PamelaOry

i started quilting because I love quilts but could never afford to buy one. Oh the irony of it.....I’ve spent far more on quilting supplies than one big beautiful quilt would have cost.

kittiebug

Quilt - 100 x 100 (Quilting it at 0.18% = $180.00 / 0.20% = $200.00 )
Making and attach binding = $53.00 @ 0.13 per inch
hand stitching to back of quilt = $80.00 @ .20 per inch

Plush the cost of fabric , batting and your time making it. hope this helps

Onebyone

Charging a too low price is too common with quilters with good quilting skills. I decide what would be a good price and then double it when someone asks me if I will sell one of my quilts. I won't make one to custom order. I make what I want and then say yes it's for sale or not.

nanac

to Native Texan: I live in Amish/Mennonite Midwest, and their quilts are rarely listed less than $1000. Keepsake quilting has a room with finished quilts, and some of those are listed at upwards of $2000. I have never personally sold a quilt, but if someone really wants a quilt, they will pay the fair price. If they don't want to pay for it, then that's up to them, but I wouldn't make one for the cost of a "store-bought" quilt.
Most of them aren't even made in the US.I went to Tennessee last year, and looked at some of the quilts in a little market. Their prices were in the $400-600 range, and their labels said Made in China. I complained to the manager, and said hat it was a shame that Chinese quilts are being sold as authentic homemade quilts, in the middle of Appalachia. She said that somebody deserves to be paid for their work, so it might as well be the Chinese, since American quilts are too expensive to make.

hray

A coworker asked for my help, as she wanted to make a quilt for her sister in law. I spent considerable time helping her find the fabric she wanted to use as a focus fabric, sketched out several patterns that would work to showcase it, etc. We tried to get together several times but she was busy, her kids were sick, or something similar every time.

Finally, she asked me if I’d be interested in making it for her. Considering the time I”ve already put in, I strongly considered it. But I’m just not interested in doing it, and didn’t feel I could charge more than a couple hundred dollars (it’s a simple pattern, because I designed it for her as a beginner). I’m still working, have my own projects and other hobbies, so I finally suggested she look on bulletin boards at quilt stores or fabric stores to see if she could find someone who does this for $.

It’s hard for me, but as I get older I am finally learning how to say “No” sometimes!

givio

My sister has several pretty quilts she bought at Target, or some such type of place, which were probably made in China, as they were less than $100 new. I've seen quilts on sale for as low as $40. In her case, it was instant gratification, and she loves a good buy-- being a person that buys fabric and makes quilts herself she knows what a value they were in time, work, and money saved.

Maybe the niche for $1000 American made quilts is on the East Coast or West Coast where people have a high cost of living and earn more money?

hray, good for you! It is hard to say 'no' sometimes. :-)

ptquilts

OP, I hope you have your polite spine polished up for when other people want the same bargain you are giving to this person!! Unless your "strings" are about 6" wide, that is a very low price. That's the trouble with doing a favor for a friend, they tell everyone what a great deal they got and where they got it!! Then you get the "You made her one for $400, why cant you do it for me?"

When we were making and selling hand-quilted quilts, we did lose some business when the imported quilts came in. But a lot of people still wanted a traditional quilt. The stores where we sold them would tell us about who bought them, many times it was people from Europe and Japan who were visiting our country. (US). And yes, some were over $1000.

kristakz

I think it is so sad that traditionally female activities are so undervalued. A woodworker would think nothing of charging $1000 for a custom piece that took the amount of time and cost of materials this quilt will consume, and they'd get that fee. But quilters are consistently undervalued and told it's not "worth" that - and I think at least in part we do it to ourselves. Everyone who makes a quilt and charges low because "no one would pay that" just perpetuates the problem.

I wish we could all get together and just agree that *this* is what our time is worth. And if you want to make a quilt and charge less, be upfront about the discount you are giving so that the value of the quilt is clear.

OP, please don't take offense at this - it's not intended personally and we all have to make the decision that is right for us. It's just frustrating to see women's work so undervalued.

jcrow

I knew a gal who put up a wall hanging in a nice store in a town 15 miles away. I was shopping in there and saw it. It was about 40”x40”. It was a large purple star with black background and keyboard border on it. She had $500 listed on it. A week later I went back in and it had been sold! So some people will pay good money for a quilt, even one you can’t put on a bed. And it was an easy quilt to make! Good for her!!