It costs What...do you think?
 

I have just read one of the pamphlets I picked up somewhere on my last trip through Lancaster county. It is published by the Mennonite Central Committee. It asks "did you know" it costs approximately $2350.00 to make an average queen size quilt {98 X 112} ??? It goes on to say there is 300 hours of cutting, piecing, pressing, quilting and binding @ minimum wage comes out to $2175!!! Needless to say, I had to read it more than once. Sounds like i'm underpaid & I guess that means with all my UFOs, i'm a potential gazillionaire!!!.....now if I could just SELL a few for one tenth that price!!...

I try not to think about the cost and time. It is a hobby I enjoy and don't want to justify!

The time is the most expensive part of making a quilt.

I don't put a price on the time I spend quilting. It is recreation for me.

I do watch what I pay for fabric and supplies and try to get the most bang for my buck. Even this I don't mind as I enjoy the challenge of planning and making something beautiful for as economical as I can.

Definitely. But when you are doing something that you love to do, it doesn't matter. I don't make my wearable art to save money on clothes. I make it because I love doing it and I love wearing unusual clothing that fits my personality rather than some clothing maker's idea of what I should wear. So I don't much care what it costs. I love doing it and I'm going to continue.

I kept track of my time and I could make a stunning queen size quilt with fabrics and batting for $500.00 but those were 15 years ago and I was making $8.00 an hour. Made a quilt called Colorsplash which was a Trip around the World but I made them into watercolor quilts.

I wonder where they come up with these outrageous values... and 300 hours? Really? Maybe if made entirely without a sewing machine it might take that long, but otherwise, no way.

I believe they are counting hand quilting.

Mennonite, are a less strict sect of Amish so they are quilting by hand. They do beautiful work too.

I once kept track of how many hours I had in a king size hand quilted quilt. I stopped keeping track when it got over 300 hours. I suspect it took me close to 400.

Edited to add, an intensely machine quilted quilt could easily have 100 or more hours in it. I know I have done long armed jobs that had at least 80 hours into it. And an intricately pieced quilt even done by machine could also easily have over 100 hours into it from cutting to final border.

Is it time to post this again? Found online years ago....

Jan in VA

What It Really Costs To Make a Quilt



QUEEN SIZED, MACHINE PIECED, HAND QUILTED

MATERIALS:

Fabric 12-16 yards @ $9per yd. $108 - $144
Batting $25 - $40
Thread $8 - $16

Total $ invested $141 - $200


LABOR HOURS:

Piecing 20 to 60 hours
“Setting” (designing your quilt) 10 to 20 hours
Quilting 100 to 750 hours

Total hours invested 130 to 810 hours


TOTAL COST

Paying $1 per hour (Would you do this type of work for $1 an hour?!)

Materials $141 - $200
Labor $130 - $810
Total $271 - $1070


Paying minimum wage $7.25 (by law in 6/2009)

Materials $141 - $200
Labor (130-810hrs) $942.50 - $5872.25
Total $1083.50 - $6072.25


Paying skilled labor wage $20 per hour (Don't you consider yourself trained and skilled in this craft?)

Materials $141 - $200
Labor (130-810hrs) $2600 - $16,200
Total $2741 - $16,400




(Found on the Internet 1995; unknown author)

I have made a few quilts that had over 300 hours in just the cutting and machine piecing. I would not be so quick to say "no way" .

Very interesting. I can't help but think of how many times I have read where people find cheap quilts at yard sales or thrift stores for less than $5 or $10. Or the more intricate ones at auctions for $60.

Hah, you can tell that break down is old just by the fabric prices. In essence though I think it's spot on.

I know just cost of materials (not taking into consideration the machine wear & tear, electricity, or time) I spend at LEAST $200 to make a 72x72 throw. That's just fabric and batting, I don't even really figure in thread. And that's also shopping sales and using coupons.

I like to quote people $800 for a throw when they ask me if I will make a quilt, but I think I'm going to start tripling it. Maybe quadrupling.

That is why I try to not buy fabric for more than $5. a yard. With all the Charity quilts I make and ones I give to friends and family; I can't afford to buy more expensive fabrics.

People are not willing to pay what a quilt is really worth! This is exactly why I refuse to sell any quilts that I make.

I tend to search out and stock up on fabrics that are a good deal price wise. I also love to make scrappy quilts, so I get the most bang for my buck with whatever fabrics I do buy. The time invested into designing, cutting, piecing, quilting and binding is huge with any quilt...and I seem to have a preference to make queen and king sized ones. I refuse to work for pennies per hour, and the general public will refuse to pay for even minimum wage much less the amount of money per hour that I think I am worth!

I always knew my quilts were worth it...but I will stick to just making quilts for myself, to give to friends and family and to donate to charity...that will always make them priceless!

That's why I get so annoyed with quilters who sell their quilts on eBay, Etsy, or other places for $50 or $100, and say they don't think they should charge a lot for their hobby. Well, they're taking a loss and making it very difficult for others who ARE trying to make a profit. If you don't want to make money, then don't sell them! Please, just give them away!

Jan, I wonder if that price sheet you posted is from Caryl Bryer Fallert-what-ever-her-new-last-name-is-now. I know she posted one very similar to yours a few years ago.

Hmmm, in 1995, the cost was similar to today's. Looks like we didn't get very far. Isn't it funny/sad what it cost to make a quilt is far from how much you can actually sell it for! I guess all the contentment a quilt brings people is well worth the effort-- if not $$$....

