Commissioned quilt..what a deal!
 

I work in a hospital surgery area, today one of our surgeons brought his own nurse to operate with him. Some how the subject of quilts was brought up. Everyone there knows I quilt so they got her on the phone with me. She was wanting two t shirt quilts made for her sons and asked if I knew about that type of quilt, I told her I had made a few and she got all excited and wanted to hire me right then. Whoa..slow down..do you know how expensive they are I asked. Well she saw a ad in a quilt store paper for a class at $60.00, so she figured 100.00 would be a fair price, what did I think of that...when I told her my last t shirt quilt went to a( friend )who paid 400.00 for it she was a tad surprised. Hated to tell her her 100.00 would barely cover backing, batting, stabelizers, sashing and I wouldn't do it for free. Guess I will go back to the ones I am working on for me! Sorry this is long but just had to share another view of a non quilter.

Just shaking my head...

Familiar story...all enthused til they hear the cost.

One can always tell a noncrafty person. They have no idea of the real value of art.

I hope you told her to take the class :)

I helped my sil make a t-shirt quilt and she about had a heart attack when I made her buy the fabric batting and backing and then helped her do it. She said that she never wants to make another quilt again because it took so long and was really hard and expensive...... She is one that likes to plow threw things and get them over with. she is not really crafty but we love her anyways.

Actually that's exactly what I told her she should do..she said her eyes are to old (she works for a eye surgeon)....makes a few dollars more than I do as a anesthesia aide, that's for sure!

I made one commissioned baby quilt, for a very good neighbor and friend. She promised to pay for supplies and my time. I took her with me to pick out the fabrics, but really it was so SHE could pay for all of it. She was mildly surprised at the total, but paid and handed me the bag. I made the top. She decided she wanted to have the baby's name and birth date professionally embroidered on the border, which was fine with me. I think she paid $45 for that. Back then, I wasn't quilting my own quilts (and she knew that), so I sent the top to a longarmer, which was another $75. I bound the quilt and gave it to her. She wrote me a check for $75 to reimburse me for the quilting and that was it. I didn't press the issue because she was such a good neighbor, but lesson learned - I have never made another commissioned quilt since then. I've been approached, so I write up a very detailed proposal, complete with how much supplies cost and how much I will charge, and require a deposit (half of the total) up front. To date, no one has taken me up on it.

This made me laugh out loud! Love it!

(and glad to see that is what the OP did!)