I learned eon years ago when I was in direct sales that as a consultant you pay yourself what you feel you are worth and not a penny less. Many could not understand that concept and other consultants often felt I was ripping folks off but my customers dealt with me because of the service I provided them and were willing to pay for it.
This certainly stands true with this form of art in making quilts and for that matter any other type artist you aspire to be.
Everything must be counted from beginning to finish in how you price what you create. If you design it yourself that time needs to be counted in; also include shopping for materials to create it; also include materials; also include time it takes to create and complete it and any other incidental expenses incurred such as meetings with person who contracted you, phone calls, emails, what ever method was use.......ALL time is money.
Personally I have not yet sold a quilted piece because I'm just learning and since I'm not the type to be a traditional piecer, nor contemporary for that matter it means I will be creating all my own designs.
I currently have at least half a dozen military/partiotic designs I have created of which I will start making in the next couple months or so. It's a work in progress regarding the designs and am still tweaking some of it.
I certainly will not charge less than $400 for a small quilt thats for sure and probably no less than $1500 to $2000 for a king size one. I may even be under estimating myself here. Won't know until I actually create these designs and take everything into consideration.
I already have some interest around here with folks having seen my prelimanary designs which are all going to be one of a kind. If I make a certain design for one person I won't use that same exact design for another. I will change something in it to make it more personal to them.
As for friends and family they are not given special prices. This is a business after all if you are an artist and running it as such.
I learned early on in direct sales that friends and family if you were not selling the product would have to buy it from someone else at direct sale prices so why should they expect you to give it to them for less.
Hubby, my son and friends will tell you that for me business is business and they pay the same price. For instance I have a very good friend who is a chiropractor and also my doctor. Should I expect her to give me a lesser price for the work she does just because she and I are friends. Of course not! So why do we feel as artist that we should create quilts for family and friends for less money.
I learned early on in direct sales from other consultants who did give friends and family discounts almost always got screwed by them.
Business is business period IMHO and they pay just like anyone else or go find someone else to do it for them next to nothing.
Anyway if it's friends and family most likely they would get an art piece from me for there birthday, Christmas, or some other event going on. I would do it out of my heart and love for them.
Like someone else mentioned here she will teach and help them make there own if they come over to get it done but won't do it for them. Friends and family insult us with what they offer at times for our creations.
As for the lady whose neighbor paid her $20 only because she could go to the store and buy it for that I would have gladly shown her the door and told her to not walk but run to that store and buy one for $20. We all know the quality would not have been there let alone the time it took us to even cut the material to make it.
When I use to be in papercrafting I use to take what I considered ugly paper and repurpose them by redesigning and/or painting on it. Folks loved it and would purchase them from me to use as background paper/cardstock for there own creations. All of it was one of a kind. I accidently came upon this by accident and created something no one else could duplicate and they started asking to buy it from me. At first I did not know what to charge them and than I remembered my direct sales days and how I operated and implemented it in that art form. Amazingly folks paid what I asked for each sheet of art paper/cardstock I created.
Same will be happening with my quilting. Although I design and create for my own fun interest is being shown in what I create and folks will pay me what I am worth if they want the creation otherwise they will have to do it themselves or go to the local Walmart or other store that sells something inferior in material and quality for about $20-60 a pop.