Help - Price for Quilting?
 

I quilted a quilt for a friend, my first time doing that and I have no idea how much to charge her. Keeping track of time is impossible for me, but my Sweet Sixteen tells me the stitch count was 144,475. I'm not an experienced quilter, so it's not perfect, but she knew that and likes the pictures I sent her of the design I used. It's a combination of free motion quilting and SID around the blocks and elements of the blocks. Is there a rule of thumb here to use?
Thanks for your help.

I've heard of long arm quilters charging in the neighborhood of $.01 to $.02 per square inch. I paid aroound $180 to have a king size quilt quilted several years ago.

Here on the east side of the CT River, the going rate (per square inch) for longarming is as follows:

basting $0.01
edge to edge $0.016 to $0.03
semi-custom $0.02 to $0.03
(edge to edge in center with a different border design or custom meandering design)
custom $0.035 and up

If you know the stitches per minute of your Sweet Sixteen, you can get the time if you'd be more comfortable with a per hour rate than a per square inch rate.

I guess it would depend on the level of your friendship. I don't want to insult you, but I would have a hard time charging a friend. Unless it was discussed prior to the quilting being done. I'm not a long armer, just a beginer- I guess advanced beginer.

I agree. It is VERY difficult to charge a friend for a quilt. You don't want her to think you overcharged her.

It's never a good idea to take on a project(for a fee) without coming to a meeting of the minds beforehand. Consider it a lesson learned and gift it to your friend.

All the LA in our area charge by the sq inch

I would get pricing from other quilters in your area and base it off that. every locatoin has a different average. here the average is 2.5 cents a square inch. but it could be completely different where you are

So very true. I don't do anything without a conversation prior.

Thank you all for some good advice. Actually, she is a member of my guild, not a close friend, and she said right away she wanted to pay me. So I sent an email suggesting a pretty low price but said I would take whatever she felt was right when she sees it. I am not a highly experienced quilter, so it's not perfect, and we did discuss that beforehand. It would have been difficult to do on a long arm, I think, as the batting was very soft and fluffy and would not have stretched well. It was a UFO, block of the month from the guild, signature blocks dated 1990. It was fun and a privilege to do it, and I hope she likes it. I'm really not concerned about making anything on it, though it did take me quite a while.

If you think you may start quilting for other people you should start with calling around other long arm quilters in your area and see what they are charging--quite often the charge is by the square inch (generally somewhere between 1 & 3 cents per square inch depending on density/complexity of the quilting {and you'd experience}) it is best to determine YOUR prices and policies and have them in writing before agreeing to the job...protect yourself and your customer.. Don't leave anything *questionable*

I think it's great you did this and she's willing to pay a nominal fee. It's great experience for you. BUT!! Unless you want all other members of her guild or her friends coming to you to quilt their tops inexpensively, you have to make it clear that this was a one-time thing. Others will expect the same pricing even as you get better at the quilting. Decide if you want to quilt for others in the future and determine your pricing ahead of time.

You mentioned that the quilt she asked you to do was a UFO from 1990. I don't think it would be out of the realm of possibility that she gave you a UFO that she was not overly attached to, to test the waters so to speak, not only on your quilting, but on your pricing as well, if she is on the lookout for a new quilter.

I"m glad you added your response. Nothing bad can come from it!! :)

I think what you did was perfect. Hopefully she loves it and pays you a nice price for your work, since it did take you a good amount of time.

Even for my true friends I charge a small fee. Thread is expensive and so is our electricity.

I hand quilted, a lap quilt for a co-worker one time, and when it came to paying me, I said "pay me what you think it is worth" She gave me 10.00, Never again, I always discuss price up front for anyone I know. I work cheap but 10.00 was an insult...I just make a queen sized warm wished for someone and only charged 50.00 she bought all the materials.

Recently I did a double size quilt for a family member. I put a lot of effort into that quilt. She gave me $75.00. I was so hurt, I have decided to just charge a standard rate, of which is just what I did when she asked me to make her a purse. A few weeks later a dear friend asked me to do a double size quilt for her. I worked day and night on that quilt and was very satisfied with my work. I was still so disappointed with what had happened before, but , being a close friend I told her to pay me for the materials and if she wanted to pay me for the work whatever she thought it was worth to her it would be ok. I received a check a week later for $600. I was so tickled I sent her and her grand daughter a tote to boot. From now on I will set a price before I do any work for anyone.

Since you already quoted a price, I tend to think that is what is fair and if she choses to "Tip" you more, well, all the better.....:)

Whenever I see discussions of "what should I charge - I'm not very good/experienced/ professional", I think of how that sentence would sound if you were a doctor, an airplane pilot, plumber or mechanic. Would you want to tell someone you went to a doctor who charged less because he admitted he was not very good? Or have your overflowing toilet fixed by a plumber who admits that you might not be pleased, but just won't charge you as much? NO! Of course not! If you can't confidently say " Here's my work and I'm proud of it and I charge accordingly! ", don't charge ANYONE! Get quilts to practice on. Most quilters would love to have their donation quilts quilted for free. I understand your sentiment since you are just starting out, but you diminish not only yourself and your business, but every other professional long arm quilter whose prices will be called into question by being undercut if you don't charge the going rate.

There seems to be a gray area between gifting and professional services, where some people like the idea of making a little bit of money doing what they enjoy. I'm absolutely amazed at the low prices people on eBay charge for their work. I think, unfortunately, it does leave the wrong impression with the casual observer, about the craft of quilting being easy and cheap.

My niece and her husband have started a long arm quilting business, part-time for now as they both work. I was talking with her the other day and asked how much she charged for quilting a quilt. She told me that for an all over design it was $0.01 per square inch and if more complicated quilting was done it was $0.02 per square inch. Because she lives in KS in an area with farms and the area is not densely populated she charges the $0.01 per square inch. I hope that helps. I'm so proud of Judy and Gene for launching this business, especially since they both quilt and are very hard working people, I'm sure they will do well.

I really don't like doing things for friends as I feel I have to give them a special price and it's usually lower a lot lower than I charge anyone else.

Great advice,and some that I've heard in classes with nationally known quilters. In a business class with Sally Terry, she was adamant about discussing not only what is desired, but price and time frame for getting it done and putting it in writing BEFOREHAND. I still find it hard to not feel somewhat chagrinned when giving an honest price to a friend. But I figure that I would never ask any of them to discount what they charge me for their services or merchandise, so I shouldn't feel bad.
I have a friend that quilts for charge. She uses a very old quilting machine that is not on a track system--you move the stetched frame and she only has the one design. Because of that she charges minimally. She does get lots of business and we all keep telling her she needs to up her prices not only because she deserves it, but also because it's not fair to other quilters in the area.

Gosh, there are so many ways of looking at things! Thank you for opening my mind about it. I am realizing I really don't want to have a business at this time. I love quilting but it adds such a layer of anxiety to do someone else's quilt. And it takes so much time away from doing what I want to do for fun.

I know that I would never want to make a quilt for someone else on commision. Working with someone else's colors and pattern choice, as well as the pressure of doing it right and in a reasonable timeframe...no. That's not for me. But, I also know I will make far more quilts than I could ever keep, so I do plan on selling some of my quilts that I don't want to keep. I plan to offer them on my countries version of Ebay. Either I'll set a price and ask that, or I'll ask for offers and just won't accept anything below a minimum price...not sure yet. I know I could never get the kind of price I could ask for if I worked on commision - if I did, I'd never sell my quilts.