sylviak

A lady has asked me to make a quilt for her sister who is getting married. It would be a pinwheel with appliqued stems and leaves on the border and a pieced outer border...queen size. Of course, I know how to charge for fabric, thread, and quilting...but I'm not sure how to charge for actually cutting and piecing the quilt. Do you charge by time spent or size of quilt or difficulty of pattern or a combination of these? I'm not really running a business, so I don't do this often. Most of my quilting is for my family. I know you gals can offer some good advice.

DebraK

think hard about this. What are you comfortable with? will it cause hard feelings if anyone's expectations are not met? Run a figure by that you will be happy with before you start. Might save you some time and grief.

ptquilts

Do you have an idea of how long it would take you? And how much you want to get per hour? Also, is this a friend or just an acquaintance?
I would give her a price of $500 minimum. More if the applique was by hand. She may be thinking she can get it for a lot less, I would get a "ballpark" figure before you go any further.

Oh, and when you DO come up with a figure, add on about 25 % for unforeseen events.

ckcowl

seldom is it possible to actually make an hourly rate with any craft-
generally it is recommended to charge about 3 X the amount of materials, supplies- that is a base- you can add/subtract from that figure as you see fit- but the 3x base is usually pretty reasonable
(if i spend $150 on supplies to make a quilt and charge $450 for it- i'm making a fair (wage) unless i really get crazy and spend way too much time on it-and in that case-that is my fault)

Tartan

Give her an estimate of the cost of materials and labour before you start anything. Once she see the true cost of a quilt, she may change her mind.

Scissor Queen

A queen size quilt is going to take around 10 yards of fabric for the top and another 8 for the backing. If you figure 12.00 per yard that should cover the sales tax on most fabrics. So that's 216.00. Plus batting and thread. I'd add another 50. for batting and thread. Then how are you going to have to have it quilted? If you're going to send it out that's another 250.00 or so. So you're already up around 500.00 and you haven't added a cent for your time yet. Most people triple the materials cost to cover labor. So that would be about 265.00 X 3 and you've got a general price of $1050.00. Most people look like deer in the headlights when you give them a realistic price and head for Bed, Bath and Beyond.

kclausing

When I make quilts for people I only charge what it costs me because do it for the pure enjoyment.the money covers the cost of the next quilt I make. I also do not ever create a quilt for someone who has a very specific I idea, ie they show me a picture and say they want this, because that would not be fun and would not let me be creative. Those are the projects that you should charge 500 for, but for that price it better be perfect, because they will be expecting perfection.

I charge about 180 for a queen if I am able to use fabric from my stash, but I also won't spend more than$5 per yard (not even for myself).

momto5

I quoted $1200 to someone for a super king size DWR...and he very quickly back-pedaled on that one. Wanted to know why it was so much so I prepared a list for him...materials (at retail) were a little less than $400 and I tripled the cost. Oh well...didn't really wanna do it anyway!

quiltingcandy

My question is, do you want to make the quilt? Because I would start by pricing out the fabric for the woman, then the thread (because that is far from cheap) and if she is still okay then figure out how long it will take you to cut it out, then piece it together, the hours alone may be a shock to her, then there is putting the quilt into a sandwich and then the quilting part and finally the binding. If she has any concept of an hourly rate she may think she is getting a bargain when you tell her a flat amount. It really gets down to what you want to be paid.

It is hard to tell someone that you just triple the cost of the materials since they would then want you to use very inexpensive fabric, batting & thread.

MacThayer

You raise a very good question here, and in a way, I think you've already answered your own question. "Do you charge by time spent or size of quilt or difficulty of pattern or a combination of these three?" If you think about it, the size of the quilt and the difficulty of the pattern both affect time spent making the quilt. So the answer is: a combination of these three. I don't see how you can extricate them. That plus the cost of the materials, thread, batting, etc.

Don't underestimate your work. You must be a fine quilter to have someone ask you to make a quilt as a wedding gift. Where else will they get fine, custom work done to their specifications?

Figure out how many hours it will -- realistically -- take to carry this project through to completion. Then either give her an hourly charge, or a set fee for that many hours. Plus the materials. I know some people "ball park" it. If it takes less than 20 hours, it's this much; 20 to 40 hours, it's this much, and so on. Others go strictly by the estimated hours. In all of these cases, the level of complexity of the pattern and the size of the quilt are always factored into the equation.

I hope this helps. I'm not giving dollar amounts because they're so different depending on where you are. If you want an idea of the wide variation in prices, Keepsake Quilting sells consignment quilts (www.keepsakequilting.com). Just scroll down to the bottom of the home page, and look for the link to "Consignment Quilts." Also, Etsy's carries a lot of handmade quilts (www.etsy.com ---- Just go there and search Under: Queen sized quilts.) That will give you a good cross view of what these quilts are selling for, and perhaps you'll find one similar to the one you are being asked to make, and the price on that one will help you out a bit.

Best of Luck!