TRUE COST OF MAKING A QUILT
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Somewhere inTexas
Posts: 968
A friend sent me this:
TRUE COST OF MAKING A QUILT
QUEEN SIZED, Machine Pieced, Hand Quilted
MATERIALS:
Fabric 12-16 yards @ $9per yd. $108 - $144
Batting $25 - $40
Thread $8 - $16
Total Money Invested $141 - $200
LABOR HOURS:
Piecing 20 to 60 hours
“Setting” (designing your quilt) 10 to 20 hours
Quilting 100 to 750 hours
Total hours invested 130 to 810 hours
TOTAL COST
Paying $1 per hour (Would you do this type of work for $1 an hour?!)
Materials $141 - $200
Labor $130 - $810
Total $271 - $1070
Paying minimum wage $7.25 (by law in 6/2009)
Materials $141 - $200
Labor (130-810hrs) $942.50 - $5872.25
Total $1083.50 - $6072.25
Paying skilled labor wage $20 per hour (Don’t you consider yourself trained and skilled in this craft?)
Materials $141 - $200
Labor (130-810hrs) $2600 - $16,200
Total $2741 - $16,400
....what about the costs of using your sewing machine? Maintenance, depreciation...oh my..so much else we could all be adding in!
Anyone want to comment with an estimate of how much you spend (not counting your labor) for various sizes of quilts you've made in 2010 or 2011?
TRUE COST OF MAKING A QUILT
QUEEN SIZED, Machine Pieced, Hand Quilted
MATERIALS:
Fabric 12-16 yards @ $9per yd. $108 - $144
Batting $25 - $40
Thread $8 - $16
Total Money Invested $141 - $200
LABOR HOURS:
Piecing 20 to 60 hours
“Setting” (designing your quilt) 10 to 20 hours
Quilting 100 to 750 hours
Total hours invested 130 to 810 hours
TOTAL COST
Paying $1 per hour (Would you do this type of work for $1 an hour?!)
Materials $141 - $200
Labor $130 - $810
Total $271 - $1070
Paying minimum wage $7.25 (by law in 6/2009)
Materials $141 - $200
Labor (130-810hrs) $942.50 - $5872.25
Total $1083.50 - $6072.25
Paying skilled labor wage $20 per hour (Don’t you consider yourself trained and skilled in this craft?)
Materials $141 - $200
Labor (130-810hrs) $2600 - $16,200
Total $2741 - $16,400
....what about the costs of using your sewing machine? Maintenance, depreciation...oh my..so much else we could all be adding in!
Anyone want to comment with an estimate of how much you spend (not counting your labor) for various sizes of quilts you've made in 2010 or 2011?
#3
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: in retirement
Posts: 1,513
And when you tell a customer $2,500. for a king, you get the standard answer, "I'll think about it and get back to you."
In 30 years of making quilts for sale, only ONCE, has someone said to me, "that's all, after all that work!"
Thanks for sharing your calculations, it will certainly help me to stand on my price!
In 30 years of making quilts for sale, only ONCE, has someone said to me, "that's all, after all that work!"
Thanks for sharing your calculations, it will certainly help me to stand on my price!
#4
This has often occurred to me (and here in Aus we can easily pay more than 20 dollars a yard for quilting fabric), but I don't look on quilting as work, so I do not charge my time in that way.
I certainly would not be selling any quilts I make though, because then I would start to think about my time and what it is worth and then I would just start to feel bad about the whole thing.
If I keep the quilt or give it to someone I love, then the payment for my time is knowing they like it. Plus, I put a lot of effort into making things unique, so I know I have something no one else has in the whole wide world- pretty special.
If I keep it, I get to enjoy it and show it off, and that is worth more than any money to me.
I certainly would not be selling any quilts I make though, because then I would start to think about my time and what it is worth and then I would just start to feel bad about the whole thing.
If I keep the quilt or give it to someone I love, then the payment for my time is knowing they like it. Plus, I put a lot of effort into making things unique, so I know I have something no one else has in the whole wide world- pretty special.
If I keep it, I get to enjoy it and show it off, and that is worth more than any money to me.
#6
I spent nearly 600 hours hand quilting a 42 x 48" wall hanging for my daughter--it is reversible.....think I could have done a quilt in that time--it was very intricate!
The charity quilts I make are quickies, so I can make more, but the embroidered quilts I am about to sash and finish finish will have about 1000 hours of time in them...
The charity quilts I make are quickies, so I can make more, but the embroidered quilts I am about to sash and finish finish will have about 1000 hours of time in them...
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