?? about t-shirt quilt for raffle
 

I am gathering up t-shirts to make two different quilts to be raffled off. I'd like to have the quilts quilted by a long armer. I am purchasing the shirts and some are donated and the rest of the fabric will be purchased by me. My question, Is it okay, ethical, to pay the long armer out of the proceeds from the raffle? I can't afford to pay for all the fabric and the long armer out of pocket.

Thank you for any advice.

Kyia

Do you have a long armer you use all the time? If so maybe she would give you a special price on her work. I piece a quilt every fall for our church bazaar and another member of the congregation machine quilts it and we both donate our time and talent and my husband donates all the materials..

I think that would need to be worked out with the organization BEFORE anything is done.

If the other members are okay with it, I don't see a problem. But I think it would definitely need to be agreed upon BEFORE you have the quilt long-armed.

What will happen if you don't make enough from the raffle to pay them? I would check with the LAer. They may want to donate the quilting or perhaps give you a reduced rate. If they have a business, they could write it off and I've seen raffles where there's a card listing the name(s) of the quilters. Sadly, there have been many posts here about very low proceeds from quilt raffles. However, there have been many with good results too, so good luck!

I don't think the posts about very low proceeds have been about quilt raffles. In my experience, raffling off a quilt makes the most money! This is when you have raffle tickets and sell them for $1 each/6 for $5, leave enough time before the event to sell the raffle tickets, and have enough people selling the tickets.

However, I have seen "silent auctions" make very low returns. Sometimes the items sell for less than the materials in them.

Also, a traditional type auction (auctioneer calling out and people bidding against each other) tends not to make very good returns for a quilt when it is part of a larger event. Traditional auctions can work when only quilts are being auctioned off and there are a lot of quilts, but those are special situations. If it's, say, a school fundraising auction then you have to have people in the audience who have deep pockets.

I agree. this needs to be discusses first. I use to make a quilt every year for a well known church in So CA. My LAQ gave a discount for the quilting since it was a donation to the church. The church wrote me a check for the pieced top, batting and backing and a check directly to the LAQ.

I do not have a LAer that I usually use. I usually hand quilt my quilts myself but don't want to with t-shirts and thought this was a good solution. I am going to be putting this together with the school district in the town I work in. I'll discuss it with them and see what they think. If they have a problem with it I'll do it on my domestic but it will take forever. Thank you for the responses.

Kyia

Find local longarm quilters, contact them and ask their (policies) concerning donation quilts- you just might find one willing to donate the quilting- you just pay for thread, or someone may give a reduced rate. You should know ahead of time what the costs may be before discussing with your group, so you all know what the options are. I generally do not charge for charity quilting, only for any supplies needed ( if I provide backing or batting I charge for cost of those) or if it is mailed the postage is an expense. You may have a local quilter who will happily do the job

Thank you for your response!

A raffle is a form of a "business". Not ALL quilt raffles bring in the $$$. I used to donate a quilt to a raffle and after about five years the "interest" and ticket sales and those selling the tickets waned. What was once a profitable fundraiser became a losing proposition. I no longer make a quilt to donate. The costs associated should be covered prior to a raffle. Why go into debt beforehand?

your organization needs to cover all costs prior to the actual raffle and ticket sales. I don't agree about asking long arm quilters to donate their time (they lose income) for a "cause". IF. There is a long arm quilter in your organization who offers to donate or discount their service, fine. But I don't like asking others to give up their source of income for a cause is the right thing to do. Good luck with the raffle.
sandy