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.

Pay her well she will be grateful and it is the Holidays I have an embroidery shop and I would charge 7for a one color design and .50 cents for every color change

Are you buying the towels? Are you buying her a couple rolls of stabilizer? What would you pay for personalized towels from a nice shop? I think $5 per towel is on the low side considering the cost of stabilizers, her thread and her time and expertise. I think for all 12 towels $100 is certainly within range.
Check out the prices on this web site: http://www.personalizationmall.com/Towels-c93.lp

I agree that $5 a towel is at least what it should be. Especially when, with personalized towels, she will need to do a different design on each one, and that can be time consuming. If her software is like mine, she'll have to recreate a new design for each towel, save it in the software and transfer it to the machine. Plus, at this time of year, TIME is in short supply for everyone, and you're taking hers to make your gifts, so please as generous as you can!

Most places charge 10 dollars for a 3 initial monogram.

I agree cash is best when times are hard. $5.00 IS VERY FAIR FOR BOTH OF YOU.

Well I'm in this dilemma also kinda...I was asked by a friend if I would make and embroider on 6 cushions. Um well yes of course I would...Now I don't know what to charge. I had to purchase the designs, material, stabilizer cushion forms for inside ect. Each design takes at least 1/2 a day, each cushion will match each other. So 6 cushions, 3 designs and roughly 72 hours to stitch out as these designs had a lot of color changes...in one design there were over 32 color changes whew.....I was thinking at least $25/cushion...and I'm probably losing money but this friend is very special to me so I don't mind. If cash is tight for this couple then I would suggest giving money....

I do agree cash is best. I feel 5.00 per towel would at least cover cost of supplies.

I charge $1.00 per 1,000 stitches plus a one time set up fee of $5.00, $4.50 thread charge and if I have to buy a design I charge the client 1/2 cost of design (I keep the design). So for 12 towels that would be a one time set up fee, thread charge and design plus the $1.00 per 1,000 stitches. Anything else you might want to give I'm sure would be greatly appreciated.

Liz in SE Texas

I believe she is talking about the flat cotton type dish towels (not the big fluffy bath towels) and those shouldn't need a stabilizer on top I wouldn't think. But if it was a good friend and in a bad money situation I would pay as much as I could afford. If she won't take cash, I'd try a GC from her favorite grocery store or some such - something practical.

I agree with the $5 per towel and I think considering her time, materials and consideration you are getting wonderful gifts at a bargain. Instead of the restaurant gift card you can give her a gift card for the local grocery.

This is good information. Thanks for sharing.

http://www.emblibrary.com/EL/default.aspx

http://www.designsbyjuju.com/

these are 2 of my favorite sites to get designs from .. there are many other places but I love how these stitch out.

If you go over and help her when she does the towels, (it takes a lot of time to get the stabilizer off the backs of towels), supply the towels and offer to pay for the designs (or buy them and download them to a flash drive for her to have ... be sure you get the "correct" type of design) along with a token amount per towel she might appreciate the company. You could also take a homemade dinner casserole or something for her for the day she does the work so that is one less thing she has to worry about.

If you were to buy the embroidered towels outright at a store, how much would you be willing to pay for them? use that as a guide as to what to offer her.

Then again, she may be wanting to use the machine but may not have the "blanks" to use. Do be aware that sometimes accidents happen and the towel could get "eaten" by the machine through no fault of hers, be sure to have a couple extra so there's no hard feelings. You can always leave them with her also.

I have an embroidery/sewing machine and a friend of mine has been working with me to learn it. She has bought a lot of the designs and some thread. I have bought most of the thread and stabilizers, she brings over her items she wants to embroider and we usually take turns putting the embroidery on the item. We have learned so much about how to make the machine do what we want it to do and we have a great time doing it. Simple designs take about 20 minutes - others take an hour and half. Maybe she would like to have you there and have the companionship while doing it.

I like the lady's idea to pay $25.00 plus dinner out or make a dinner and take it to them. If he can't get around to good dinner in is good ?