Charging for a quilt

[Sherry B.]

I had someone ask me to make a small art quilt for them. It has a paperpieced cardinal and borders. The finished size is 15 1/2" x 17 1/2". The cardinal and tree have thread painting done on them. The whole quilt took me about 7 hours to do,with some additional hours picking fabrics etc. How do you figure pricing on quilts ? Any suggestions ? Up to this point I have been making quilts for myself, family members, and for donations for fundraisers. Any help would be appreciated. Ann

[Hannelore N.]

I suggest you multiply the hours it took you by the national minimum wage, then add the expense of all the materials, add something for depreciation of the machine and the use of your home (electrics, etc.). Finally add a profit margin of - let's say - 30%. Sit back, stare in disbelief at the final sum, tear up the piece of paper and think what you can realistically expect your customer to pay.

Ann, pricing a quilt is really difficult. If the above is too complicated, you could consider doing something like some longarm quilters do, and charge by the square inch.

Also: You should agree a proce before you do the work. Your customer may not agree with what you think your work is worth.

Whatever you do, think about it carefully, because if you want to take more commissions in the future it may be a good idea to use the same formula every time.

I hope you'll get lots of answers here, because this is a subject that does not get discussed enough.

[Hannelore N.]

funny Lorchen. Yes it's true we never could get paid for what a quilt and our time is worth. For me I add up the cost of supplies and material and multiply by 3. Then decide if you want to add a little more if the technique is more difficult and time consuming. Even with this, I usually decide by the time I'm done that I should have charged more. :roll: but the X three is a good starting point.

[Hannelore N.]

My boss alway says I need you to make a quilt for my mother what do you think would be nice she would like me to make it. BUT I do not went to because I made a table runner for her church and she said do you that is marone. I that it was she said I hope they like it will did not hear any more about it. She will not went to pay the real money it cost to make it and would like me to eat some of it but I keep saying I busy and would not be able to get to it Happy

[Eileen K.]

I had someone ask me to make a small art quilt for them. It has a paperpieced cardinal and borders. The finished size is 15 1/2" x 17 1/2". The cardinal and tree have thread painting done on them. The whole quilt took me about 7 hours to do,with some additional hours picking fabrics etc. How do you figure pricing on quilts ? Any suggestions ? Up to this point I have been making quilts for myself, family members, and for donations for fundraisers. Any help would be appreciated. Ann

Ann,
Think about what you'd like to make an hour. If it's $20.00 then 7 hours would be $140.00. That's not a lot for an art quilt, trust me. If you want, add on the cost of materials.

[Eileen K.]

Thanks for all the replys. I now at least have an idea of where to start.

[Hannelore N.]

Ann, let us know what you end up doing.

[Hannelore N.]

Since this was a quilt for someone I know I ended up charging $40.00 for it. My husband said it should have been a minimum of $50.00. It covered my materials plus some extra. Couldn't do that for a living though. Ha If I were David Taylor I could get a LOT of money for my quilts, but I haven't achieved that level yet. Since she didn't want to spend more than that I didn't do as extensive thread painting on it as I could have. It turned out really nice as it was.

[Hannelore N.]

If everybody involved is happy, then your decision has been a good one, Ann!

[Hannelore N.]

I tell ANYONE who broaches the topic of me making a quilt for them that my starting deposit is $400.00 plus materials. I want to be taken seriously and this is the price where I don't feel taken advantage. I will educate people who ask that the materials for a bed size quilt are at least $200.00, my time and expertise has been honed since 1974. I just got a commission where I quoted $3000.00. The woman saw a quilt I had finished and I explained that it took 1644 pieces and 3 months of my time because I needed it to be completed in time for a show where the quilt won a 3rd place ribbon.

[Margo C.]

Good for you, Bridget! If you don't take yourself seriously, no one else will!! Never sell yourself short!

On the other hand, know what your skills are worth! I had a lady ask me for a consultation last week about some work someone else had done for her. She was shocked that the lady was asking $200 for some minor repair work on a quilt her grandmother had made, probably in the 30s. After seeing the quilt, and the work done, I (gently) explained to her that for that much money she should have gotten period reproduction fabrics (not bright 60s orange polyester prints turned to the back side so it didn't look so bright), well appliqued patches (not attached with loose basting stitches and frayed edges where there was too little seam allowance) and a double folded binding attached by hand, not 1/2" wide, single folded polyester binding attached by machine, with bulky overlapped corners and a lot of the binding only half full of quilt top. I suggested that the lady needed to be paid for her time and her attempted repair (I suggested $50), but that I could teach her how to re-do the repairs so that she would be more pleased with the result. She was in tears, thinking that her grandmother's quilt had been ruined. It was not a good repair job, and can be salvaged, but it should not have been done like it was, and she certainly should not have been charged that much money for it.

[Margo C.]

Have you asked for the 'repair' woman's phone number? I would certainly entertain speaking with her and questioning her about the repairs and educating her on the damages done to an antique heirloom by her present methods. On some level I would hope that this woman would care about the art and is just ignorant of the reality. Allowing this woman to continue to represent quilters is harming everyone.

[Margo C.]

Have you asked for the 'repair' woman's phone number? I would certainly entertain speaking with her and questioning her about the repairs and educating her on the damages done to an antique heirloom by her present methods. On some level I would hope that this woman would care about the art and is just ignorant of the reality. Allowing this woman to continue to represent quilters is harming everyone.

I absolutely agree with you Bridget! Apparently she is elderly (86?) and told Carol that she could "fix her grandmother's quilt by hand, just like her grandmother would have done it". She also said that the binding would be done by hand, and that the charge for the repairs "wouldn't be much". Big surprises all around. I don't know the quilter(?), and am trying to stay at arms length, because it looks like this may go to court. :shock:
Carol found out (after the fact) that this lady has been known to sue people over little things, and Carol is afraid that she will take her to court if she doesn't pay the full amount.
Because there was no written agreement, it might get ugly!
I have assured Carol that I can teach her to repair the quilt (at no charge) but that I don't want to be in the middle of the negotiations!
I know most of the quilters in this area, but her name didn't ring a bell with me, so I don't think that she's trying to regularly quilt for others.

[Margo C.]

Well $200.00 is still small claims court and if Carol can show pictures and get other expert opinions that the work is repugnant I would suggest she beat a path to the courts herself. She can claim the damages exceed the value perhaps.

[Margo C.]

Well $200.00 is still small claims court and if Carol can show pictures and get other expert opinions that the work is repugnant I would suggest she beat a path to the courts herself. She can claim the damages exceed the value perhaps.

Her husband is a city policeman who used to work in the DAs office! They have it covered! I'm just staying out of the line of fire! :roll: