I get these questions all the time because people actually want to buy them. The first time I was asked, was a bit of a surprise and compliment to me, but now I sell them for extra cash so that I can do more.
One time my landlady saw me making a quilt and gave me the money for it before it was finished - she was very brave because it was the first one that I actually completely machine quilted. It turned out OK and she was happy.I have also had people come and ask me to make quilts for their sons, grand kids etc. but I don't like to do it unless I choose the fabric as non - sewers tend to make wrong choices with regard to selecting polyesters or cheap thread products.

I'm with you - with the prices we pay over here for fabric and notions, it is not worth selling a quilt for less than $600. If they don't want to pay it, it stays with me. I saw women in Maine selling their quilts for $150 and then the same type of quilt was selling in California for $4,000 - and that was in 1983.We should not undermine our skills and the art/craft by underselling its worth.

I know how you feel, I also do bead work and a couple at bingo wanted to see the buckskin shirt I made for DH.
It had mountions on one side and pine trees on the other with bear head in middle. I took 6 months to finish it.
One fellow wanted me to make him 1 and I said it would 600.00. I thought his teeth were going to fall out. lol

I make t-shirt quilts for special people and don't charge nearly enough, I know. I get back what I have in them, supply-wise and a little more. I do it for the pleasure of it. If it became a chore, I'd not do it anymore. Most of the other quilts I make go for charities or gifts. But consider that I am older - 70 years old - and it is a hobby that I do for my own fun.

I'm a newbie quilter but we have experienced the same type of thing with the lumber and furniture my husband makes. He has a sawmill. He either cuts and hauls the logs or buys them, then he makes lumber. From that he makes some great pieces. People want to pay WalMart prices. We stopped doing custom orders except for the lumber- no more custom furniture. It was a mess and took all the fun out of designing and making a piece.

Atta girl! It's great for people who are able to keep charitable quilting going (for family, friends, and needy people everywhere)!

I agree with the general concisus. Not many customers are willing to pay for materials, not to mention adding in a fee for our time involved. I make small projects and no one asks for those LOL

My DH also has fishing boat, and every year from April to November we generously pack up haddock and cod he has caught to give to friends and family, and we take them out on the boat fishing if they want to go and do not ask for gas contribution etc. It's a social thing. We have had people ask if he sells fish but that is because Japanese market is so hot for tuna that even casual weekend recreational fishermen are getting caught up in it.

Maybe people ask you if you are selling quilts because yours are very very good and they expect you should go commercial. Figure... a carpenter here in our area earns $35/hour and has to measure and cut and fit wood just as precisely as you do fabric; the work is of course more physical than yours, but figure your labor cost and markup on material and give an 'average' value for a quilt. A sensible and serious answer may get them thinking.

Or ask them why they want to know and if they are potential buyers what price range they are at.

I read the other posts and I find it hard to believe anyone would say $10 or $50. You can't buy a quilt at Bed Bath and Beyond for $50 never mind at Macy's and they are all made by near-slave labor in the third world. Even the church rummage sales can offer better than that pricing!

I say, take it as a compliment!

I do it for my pleasure and for gifts.

I make quilts for people I want to give them to and I also like my quilts to look at and enjoy. I don't know if my quilts would be good enough to sell, but I would ask what I have in it and the time I spent making it and I'm sure 99% of the people wouldn't buy one.

Hi the prices of our fabric here (anything up to $32 per metre) makes quilting very expensive, I do mostly scrap quilts, my friends give me their scraps, but if anyone asks me to make a quilt I suggest we go shopping together for the fabric !!!!!! they soon change their minds, which is a relief to me as sewing quilts is my passion and I LOVE to give them away to needy people
Dale
New Zealand

i have been asked that before and i tell them up front they can be exspensive and unless they are willing to pay in the hundreds of dollars they would be better off going to the store and buying a quilt there for there bed

Good for you!

When I am asked about making a quilt (outside the family) I always tell them that my time is worth at least $25/hr plus the cost of fabric and fabric for a lap quilt can run any where from $150-$200. That usually shuts down the discussion!

