Everywhere I go people ask me if I am still making quilts. Of course, the answer is yes. Then the next question is am I selling them. When I say no - I get this look and then the response "What are you going to do them all"? Some even try to get me to set up stands at the local farmers market, craft shows etc.

My husband has a fishing boat - he catches fish but noone expects him to start selling fish.

It is my hobby I do it for enjoyment. Am I the only one that gets these questions?
My quilts are given to people and charties and the rest I like to look at often. I use them on my bed to keep us warm. lol

People ask if one sells their quilts but very few of those asking are willing to pay what a quilt is really worth. They would be the ones that want to buy a quilt for $40.00.

It's my hobby, as well. I do it for my pleasure and I get a blessing when I give a quilt away.

I completly get it . People ask me the same. When I quote a price and I have quoted as low as fifty bucks they look at me like I have five heads lol.

I know what you are saying! They always say, I can go to Wal Mart and buy one for 20 bucks, I say, go for it!!

I have an older neighbor that thinks that she is doing me a favor when she asks me for a baby quilt....$20 is too much. I willingly give her a discounted price, but I have at least $20 in just materials...and I sell these at craft shows for much more.
When she called me the other day to say she needed a gift for a baby girl, I told her I didn't have anything in stock, but if she would tell me how much she wanted to pay I would make something up for her.
She wants to spend $10....She is getting bibs. I will not do a quilt for $10.

I have been asked the same question many times. I am currently an avid hobby quilter, but will make it a retirement job (in 15 years!), I hope.
I do have 1 quilt I'm working on for a "customer". A fellow I work with wanted a t-shirt quilt made. I told him I'd do it for a combined payment of cash and his fantastic BBQ sauce! I'm not done with it yet as he doesn't have a timeframe. But I got a jar of sauce as a down payment!
I have another lady at work that would like me to custom make the entire quilt for her. I told her I would discuss it with her, but she can't have a strict timeframe as I do have a "day job"! I also explained the cost of the quality materials, and my time. She understands and fully expects an "heirloom", not just a Target or WalMart quilt.
I think the mindset of the customer is key to choosing who you want to make a quilt for, if you choose to!

You're more generous than I am. I'd tell her to to to Wally's.

I have had people ask me if I would sell quilts, I just smile and say "oh hun, I could never get paid the amount that I have in them" LOL then they just have to ask exactly how much do you have in them and I smile and say in a range of $150.00 to $200.00 not including my time then I get the fish face look you know the mouth wide open. LOL Needless to say I don't have any customers LOL. Quilting is a hobby for me something I enjoy doing if I had to make quilts to sell I would not like it. LOL

Most people who ask this question would faint if they knew how much a quilt was worth. As indicted in another posting, they're use to the cheap imports at Walmart and such.

As a quilt store, we have built up a good supply of quilts that we used as samples, and have often offered them for sale, but at our low prices, most people think that its too high.

We also give some to charities and good causes.

Lanny

I sell when the price is right. One quilt paid a years worth of car and house insurance, property tax, and filled my propane tank for the whole winter.

I will rarely do a commission nowadays for the same reason. I'd rather gift with love than feel that I'm being taken advantage of! However, when I do take a commission now, I ask for the price of the fabric and a donation to my friend's ACS relay for life. That way, more than one person wins!! in fact, we all win. I get to make a quilt (of my choice) for someone, making it with love, my customer (typically a friend) gets a lovely quilt, and ACS can use the money to help find a cure. I love a situation where there are no losers.

Just say you don't sell them because no-one could afford them! Especially if you charged by the hour!

My quilts aren't that good. Maybe that is all the more reason to keep it as a hobby.

me too, it the only way things get paid for me.

i can't afford not to sell my quilts this would be the most expensive hobby in the world if i kept everything i made.

i spend any where from $200-500 a month on quilting related items and to not recoup that money i'd be broke in no time.

[spend any where from $200-500 a month on quilting related items and to not recoup that money i'd be broke in no time.[/quote]
HEY! That's me.... broke! lol

I learned my lesson when I was making jewelry. After the 1st wedding (7 necklaces and 7 bracelets) I said no more. By the time I got the last bracelet, I didn't want to ever see that pattern again. Maybe if I had one made up and someone offered to buy for the right price...maybe ;-)

Why is it that woman's craft is not valued in today's world? In the 1800's you needed to be able to cook, sew, sing & play an instrument to be considered a good catch. Yet I think because women in 3rd world countries are forced to work for really, really cheap that they set the market value.

oh, unless you have a name/reputation.

Even in my own family I am careful about who I give a quilt to. My step-daughter had her 20th anniversary last year. I gave her a king size quilt made from a top I purchased from one of the vendors at our guild quilt show several years ago. It was a blue and white pieced star pattern. I had a friend who is a long armer quilt it for me. My step-daughter is a neo natal nurse practioner and washes everything to death. I purchased the top for $85 and my husband paid $160 for the quilting. Two weeks ago I had a chance to see her bedroom. The walls are still blue but she had a store bought luxory spread and matching shams on her bed. I have no idea what happened to the quilt.

I enjoy quilting, it relaxes me. If I were to make a quilt to sell I would fret every seam. Good-bye relaxation. I think the relaxation is priceless.

I don't sell my quilts but I will sometimes make them for some people but we have to go to the quilt shop together and they pay for the fabric and supplies. That way they know what the quilt will cost. They also will pay the quilter.

