Do any of you have items made in your area by people who do Machine Emb & Monograms? If so, for a simple 3 inch one letter monogram, how much would you expect to pay?
Tonight a friend called & we had been talking about me making some "medicine" bags for the Seniors she sponsors at her Church last year, nothing came of it & I quit what I was working on with them. She started talking about it again tonight & wanting me to go talk to them. Here are my dilemmas.
These are FQs sewn w/serger & then reinforced, sew in bottom, then turn down big cuff & sew about 1 & 1/2 inch from top & hem, then drop down another 2 inches & hem. In the seam I make buttonholes for the nice cording to go thru, so that's it unless they want monograms, which have to be done, then sew the bags together. She has two bags I monogrammed for her last year, so she can demo those & the four I have sewn together.
To this friend, anything over $2 is high. The FQs cost me $2 ea on eBay, then my time, plus thread, needles, & tear-away or cut-away backing....I feel guilty if I state a fair price in my opinion, then they try to get me to lower it. I understand phanaggling. When I first started this 2 yrs ago, all the reading I did said the fair price for Machine Emb & Monogramming was a flat $5 just to put the fabric in the hoop, put it in the machine, then additional for time to do the work, cost of downloading the particular designs off Internet (most of the individual ones are not free & I charge the customer the price off Internet). On monograms, I digitize those on my 4D Program to the size, color, etc. they want.
The folks in this small town & surrounding areas act like I've offended them, but people from larger cities think my price is too low. How would you handle a situation(s) like this?