Years ago I made my 1st rag time quilt out of flannels and friends asked me if I would make one. Told them I had more than $100.00 just in the flannels and they just couldn't believe it-I didn't make them any. :-D

Many posts so the topic has wide interest. I would like to ask quilters what they consider a fair price for a hand made quilt? Last year I sold a wall hanging for $50 but I knew it was worth much more. But she was an elderly lady and insisted the quilt was the perfect color for her sewing room. What do you think an ethical price for a hand quilt that can take up to 2 or 3 months? I've no clue.

When I have people ask me to make them a quilt, I just tell them that they can't afford what I would have to have with the cost of the fabric, thread, batting, etc. and my TIME! So I just make them when I want and them donate some to be auctioned off for various organizations.

The way I sold Two quilts is I made a Queen size and showed it off at work and one of my nurses said she was interested in buying it off of me if I was willing to sell it. When I told her the price $450.00. She blinked and said it's worth it. OK I will buy it. She thought she was getting a deal. I had a little over $200.00 in it. Then I was commisioned to make a baby quilt for a friends daughter. I sold it for $85.00. I had $40.00 in it. I take the amout of cost and double it. No, it's not the true value but I made some money off of my work that I enjoy. Most people won't pay that much. Yes I agree, they want you to give it away.

Family is worst, I get this 'you sew, I need ???????????????'

This topic is very interesting since I just mailed off a baby quilt I made for someone. It was 45x50 approx., and I machine quilted it. I charged $60.
But I forgot to add shipping, which was $7.50!

I also do my quilts for pleasure there is nothing more gratifying than to see someone face when they see it. Keep on what you are doing cause you will be rewarded for your work

So the consensus seems to be: double the price of supplies plus a resonable hourly rate for your time. The suggestion of $25 an hour seems expreme to me. I've been known to work 6 hours a day on a quilt, but I don't really see this as work; it's a gift to be useful to others, sustains me on my path. Well, yes That's not going to fill the bread box. but there must be a compromise somewhere that feeds both body and soul. And we must ask yourselves are we quilting for money or for personal expression? Deep questions. Do I really know why I quilt? The same reason I write books to make my existance a value to the human perfection to which we attain.

I never felt I needed to make minimum wage - when I work at quilting I don't have any of the expenses associated with work - commuting, work clothes,etc. So I am willing to work for less in order to be able to work at home, at my own pace.
You have to decide for yourself what your time is worth.

Dale, you are smart - better still, let them watch you cut and piece!
Not on topic but just saw pictures of Christchurch on TV (Prince William was of course the topic as he is there) just this noon - what a terrible thing. I heard on BBC radio but didn't see pics before. You will certainly have people who need quilts. Wishing you folks all the best.
Sue

Glad to hear that. I asked for $12 an hour, and I've been thinking maybe she thought that was too much; although, when I quoted her that price, I said some people might think that's too much, but that I think my time is worth at least that much and she said, "Absolutely!"

I agree Jack. People get all excited when you give them a quilt.

How about asking her to pick out and buy the fabric she wants in the quilt (Tell how much yardage) and tell her that you will only charge her fifteen dollars for just the sewing....
JP

A few years ago I paid 1100 dollars for a hand made pieced and hand made Queen quilt. I also have bought over time, three or four bed sized quilts that are machine pieced and machine quilted that the average price was $800, all but one are simple geometrics. (The one is a more complicated geometric). They were all very well made.
Anybody can spend lots of money for fabric and work hard on the quilt, but if it isn't well made, or the colorblends are not fantastic, it just is not going to be worth the same money!
I think I have paid fair prices for smaller quilts too.
DON'T PM ME ! I AM NOT BUYING ANY MORE! I WON'T ANSWER THEM! This is for your information only!

In fact I am also a quilter, and right now have no clue how to get fair prices for my own quilts!!!! ...In fact I am now only fabric shopping out of my own stash!
I have a full bedsized completely hand made mariners compass made with colorways of the same print that is 40 years old I would like to sell! Then I could buy somebody elses quilt!

I sometimes sell quilts at the museum on commission (60/40 split) and the price is set by a certified quilt appraiser.

It just goes back to the fact that non quilters, don't realize the cost of the materials and labor that go into handmade quilts.
I make quilts for myself, family, and gifts. I have sold very few, mainly because it hurts more to sell them cheaply, than it does to feel good about just giving them away to someone that will appreciate the jester.

