mamafri

An interesting thread. I am a relatively new quilter but have sold some both online and at markets. These were mostly very basic quilting diagonally through squares, not the "fancy" quilting I am starting to do now. That said they still took plenty of time. Unfortunately supply outstrips demand, so getting the right price can be difficult if you do want to sell them. For me, I do these for fun, so I just want to cover my costs, and any extra is a bonus. However I usually add at least 100% of the costs for my time - more (sometimes 200-500%) depending on the quilt. If I get no interest, I reduce the price. As I said, I do it for fun, so I go with the flow a bit here, the aim is just to fund the next project.

For family I will happily make a quilt for free, sometimes I will supply the fabric, or if they want specific fabric they can supply it. Luckily my family mostly sew so they understand how much time and effort is required.

I no longer do custom orders, as I got stung by a woman who placed an order for a crib set, she paid a deposit which covered most of the materials, and was very happy with the photos of the finished product. She then gave all manner of reasons why it was unsuitable, mainly that the colour looked different (it was identical to a sample I had sent her). The issues she advised were coming from her husband. She wanted me to send it to her to see if it was OK before she paid the balance. I'm not stupid so I refused, I put lots of time into it and wasn't going to send it to a stranger unpaid. She then became quite nasty, even threatening legal action. I ended up having to advise I would sue for breach of contract if I was contacted again by her, and thankfully have not heard from her since. It was a disappointing experience, as I think she was very happy with it until her husband saw the price, and I was out of pocket by my time and a small amount of costs. I have since donated the quilt to a children's charity.