I had a friend I played scrabble with when I lived in the same town as her in the 80's. By the nineties I was into quilting and living elsewhere. I connected with her when I came to her town for some job training and we were going to have dinner together. She said to me, "oh, I have a friend who wants to learn to quilt, so I said we'd stop by before dinner and you'd teach her". I asked if she needed help hand quilting a project or what. And my friend replied that the woman hadn't done anything yet and I could teach her. I said not in the time between getting out of training for the day and going to dinner.

Ahh I have a story a friend Wanted a quit she is one of my best friends and It was the second quilt I ever made. I said you will have to pay for part of it , well a queen size quilt hand quilted and she gave me, Wait sit down! $20.00 she said that should cover it! Gulp! Ok you are my friend and I love you but never again will I do anything close to that again! Kind of a slap in the face!

I had a request to repair a couple of baby quilts that really would have needed a magic wand to fix the quilts. They were baby quilts made of the thinnest cheap flannel. The girls had used them as "blankies" for the last five years and they were so threadbare you could see through them when they were held up. To make matters worse there was no batting and they had been tied with yarn. There was no way to take the layers apart without tearing the fabric. I understood that the girls loved the quilts but sadly it was time for the kids to face the harsh realities of life.

Whats wrong is everything comes from overseas most likely from cheap sweatshop type labor and people don't understand that is what they are buying when they buy a 50 dollar quilt. How much do they think the person in china got paid to make it, probably not much and those quilts always fall apart quicker as well. People seriously need to truly understand what they are buying. If it was made here in America I guarantee it wouldn't cost 50dollars

I made a quilt for the wedding of a dear friend. He loved it, and his wife told me I could make a lot of money by selling them. She knew this because she had a friend that was selling them on Etsy for $99.

I know it's rude to tell someone the cost of their gift, but I couldn't resist letting her know that my out-of-pocket costs for her quilt was $350.

Tee-Hee-Hee! Enjoyed the video!

I don't tell people what it costs...i tell them how many HOURS it takes to make a quilt, a purse, whatever. Esp if quoting a price for one. I don't sew for others. I just smile at the them.

One problem that we read ver and over is that a lot of the ladies do not comunicate the COSTS associated with making a quilt. Time and costs. Speak up! Never take on a request without discussing the total costs and timeline and put it on paper. Get signatures agreeing to the terms. Collect the material costs upfront. A lot of getting cheated is the fault of the quilter...not the " customer". Don't try to be "in business" if you are unable to properly quote the request.
"No" is a powerful word...use it!

Sandy

Before I became a quilter, I was a seamstress, meaning I did custom sewing & alterations for the public. I made a beautiful New Years Eve dress for a friend of mine, she told me she got lots of compliments on it. She said to me 'I hope you don't mind but I told everyone I made it.' That was the last thing I ever made for her.

I have two magic wand stories
My husband came home from work on a Fri. night and announced he needed a baby quilt for a co worker mon. morning Sure, just whip it up in a week-end
I made a quilt for each of my new step children fro Christmas and to make them feel a part of the family. When they opened them their mom asked "what are we suppose to do with these"? Very disappointing to me. I thought I did a good thing.