Doing Paid /Commission Sewing/Quilting for Others
 

I prefer not to -

For several reasons -

1) I am slow and I dislike deadlines
2) I am afraid of messing up someone else's thing
3) People are unwilling to pay even "minimum wage" for the time I have invested
4) I worry about other people being even more persnickety than I am

(I have seen some work that would be "okay" for someone just learning/starting - but I would be embarrassed to the moon and back to offer it "for hire".)
If someone chooses to pay me for something that I have already made - I do not fret.

For those of you that do work on/for comnmission - how did you overcome your hurdles?

When/How did you decide you were good enough, fast enough, etc?

And have you found people to be willing to pay "adequately" for your skill, time, and materials?

I have been doing commission work for close to 20 years. I do prefer to make a quilt, show it off & have someone ask to purchase it. It’s definitely easier that way. When approached for a commission I do work out all the details- and I do get paid well for my work ( I’ve made $800 for twin quilts and $3750 for a couple quilts
I often ask for a color scheme or theme, style and size. Sometimes I go through books and show the person some options. Sometimes all I have to go on is King size, fall colors. I’ve had enough quilts appraised to be able to quote a good price. I’ve given breaks at times but always wind up with a minimum of $20 an hour over the price of materials. I always require a 50% non- refundable deposit before I cut anything or purchase anything.
in 20 years I’ve only had 1 person not accept her quilt when it was finished. It was a weird situation- she hadn’t even seen the finished quilt, was in contact with me- all excited on the phone- we arranged for me to deliver it- day of delivery I was on my way when I received a text from her saying ( I don’t want it) !?!? What??? I sat along side the road for a few minutes, tried to call her- no answer- went home and wrote and sent a registered letter stating she had 30 days to purchase the quilt or forfeit her deposit and any claim to the quilt. The 30 days went by. About 2 weeks later I sold it for 3 times what I was offering to sell it to her. I was trying to give her a good deal- worked out fine for me.

I don't mind doing quilting for other people, I've done it a lot and I found I am far more persnickety than any customer.

But sewing - nope, don't like it. I had an acquaintance want me to make some flannel pillowcases from a flannel sheet she had. I found I could sell the sheet on Ebay and buy 4 pillowcases for her with the proceeds. I'm lazy like that.

CK LOL oh I love it! So glad you made money on the work you spent time and money on,

I do binding on commission. I made a small sample and gave it to the owner of my LQS, along with my rates and contact info. Started getting customers who have all been happy. I did have one who freaked out at my quote, I explained to her that my rate is my rate but she continued to argue with me. So I sweetly said that I understood if her budget needed someone a little more economical and wished her well. I think she was shocked. She came back 2 months later and paid without a murmur. Someone who knows her later told me that I was smart, this is a woman who has wealth and doesn't think twice about plunking down $100 for a handbag or a dress.
I do a very good job. I am really detail-oriented and treat every customer quilt as if it were my own. I will do every aspect of binding and actually prefer if my customers do not pre-make their binding strips. I am worth what I charge and the proof is in my repeat customers.

I quilt for others and have made many "on demand" t-shirt quilts (but no longer-boring!) when I first started and I was so anxious about the quality of my work despite having done a ton of my own and charity quilts before that. I did take a quilting business class with Sally Terry at one of the last MQS shows and that really helped steer me throught the maze of quilting for others as a business.Now I do almost exclusively custom quilting and have few customers,but they are willing to pay my price (which is competitive with my area but still cheaper than parts of the country). In the last year I've been more selective of which quilts I will take as I realize I want to finish up some of my own quilts too.

When I purchased my LA machine last year, I told myself I was not going to do commission work...but then came along Covid. I have now done two quilts for a dear friend who does not enjoy quilting large quilts on her DSM. I also rent my machine to another friend who likes to do her own quilts from start to finish. She also went with me to the Bernina dealer for training so I trust her on my machine.

I don't do work for anyone but I send some of my quilts to a longarmer. She's wonderful. Her prices and work are amazing. Since Covid she's been backed up with quilts to be done. Even so, I got my Singing in the Rain quilt back in about 2 weeks. She does binding for 10.00 which I think is a steal ( 15.00 for a King). I don't really like doing binding.
But I digress. I would not work for someone else. Then it's work, not fun.

