selling quilts
 

Does anyone know the best way of selling a quilt. I have made a few and I would love to sell them. I have no idea the best way. I live in Melbourne Victoria.

Idle Di

Visit ( quiltsforsale.ca) it's a Canadian site that lists quilts for sale

I had some quilts on that site, nothing happened. I would try Etsy.

If you put your quilts in the Melbourne show, do they allow sales of the quilts on show? That would be one way to get eyeballs that would be interested.

The problem with distant pricing ideas is there are a million different skill levels, color choices, and sizes all we could go is guesstimate :) Somewhere else on the board today, a rule of thumb was cost of fabric, doubled.

The problem I see on etsy is the photographing. The competition is so intense if your photos aren't fairly professional it lowers the chance of a sale. Patience is required there too, to wait for a sale.

I know two women who make samples for quilt shops, then the fabric line is gone the quilts are sold.

To save space and dollars for me, I make double sided quilts.

I advertise on etsy but have only sold a table runner. Had better luck at a local art gallery and a local craft fair. There are a lot of quilts around and people have no idea how much time and $ goes into one. I don't have any great expectations and give my quilts to organizations to raffle or to give to clients most of the time.

Often time the problem with selling quilts (online or in a shop) is the pricing. Today people can go to a big store and buy what they think is a quilt for a fairly cheap price. They do not understand the time, the product involved and the quality of your product. I sell both online (thru Etsy) and at a local shoppe. But, I only sell throw or lap size and I NEVER buy product at retail prices. The only way to make a profit is to buy smart. I buy bulk batting when different places are running the killer-loss sales (the ones that are supposed to draw in the people). I only buy fabric on sale (super sales). If I find Kona on a really good sale, I may end up buying 100 yards of assorted solids for future use.
If making a throw quilt for family, it would be very easy to spend $100. For a quilt to sell, I rarely, if ever, spend more than $40. Also, my quilting, on a for sale item, is done on a minimal scale. I prefer STID or diagonal cross stitching, not only because of the product, but also the time involved. This is the only way you can make a profit selling quilts today. It is still an item I am pleased to put my name on, just held to lower cost and shorter time - because your time is money.

Also, I agree with the photography response. Not necessarily a professional, but quality. Draping over a fence in natural light is great. I have a redwood porch with white wicker chairs and one of my pics will always be a quilt draped over the chair. The contrast, the textures and the natural light all make the quilt 'personal' and 'real'. Then you can take one hanging so they see the whole front and back. You just need to grab their attention first. Treat it as you with any business, do the legwork first. Check your area, check ads, check stores, check out shows. What pricing will your area allow? A good place to get feedback is to submit to shows or fairs and talk to folks. What did they like about your quilts, what were the hesitant about? Maybe a local quilt shop will let you hang your quilt as inspiration for their customers. Or a small shop will let you do consignment. Unfortunately, there is no shortcut to making a profit - it always requires work! But, good luck, there is a great joy and fulfillment in getting a check for your product!

I considered the idea. Two things dissuaded me. One was this post: http://katiesquiltingcorner.com/2013...ll-quilts.html. The other was the price I pay for quilts and quilt tops at estate sales. I bought a beautiful, hand quilted full size quilt a couple of weeks ago for $75.00. (It appeared to be new.) I've bought hand pieced Dresden Plate squares for a full size quilt for $10.00. Of course, that was the last day of the sale. It means no one was willing to pay $150.00 for that quilt or $20.00 for those squares.

Also, the long armers in the area charge $.02 per square inch for computer quilting. On some, thread is additional. I just finished a large double bed quilt top and it is going to cost about $140.00 + thread and sales tax to get it quilted. That's just the long armer, not fabric and supplies. She's not getting rich, either.

There is no shortage of available, high quality quilts or low quality quilts, either, for that matter. Any time there is a large supply of an item, the price will be low.

I'm sure you'll be able to sell them. Try Facebook, local online selling venues like Ebay (in the U.S., we have Craigslist, Offer UP and those kinds of things). You might not recoup your investment, though.

Bkay

I've only sold about three, and that was years ago. I just cannot get what I think is a fair price for my time, so now I only make them for family and friends.

I know someone who sold a few quilts on Etsy so I checked her out there. It was a bit disappointing to see her lap size quilts for 150-180 and baby quilts for around 100. I wouldn't make any money selling for these prices.