next one will say "But so and so didn't have to give a deposit". For some quilters, making quilts to order becomes a job, and not near as much fun, so be careful that way too. Good Luck!
01-09-2016, 02:39 PM
#17
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Central New Jersey
Posts: 1,013
I have only made two quilts for money, it was for a fellow breast cancer survivor that I befriended at the local support group. After both her and her husband when thru chemo therapy and were considered healthy, He asked for a divorce, apparently he hooked up with one of his chemo nurses. They had two girls that were not handling the breakup very well. She asked me to make her daughters T-shirt guilts from their school clubs and activities, to remember all the good times they had together. So I made the two t-shirt quilts and charged her for all the fabric at the price I paid, the quilting was done by a local quilt shop that she also paid for and I only charged her $80 per quilt for my time and labor. She knew that I had given her a fantastic break as she checked prices out on the web. She very appreciative, I told her US survivors need to stick together. It made me fell pretty good too!
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