Judy Neimer Patterns Are so Expensive. Why?
 

I've been looking at Judy's Patterns. They are stunning, but soooo expensive. Can anyone tell me why?

SVAL

Because You Receive all The Paper to do paper piecing it's not just the pattern, its the instructions, paper to piece on ect. She is very good with instructions. A little spendy but worth it.

Yes, trying to print all the foundations yourself would take forever & might not be correctly to scale.

I think her patterns are a fair price. It took a lot of work just to design all those pieces so they are accurate. I'm sure a computer does most of the work but it still takes time and skill. And many will split the cost with friends and copy the papers. It's not right but everyone knows it happens. I think the price reflects all aspects.

I bought two of her patterns on eBay and paid a little less for them. A lot of time goes into her designs. You get all the PP already printed but I am going to make a few test patterns in case of mistake. I believe you can contact her company if you have any problems. That seldom occurs.

Thanks for the info. I didn't realize you got all the pre printed papers. That is fantastic. Any time I've done PP making copies has been a nightmare.
In that case it is definitely a fair price.
Are they really difficult to do? They certainly are the most gorgeous quilts. The kind to hand on a wall and look at all the time.
SVAL

She has videos on YouTube. I like the videos because if you're not sure of something, you can rewind/back up.

I have only done one Judy N pattern, Agave Garden. I found her instructions very thorough and easy to follow but I did have to read through them a couple of times before I felt confident to start. Once started, I found it very easy to do and the result fantastic.

Judy's designs are not difficult IF you do them correctly. They are NOT done like regular paper piecing. Instead they are done by chain piecing. The UTube videos are a NECESSITY. The instructions are great, but usually take a re read. I did a search judy neimeyer utube.com vidieos and came up with lots.

You always pay more for quality!

Judy's patterns are clear and she makes the paper piecing easy to understand, once you read through the pattern and get an overall view of what you're going to do. Then, it's just step-by-step. The price includes all of the papers.

I recently finished the Desert Star pattern and will do the Bali Wedding Star one next.

I've done Mariner's Star and found an older version of Bali Wedding Star that I keep saying I am going to start!

I have to agree they are well worth the money. I've bought other paper piecing patterns that you have to make copies of and the sizing usually gets me into trouble.

I had no issues with how she showed to paper piece.....you don't have to chain piece, but it does help the quilt go together faster....and is more efficient than one block at a time.

I would definitely do another!

I have only done Judy's patterns, but will have no hesitation attempting to do anyone else's after working on Bali Wedding Star and Desert Sky. I will always prefer one where you get the newsprint papers with it. I do admit to having made a couple of extra copies to practice on.

This is truly another instance of "you get what you pay for."

Thank you for the wonderful information. I will add one of her beauties to my bucket list.

I have been in awe of her patterns for some time but never thought that I would tackle one. A local shop recently hosted classes on the Mariner's Compass quilt, so I signed up. I bought the pattern, fabric and went to the first class thinking 'what have I done- I will never be happy with my work on this'. WRONG!! It was amazing! The class was great, the pattern was perfect and I found her method for piecing logical and easy to follow. I am hooked. It blows me away that I can actually put together such a complicated looking quilt and have it turn out perfectly. Thank you Judy Niemeyer! I will be making more of her beautiful patterns.

Because she can! There is no way to justify $40 or more for a pattern. As long as enought quilters continue to pay her prices she will continue to charge outrageous amounts for her patterns.

Judy just had a big sale with 4 or 5 patterns listed at 58% off (to celebrate her 58th birthday). Although I have 2 file cabinet drawers full of her patterns, I could not resist the sale because I didn't have those particular patterns. The thing that is daunting to me is the cutting instructions. I have to read and re-read them to make sure I have it laid out correctly. I've only made one of her designs, Tropical Rainbow, but I am hooked. I fell in love with her patterns. And, with paper piecing, your quilt will come out as near to perfect as possible and points will be perfectly pointed, etc. When I completed my TR top, I measured it, and it was perfectly square - thanks to paper piecing!! I need to post a picture of my TR for everyone to see. I have Weeping Willow cut out in Queen Size ready to start.

Perhaps you could ask her but I would think that designers can charge whatever they think the market will tolerate. Otherwise there would be no sales.

Saw a Redwork quilt on FB, Beautiful work! Followed the link, for the pattern only (not pre-printed on fabric) was $129.00!!!!! Seriously??

I thought to myself, even so, that is a lot of money for the papers and pattern. Then my mind backtracked to other considerations and the first one that popped up was the price of ink these days for the printer. OUCH! The sizing is easy to get and accurate printout, but the cost is prohibitive for printing very many pattern pieces. So, conclusion, maybe not such a huge price after all.

There are a lot of hidden costs in designing and publishing patterns. You have to sell a LOT of patterns to make a decent living from it.

Plus you have to constantly fight the copyright battle; not cheap to defend your work.

Esp when others admit to copying patterns to give to friends.
Sandy

It is a lot of work to design a paper pieced pattern like the ones Judy produces. Like the others said the papers are included and it would cost quit a bit to print them yourself or take them to a printer. A lot of the papers are oversized.
As for her instructions, for me they are too wording and it is hard for me to find the information I am looking for. I am more of a list and diagram person.

There a many people that really love her patterns. I think for those people the price is reasonable.

If you are referring to my post, reread it.

I meet a lot of quilters who readily admit to copying patterns to share with friends. Not sure why you felt that I was referring to you.
sandy

to make pp patterns I copy the pattern once, then staple it to several pieces of thin paper such as "Kabinet wax" then put a big needle on my sewing machine and without any thread in ir follow the pattern. you can make as many as five or six copies at once. a quick way to make patterns.

She also sells refill packs of papers for many of her patterns at a reasonable price. Her prices are pretty comparable to several other patterns. Some of her Licensed store patterns are higher.