Originally Posted by ruck9085
Last evening, my son and I got into a discussion about quilts. He told me I should set up a website or post on ebay and sell quilts that I make. He said do custom ordered quilts and " you could sell them for $50.00, you'd clean up, Mom" I almost passed out!! So, this is how our conversations progressed.
Me: "Fifty dollars? Do you know how much work and time goes into making and handquilting a wall hanging, less alone a king sized quilt"
Him: "Doesnt matter. I mean you're just sitting in a chair all day sewing, so how hard can it be?"
Me: "How hard? Never mind that, just the material alone would cost over fifty bucks for a throw. A king sized quilt would cost well over a hundred dollars on the low end for material."
Him: Why?"
and so it went. I told him that even charging minimum wage for the hand quilting, it would still cost over five hundred dollars for a queen sized quilt. And he said, well they sell them at JCPenny for $49, and they're hand made and I got up and said, "Of course they are." and that was that. People just don't understand the time and effort it takes to hand quilt a pieced quilt. Something for nothing seems to be the mindset these days!
Sounds like a conversation I had with my sister about 10 years ago. She had a gift store and suggested I make quilts so she could sell them at her store. She suggested I make them for about the same price as your son had said so then she could mark them up and make a killing. I told her to get someone else I couldn't do it. Like you said that wouldn't even buy the fabric. Unless people are making them they don't realize the cost of the fabric much less the hours of work.