Originally Posted by
quiltmom04
I don't sell my quilts and for exactly all the reasons you mentioned. I have found you can't make a living selling your quilts for what they SHOULD be worth, unless you're someone famous, I suppose, and that just makes me upset about selling them. And I've found when I take quilting, which give not only produces quilts, but is very relaxing, and try to make it a job, I don't have any other way to relax. And I was never good at stopping 'work" quilting and going to 'my' quilting. Got burnt out too fast. But I DO like to make quilts as gifts. The time frame is largely my own, I generally decide who to give ( and NOT give) them to and a can largely keep track of them, as you say. I have also have given quilts to fundraisers, but that too has a tinge of not raising the amount it should be worth. My judgement for selling quilts is if you can make enough to not make you upset about parting with them, good. But just because you CAN do something tangible as a hobby, as opposed to, say, playing golf or reading, doesn't mean you should feel obligated to do it for money.
The above post is the key to my own concerns about making some sort of living from sewinq/quilting-you probably cannot do so the way the infrastructure and living costs demand from you.
Originally Posted by
cwessel47
I have a shop on Artfire. It costs $5.95 a month for everything that I have there. I only make what I want to make. I charge close to what I would like to get for them. If they sell, they sell. If they don't -oh well. Business is sporadic at best. When I get a buyer for 200-300 dollars - I'm really happy, and I go to buy more fabric. When I sell something little - that's good too. I have a lot of quilts in my house and have given many away. I MAKE QUILTS! You can only keep so many. If someone wants to me to make something for them - I listen carefully. I have them preview the fabric and design I have chosen. I ask for half of the cost up front. It works for me.
The bane of the Arts & Crafts movement is that one needs to either the luxury of a financial backer similar to the wealthy royalty of past centuries to support you as you create whatever that you do. While it is possible to get a few dollars for your trouble, it is not enough to live on in a first world country. I cannot help but think about all those sewing factories have sprouted up in those far off third world countries leaving behind what little there is to make some semblance of a living. Don't believe me? Look at the top of the next bolt of fabric or labels in your clothing/shoes. Chances are the the article in question is "imported" and from anywhere else that is not a first world country.
Originally Posted by
read2me1989
My husband is a woodworker and he too has trouble selling his items. He was told to figure the cost of materials and double that amount. That would account for his time, etc. I don't know if that would translate into sewing but it's something to mull over.
Big Box bargain shopping mania fueled by the flood of cheap and cheapen goods of most anything has or will push out most anyone serious about his/her craft. Trust me, it translate very well into sewing. My family has sewn for generations. I am the last one. I had to leave the industry because all the work went overseas and what is left is not taken too seriously (constant undercutting as discussed heavily above in the other posts). My family pressured me to go to college when I was a young girl to better myself & the family name. Even the academic/professional workplace has suffered the same (or similar) fate as factory work. The home cottage industries definitely feels the effects of poor legislation and thoughts of globalization. Nothing or no one is protected from rampant stupidity &
greed.