Jan in VA

Those quilts are made in China, by virtual slave labor, from fabric made overseas as well. Back in the early 1990s, there was a huge hue and cry from major quilting "names" about the Smithsonian selling patterns from American heritage quilts (Harriette Powers e.g.!) to import companies who in turn had them reproduced with cheap skills, cheap fabrics, for cheap prices.

A national petition to quilters was distributed and with it Karey Bresenham (Houston International Quilt Festival honcho) actually spoke before Congress on the issue of our art heritage being sold and degraded. And the permission to make any more copies from American heritage work was withdrawn from these importers! (Quilters of the world unite!)

By then, the skill level had increased and they spent time copying our fabric prints. For a while I had one of the original quilts that was so poorly, poorly pieced - no matched corners, irregular seams, huge stitches, etc. - and then bought another later one which showed how much better sewers they'd become. Decided to sell those to lessen the load on my move to VA and because I just didn't want to support those import firms any longer.
Jan in VA

JUNEBUG

2 weeks ago I was at an auction held by a Fire Company in Lancaster Pa. All proceeds went to the fire company. There were quilts some went for $300.00 or so most appliqued and I personally thought they should of sold for more. There were a few quilts that the auctioneer had a hard time getting $150.00 for, at one point the auctioneer stopped the bidding looked out into the crowd and said "Does anyone realize how much time and fabric goes into making this quilt" Being a quilter I knew how much it takes (after the auction went to Zooks's fabric store spent 75.00 just for part of a quilt top) But he was so very right it is hard to explain to someone who just says "can you make me a quilt". I did buy some tops at the auction to hand quilt more to support the fire company. I guess I am done venting for now - I hope everyone has a safe Labor Day weekend.

np3

Wow, great info.

auntmag

People just don't understand that we don't make quilts from old clothing anymore. Quilting is NOT a cheap hobby.

cjomomma

No matter what price they sell it for in the stores it just falls apart in the wash. That is if you are talking about wm, target, kmart and stores like that.

Katts 14

Thier are no two quilts a like, you can have 10 quilters doing the same pattern and they are all different,and original

ptquilts

I heard once that on a typical $100 quilt from China, about $5 went to labor.
Vermont Country Store used to sell the imports, they quit because of poor quality. Same with LL Bean. When you are a catalog company with a liberal return policy, those crappy quilts ARE coming back your way.

ptquilts

PS - DH makes quilts with very small pieces. Only sold a couple. We were at a craft fair once and he had one , did not put a price on it. If any one was interested, he said, make an offer.(just to see what people would say.)
One lady offered $20. He said, you should know there are about 400 hours of work in this quilt. She thought about that a second, then said, How about $25?

bearisgray

You-all did notice that I put "quilts" in quotes -

If those ads are all that a non-quilter sees, how would they be expected to actually KNOW what it costs to make a unique quilt?

I even think some of the inexperienced quilters get "sticker shock" when they start buying supplies.

lynnie

looked into the quilts in the stores like MACY*S. they are made in China
In China, the jails are like concentration camps. Read this in reader's Digest) they work 6 1/2 days a wefor a bowl of rice. ther pay. this is how they can sell the "handmade quilts" at such aridiculos price. Also, they do long stitch on the handmade ones. they don't sew, embroider, knit crochet ct, they don't get their bowl of rice.