I am an excellent seamstress and a questionable quilter, I sewed for many years when my children were young and we needed the extra money. In general women are CHEAP and want to bargain on how much they want to pay you for your work. Men just want it done and usually didn’t question the amount charged. I save alterations for those that I love, I didn’t and still don’t have a problem saying no. As a matter of fact if I had someone that I didn’t want to sew for, I would tell them to read my lips, do you understand the words coming out of my mouth? I once had a close friend who wanted to have the side pleats (vents) sew up in her husband’s suit coat. (God I couldn’t even figure why someone would want to do that to a suit coat). Anyway the dry cleaners gave a price of $35.00 and this heifer told me what the cleaners wanted to charge and then asked me how much I would charge her. I told her $40.00 and she wanted to know why so much. I asked her what want she banking on – our friendship or the fact that the dry cleaners could do a better job than me. Alterations are indeed tedious, time consuming and down right a royal pain in the butt.