What a fantastic idea! I don't make quilts to sell but keep it in back of my mind. My cousin has asked for a quilt and I've added her to the list. She asked how much I would charge her and I told her only for the materials needed to make the quilt. I am a volunteer for the Alzheimer's Association and have a Memory Walk team every year. I could ask her to make a donation for my team if she would like to. She does believe in giving back to her community so I believe she would be happy to do this. Thanks for a brilliant idea that helps our communities too :thumbup:

my sister in-law asks me everytime I show her a new quilt "why dont you sell them". I tell her everytime "I dont think people will pay the money that I feel their worth". I make quilts as gifts for family and for my home to leave a little part of me when I'm gone.

[quote=mimom]my sister in-law asks me everytime I show her a new quilt "why dont you sell them". I tell her everytime "I dont think people will pay the money that I feel their worth".
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Show her a qullt and quote her a price and ask HER to sell it for you. She'll get a nasty shock when people tell her they can get one for almost nothing at Walmart.

Yep, the folks that ask you to sell usually have no clue what a reasonable price would be.

just think, with the new prices of fabric, soon a queen size quilt will cost $800-$1,000.00 with minimal quilting on it!
Pattern makers like Judy Neimeyer will have to make more table runner patterns. I just priced the fabric to make the Celtic star(the 90" version), and even on sale just the fabric for the top came to $300, then there is backing, binding, thread, batting, the countless hours to make it and paying for quilting!

For a grand, I think I will have to pass on it!

Oh, yes. And nobody seems to get the expense in making them or the time it takes. I think that folks who don't know the craft have no appreciation for the effort and consequently don't have a clue about what it costs.

"Ditto" to all of the above. I have people asking me all the time and I just tell them that I do quilting as a hobby and they could not afford to pay me the cost, time and materials that I have in them. I am also choosy as to who I gift them too. When I quote 150 to 300 bucks they also tell me they can get them cheaper at a store. I send them on their way...........lol

HEY! That's me.... broke! lol[/quote]

How do you find folks that are willing to pay for materials + your time? LQS told me a few of my quilts were worth $700-1000 I don't think alot folks have that kind of $ for quilts.

I sent a e-mail of my scrap quilt to my Mother. When she saw me she said " do you have to cut all those pieces out. I said Yes. Then she said " doesn't that take a long time? She does not sew.

WOW who the heck did you sell your quilt to i want her name ....here in n.y. that amounts to $9000 plus the price of propane...which i have no idea how much that is !!!

If you put on a little black bonnet and wear a black dress you can get much more for a quilt. It seems the Amish quilts always go for big bucks in places like Shipshewana, IN where there are a lot of Amish. People think their work is better than we "English."

I have had people ask me if I sell my quilts.
Some - yes, some are MINE (to give or to keep).
Most of the time when I quote a price they run the other way.

I do make them to sell for those who understand.

When one gal asked me if it was for sale (I was working on it at my lunch break) I said yes. She asked how much and when I told her, she said,"WHY, don't we sell them for like $10.00 here (WM) A co-worker chimed in on my behalf and explained it to the gal of alll the work it takes.

The gal then looked at the quilt and said, "May I just touch it?"
I have to snicker at that. I should have charged her. ;) lol

I'm a quilt horder and unless I'm asked to sell my work for my price I will not under cut my creativity, time and effort. I learned my lesson years ago and sold one of my better works for a less than a worthy price and I regret it. The general public are not educated in the handcrafted arts it doesn't matter if its broom making, basket making, wood turning or iron forging- the flood of cheap reproductions from over seas has really hurt the american craftsperson and artist. Some areas do better than others depending on the income level of the location. It's a flip of the coin. Congrats to anyone who finds the right purchaser for the right price. Moosegirl

i have a friend who was approached once and asked..."what would you charge me for a queen size quilt" she turned to them and said..."well that would start at $1000 and go up from there-what did you have in mind?" the guy was CHOKING! and said...i had about $75 in mind...she said-try walmart and walked away... :-D

i SELL when the price is right. I give most away to people that have lost everything to fire and other disasters. It really gets my dander up when someone thinks a hundred dollars would be astronomical price to me to pay for my little hobby.

Ditto!!!

Through Facebook DH got in touch with a former classmate who made some purses and I loved them...long story short, I made about 10 purses all different, and a friend stopped by and ended up buying 3 of them. I am not sure I broke even with fabric and patterns and such, but at least I don't have those 3 purses around here mocking me anymore!hehe At least I loved making them all.

OMG.. People just DON'T get it or they are from old school and don't expect to pay much at all. Insane really!

I used to do needlework and when you put a piece in a show, you had to figure out the cost for insurance purposes. You multiply the hours spent making the item times minimum wage plus the cost of the materials. I do not know how you figure out the cost for quilts as I am new to this, but I would guess it should be about the same as needlework. Maybe you should keep a little chart to show people where you get your prices.

that must have been one beeeaaauuutfulllll quilt. yes, i have a cousin that does patio decorative items. and she is always after me to make quilts and go the 'craft show' route. she bought a lap-- simple pattern sized velour quilt---that she had spent $200 on, just to show me how much money i could make if i sewed 60 hrs a week and spent half my weekends away from home at shows. she says, ' those that have it to spend, are spending it like crazy'. she can't understand that i have worked 60 hrs a week for years , and that i am retired now!!!