There is a mind set that "women's work" is not as valuable as men's. You see it in the work place in general, not just in quilting. We keep working to change that, but it's been a long, hard road.

I like the way you think! :thumbup:

Ditto. Keeps me in check and not having to commit. Mine are strictly gifts.

You got that right. Keep on working for change! If not in our life time , maybe our daughters!!!!!

This reminds me of the articles I used to see that show how much money a mother's work at home would cost if she were paid wages. No one could afford a mom if they had to pay by the hour :) It was usually broken down into services such as driving to school, appointments, etc. Caring for sick or even well kids, anyway, I don't have one of these articles to share, but I bet it could be googled.

I do what I love, and love what I do! The whole process, from start to binding and label. Get to do it a lot more since retiring. I'll never get rich from it, but will leave my children and grandchildren, and great grand children something to remember me by. Who could ask for more?

I worked for Mennonite Central Committee, and many of the quilts are auctioned at relief sales throughout the US and Canada. I once saw one auctioned for $10,000, bought by a San Francisco businessman to hang in his office.

It was a Baltimore Album, and the lady that made it worked on it for over a year, then it took a group of church ladies several months to quilt it. It was all applique, with rushing, embroidery and it was the most beautiful hand work I have seen.

And like someone has already said....it was a labor of love.

Maybe we should start a new trend of including a nice little card with any quilts we give as gifts with Jan's info- updated to reflect today's prices of course :-) Fewer gifts would end up in dog beds and car trunks I bet!

I read all the time where sewists get used clothing/sheets and make use of it for their projects. Even using used mattress covers for the batting. If that helps.

And you can purchase twin flat sheets from Walmart, 66 x 96, almost 5 yards of fabric, in a wide selection of colors, for a little over $4 each. They are 60 percent cotton, and wash up nicely.

I don't think it's just a problem of "women's work" that is devalued, but generally crafts and handmade items. It's probably also a fact that crafters themselves dare not to price their work appropriately. Oftentimes because they feel that they won't make the sale (which is unfortunately often true).

I think I posted this link before, but it might shed some light here as well.

Bottomline of the article: Simplest baby quilt possible is worth over $250!

I'm with you, Lori. I've tracked over 200 hours just longarming a single large wallhanging. That included many, many hours of knot tying and burying.

The number of hours from start to finish can be mind boggling. The cost of the fabric, thread, and batting is a whole other issue, and then there is the quilting and binding! I give most of my quilts to my family, they love and appreciate the work I do. Those who want to purchase a quilt never understand the time and cost that go into one!

Wow! We really are underpaid! Good thing we enjoy it. And to think most of us give our quilts away. We must be a crazy bunch !:)

Purple Passion, where do you find fabrics for $5 per yard?

quiltingbuddy, there is a website called fivebucksayard (I've bought from and recommend), and there are also inexpensive quality fabrics on etsy, you just have to search for them. I'm sure others will chime in with other websites I'm not familiar with, that have fabrics for that price. I just don't shop online very much.

Mennonites are not a less strict sect of Amish!! http://www.mennoniteusa.org/about-us...he-mennonites/
Go to MCC.org and read about quilt auctions and what they raise $ for. Please don't make uninformed statements.

Just FYI most quilts auctioned at an MCC sale are at least hand quilted, many are hand appliqued. Our church, as well as many Mennonite and Church of the Brethren churches has a quilting circle. It's fun to quilt together.

Yes, I volunteer to quilt for Mennonite Central Committee, the calculation in $ is based on labor/time.. The ingredients to make quilt are donated.. So your right your quilt higher if you buy your own fabric. P.S. I'm not Mennonite, but joined to learn how to calculate my quilting.

Craft people are artists, hence the "starving artist" quote. If we had to live off what we made, most of us would starve! If you enjoy what you do, and do it for fun, then what you charge for you craft is just icing on the cake... Fun and a paycheck too! But most of the public do not see our craft as art, it's "homemade, so therefor not professional. I used to make wedding gowns, and loved it. But I got serious and decided that the hundreds of hours I spent to make someone else's dream come true was not helping me gain MY dreams of a new seeing machine (top dollar one). I re-figured my pricing strategy, and my first 3 years of new pricing came in at a very fair price and the brides were happy. But I had a bride bring me a picture of a $12,000.00 dress for me to copy. When my price came to just under $9,000.00, she almost fainted. She demanded I cut the price. My suggestion was to go to the salon that had the dress and demand THEY cut their price. She said since it was "homemade" how dare I think is should be paid a "professional rate". I escorted her out, thanking her for considering my services and closed the door. I got a call a few days later, she said she was "going to let it go"(whatever that meant) and let me "try my hand at a designer gown" (uh, that is what I do, DESIGN and MAKE the dress). I apologized and told her my services were no longer available and suggested she buy the gown. I am now out of the gown business, after 25 years. I now sew, piece, quilt, embroider, and play. My sewing room, my machines, my time, my rules. Don't like them, go someplace else.
We are artists and we should not apologize for being one, and we should be able to charge a reasonable price for our goods.

I have wall hanging quilts that have more than 150 hours in the quilting alone. "Time" is relative to the piece and the maker. We all work at different speeds, using different methods, and creating work with different degrees of intensity.

It would be nice to have that pamphlet when some one asks you to make them a quilt and you then tell them how much it is going to cost.

Jan ,that's a good cost list, I'm saving that for my tax man to use.

WOW Jan I could be a zillionare I just nead to be trained and skilled in this craft. LOL