Embroidery fee?
 

I do not own an embroidery machine, nor do I hand embroider as of yet. But I want to give personalized tea towels (oversized lightweight cotton dish towels) to my girls for Christmas.

A friend of mine has a Bernina embroidery machine and Says she will gladly do the 12 towels. I just need to pick a design. I know many of you wouldn't want to do alterations for anyone, but is embroidering for someone different to you? Of so, what should I offer my friend? Her hubby is recently laid off and a Vietnam vet fighting for 100 percent disability, so they need the money. What would be fair to pay her? She would not charge nor refuse it.

You should pay any charge to buy the embroidery design, and then let her keep them. Same for any colors of embroidery thread that she doesn't already have.

I don't know what fee would be appropriate for doing the embroidery. If giving cash doesn't seem right, maybe something they wouldn't buy for themselves - a steak dinner (either provided or going out), chocolates, ...

She said she gets free patterns every day and has "a hundred colors" of thread, including the ones I want.

I used to be a professional casket embroider. we had a flat rate of $50/design for the casket. other items were charged per stitchcount. so 6342 stitches would be 6.32 ( I had all of Dakota collectibles designs )
I like sue's idea, if you can afford it, $25 plus a nice dinner out as a grateful gift.

At least $5 per towel.

I hear once that the price is $1.00 per 1000 stitches. It may have gone up since I heard this about 6 or 8 years ago.

You should find out how long each design will take. Then pay her accordingly. Say a 5 min design $5.00 then on from there. It takes time to hoop it and also stablizer besides the thread.

Some people charge a $5. hooping fee. When I did embroidery at an EmbroidMe store, we charged $12 just to put a name on a Christmas stocking. Considering these things, I would at least give her $5. per towel. She may use a stabilizer under the towel and a wash away stabilizer is always used on the top of towels so these things cost money.

Having had our share of "poor" years, I would veto the steak dinner idea. That can end up costing them money by the time they get dinner, drinks and tip. When things were rough for us, I would rather have had the cold, hard cash to put towards bills or groceries. I agree with BellaBoo for at least $5 per towel. Stabilizer isn't cheap and she may use a tear away or cut away on the bottom and a wash away on top. (That's what I use for towels) IMHO

If I were in your friend's situation, I would certainly appreciate $5 per towel.