What to charge?
 

A friend asked if I would put the binding on 2 baby quilts (about 45 x 65) for a friend of hers. I don't mind doing it, but I don't have any idea of what to charge. It is straight binding, nothing fancy about it. Do I charge by the inch or for the whole quilt. What do you think would be a fair price?

20 cents per inch machine binding. .. maybe 25 or 30 cents for handstitching (machine to front handstitching to back) sounds fair. Binding is my least favorite part. ;)

Don't short change yourself - I like the prices listed above. I would wager they will find someone else to do the binding - if so don't feel guilty about that.

I would just figure how many hours it would take me (not many) times how much I want per hour, and give a flat rate.

Or swap for fabric or have her do something for you!

So this is for a friend of a friend -

Is this to be machine sewn front and back? (or back and front?)

Or machine sewn to the front and hand sewn to the back?

I don't know what is fair - because it takes me a long time to do the job.

Depending on what part of the country you live in - the "allowable rate" may vary. I think you should ask for at least minimum wage for your time .

Look at prices online. Most places that have long arm services charge a separate charge to do bindings. You can get an idea of others charge

Machine sew binding to front only ($0.10/linear inch)
100% machine sew binding to front and back ($0.20/linear inch)
Machine sew binding to front & hand sew to back ($0.30/linear inch)

This is what I usually charge. If she is a REAL good friend, you may want to offer her a 'special friend' discount. Very few of my customers opt to have their bindings done :)

I was just wondering how to figure a linear inch.?

A linear inch is a measurement of straight line (linear = line) , So for a quilt it is the measurement all around the outside of the quilt.

If your quilt is 54 x 60, then the linear inch measurement is: 54 + 54 + 60 + 60 = 228 linear inches. :)

as opposed to square inches which would be 54 x 60 = 3240 square inches, which many LA's use to calculate the # of stitches for pricing.

According to above posts, this quilt would cost between $23.00 and $68.00 to bind ($.10 to $.30 per inch). That seems a little high or is my calculations wrong.