An associate and I construct t-shirts quilts from start to finish and quote a per shirt price which covers all labor and materials. If they don't want to pay that price, they say they'll just do it themselves, but two years plus after the occasion they needed it for, it's still in the planning stages.

We charge for a reason....we get it done on time.

Also, I think we're very reasonable compared to some price quotes I've seen on websites, but it's better to have the business at what the market will bear than no business at all.

The one time I quoted the relative of a in-law a price for a regular quilt, including material and labor, I never heard another word on the topic.

I was in the crafting business for about 10 years. I had the same problem with selling quilts as everyone here knows. Too little money for the amount of dollars spent and time spent. I did make a good income of selling Quillows (quilts folded into pillows) although they weren't pieced and they were tied quilted. I made some that sold for $50, with $20 worth of fabric and 1 hour of time. I got out of the business and am now very content making quilts for my family. My inherited son is getting married in May and his wife likes butterflys. I am making a quilt that is so springy in colors, it makes me crazy but it is soooo cool.

Dear Debbie,
I lived in Woburn MA for about 3 years (and belonged to the North Parish guild in Redding) and have been to the museum in Lowell several times....is that where you mean?
But, Many Many Thanks for the idea! I live a little more than two hours from Houston....
Jeannie

Hi Jeannie,
Yes The New England Quilt Museum has all kinds of quilty things for sale on consignment.

The carpenter or plumber analogy is a good one. Just ask someone if they had a carpenter do some work on their house and he worked for 5 full days with a materials cost of $200, how much would they expect that job to cost them? $600? $800? $1000?

I figure that a very simple queen sized quilt top, I mean REALLY simply like Yellow Brick Road or something like that, could be done in 3 days. Then another two days to quilt (if you have a longarm) and bind.

A Quilt-In-A-Day pattern is probably based on a smaller size and who really gets one of those done in a day? :P

Quilt in a Day orginial book took my Mom 3 months to piece and another 3 weeks to hand quilt. Maybe Gram telling her to NEVER tear the fabric made it take longer. Mom could only tear the strips after Gram was asleep.

I work with a couple of women that only think about how to make a buck. They always want me to put my items in craft shows, yard sales and list on etsy....they have even suggested that I make up fabric yo yos out of scraps and sell those. They don't know the diffence between my JOB and my HOBBY and that I don't want my LOVE to become my WORK. It is nice to know that they think highly of my skill and that my projects would appeal to buyers, but I don't need to make money that way. At this point in my life I would rather make what I want and gift to those that are deserving. They don't understand my way of looking at it ---- they think I'm sitting on an untapped gold mine and not raking in "easy money" LOL They probably think I'm either lazy or crazy --- or both! Oh well....

I have sold about 10 of my quilts but most are given away. I have taken payments as many of the young women buying mine were minimum wage employees. I never have a problem getting $200.00 or more for a lap quilt and I am by no means an expert quilter but I love what I am doing so much that it is just an added bonus to get a little money and kid myself into believing that I paid for some of my materials. I am currently doing a crazy quilt/memory quilt for a young lady's grandmother. She is taking resonsibility for taking care of doing the copying of the pictures onto the fabric sheets. I am looking forward to it. It will be mostly pinks, purples and butterflies. I will buy nothing for this as I have a big stash. It is fun to make something unique made with someone's special interests in mind.

So I'm not alone in this . . . see what their hobby is & see if they want to start selling it??? When I tried to get my friends to teach bridge or golf they did not get my point. Hobby means no profit. enough said right.?

Our chruch group raffles a quilt every year. The quilters have gotten older and are getting tired, not to mention several of them have health problems in the family. So they are kaput! I'm doing my best to get a queen quilt done for summer. A very simple snowball pattern, a few blocks embrodiered by a 90+ year old. I've picked the fabrics and design, doing most of the piecing and I mentioned at a recent meeting that I was going to see about having it machine quilted since I HATE HAND QUILTING. After about 3 of them sucked all the air out of the room, one declared there was no way our group was going to have machine quilted quilt--------------"you can get those at Wal-Mart for $39.95!".

I haven't told them yet, but since I'm doing most of the putting together I'm going to be chosing a machine quilter to finish the quilt off.

$39.95, indeed. I've got more than that in just the backing.

(this quilt is very simple, but pretty, I think. I just get side tracked on all sorts of other stuff to do! May be ready to send out by the end of the week)