I have done a few quilt for commission but not many. I have a contract that allows for me to have plenty of time to finish a project and allows for emergency scenarios. I am not the best by any means but I can do a good job on a quilt and do fairly good FMQ on my Grace frame, which is now down. I have not done one in years now for all the reasons you mention. I was able to make a fair wage at the time. With the customer supplying all the materials, batting and backing and I can finish a quilt. If commissioned to make the entire quilt the price is by the block.
I don't plan on doing any more commissioned quilts in the near future

I’ve been doing commission work for about 10-12 years. Started with tee shirt quilts for clients, then someone asked me to make a quilt from her daughter’s clothes so have been doing a lot of those too. I guess I’ve been lucky because almost all of my clients have been nice to work with and appreciate the amount of time it takes. I do a one-hour, free consultation to look at the tees or clothes, talk about what client wants. My prices range from $350 to $900. I’ve only had one person decide not to go forward — and it wasn’t her decision. Her husband thought it was too much!

I have been asked many times. But, I always refuse gracefully. I also do not submit my work into fairs or shows. I don't want that kind of pressure on me while I am making something. That is not why I sew or quilt.

I’ve only done a few on commission, but not recently. People have approached me to make quilts out of baby clothes and dance costumes, but I’m absolutely not interested in doing those. It might be different if I was younger and needed the money. Right now I only want to work on what I love.

I don't have the time or desire to do commission work. Heavens, I barely have time to sew for myself.

I used to make clothes for people but don't do it anymore. I get too nervous and don't like being under pressure of using other peoples fabrics. I agree with everything you listed.

With encouragement from our LQS owner, I taught my first series of classes for our embroidery machines. I have never been in the teaching environment. I have done a few presentations for our group meetings which helped me gain confidence. There were 6-8 students in each class at different levels and four different machine models. My class fee was in line with the other instructors without hesitation.

I have been asked a few times to make tee shirt quilts. I have never made one but felt I could. At the time one asked I was working on my anniversary quilt with a lot of embroidery on every other block. I was afraid I could not meet her deadline for Christmas so I declined. I found out from my niece that works with this lady that she paid $300 for someone to make. Then she showed me the picture of the quilt. All I can say is the person who ‘quilted’ it has more value in her work than she should. A terrible job to say the least. Another drawback for me is pricing. When people see my work they say I should start selling it but I have no idea how to charge. I think most would be surprised just at the cost of fabrics. They usually have no idea. I am like another person here that commented, I am picky and probably notice things a non-sewer Wouldn’t. When I worked at a sewing factory they said as much and wanted me to pass it on. I knew what people would be charged so I wanted to do my best. Factory wanted quantity not so much quality.

I've made a couple of t-shirt quilts on commission. It was scary to cut up other people's memories! I got the orders when my cousin posted her graduation quilt online. I decided that my price was $17.50 per piece. I say piece because large or small, each item has the same amount of work, whether it is a pocket or a whole front. Most quilts use between 20 and 30 shirts. (25x17.50=437.50) I tell people right off the bat that there are cheaper places on the internet, but mine are custom designed and time consuming. I'm not anxious to work for strangers for free!

I have never done any commission work and I don’t intend to ....Quilting is my hobby and I love it. I retired from Corporate America in 2009. I have been playing since then. I do make donation quilts for several worthy causes but that is also joyful.

I totally agree with you. My ability is not bad but in my opinion not good enough to sell or be paid to do it for someone else. As you mentioned I'd hate to wreck something that belong to someone else. The stress is just not worth it and yes most folks don't want to pay you enough to make it worth your while.

Its funny my mother and sister didn't realize just how much time, money and talent it takes to make a quilt until they saw mine. Then they had more respect for quilt making.

The only way I'd do it was if I needed the money.

I taught sewing at the college level, had friends across the country who made their living by sewing and many who did wonderful work. Still, I was glad I could earn a living by teaching rather than commissions. There were too many things that could go wrong, no matter how skilled I was. When I did have time, I wanted to work on my own things and not have the stress of sewing for others.

An aside is that I did sew for family. When my daughter wanted me to alter her clothes, my fee was that she had to sit with me while I did it. That worked out well, but my husband took his things to a tailor out of consideration for me and respect for my time and work.

It took me a while to learn to say no, but it gave me time to make those ideas that were dancing around in my mind. For me, it was the right thing.

I have had people ask me to make them a quilt. As others have stated, most do not know the time, effort, and frankly skill level needed to produce what they want. I had a pretty good friend complain about the price of a queen sized "quilt" she saw at Target, and wanted to know if i would make her a knock off, because she thought I would do it for less than $79.99!!

I'm with Power Poster on how you said it. Another thing - I don't want my work critiqued by other people as I have seen that done by others.