I make bow tuck bags or some close variation and everyone wants one until I tell them my price. Some will say yes, some no.....but I always make enough to feed my addiction....I figure if I can make a bag in 4 hours and make $30, I am doing pretty good for me!

now that is funny! and a good answer. I wonder what they would say if, when they gave a storebought gift, they were asked for another one. But of course, "handmade" is DIFFERENT, because we have nothing else to do all day but sit around and make things, don't ya know....

As for me, the first one of something is fun, and if I jump in and do it again I burn out before its finished. So I guess I am a one banger????

Price it high enough that you wouldn't mind making them for that price - then if there are takers, it adds to the machine kitty.

How do you handle when people "hint" that they wished they could sew, but since they know you, they don't need to. Have a friend who is going to a wedding and that she wishes she could find the exact dress she envisions, but knows it will be impossible to find. She has hinted several times that she knows it would be so easy for an experienced seamstress to make. I ain't sayin'' nuttin'! I ain't offerin' !!!

For years my mom kept dropping not so subtle hints that she wanted me to make her a quilt. Finally I said 'If you pay for materials.' She did, and as the fabric rolled in, she added up her total cost. She was shocked. I told her we weren't done yet. Had to rent the long arm still and get material for the binding and backing. She's never asked me for another.

I had a friend hint at the same thing. Only she wanted one exactly like the first one I made; seafoam green double irish chain. Um, no. That's special for me. If you want one like it, you take the class, buy the material and make it. She didn't. Eventually she got back to hinting again about a quilt. Told her the same thing I told mom. She had the exact same experience. ~$400 total. She loves her quilt.

She's hinted in the past about quilts for her children. She did pay for one for her dd. I had the material. She said she'd pay for it. Apparently that meant for material only. She said she'd pay for my time too. She didn't. Only for material. After that she wanted one for her ds. Now, I love her like a sister, but everyone has their breaking point. This was mine. Told her the only way she was going to get another quilt out of me, was if she and I did it together. Made her take home all the fabric when we weren't working on it. Ha ha ha! That way she could tell that I was serious and wasn't going to work on it without her. I showed her how to cut the strips. She wasn't the most accurate with the rotary cutter. She learned though. "Oh my gosh, how much work that is...." she'd always say.

However, she's getting married in July and started hinting about the double irish chain again. I just smile at her. Not going to happen. Maybe I should sign her up for the class as part of her wedding gift!!!

You can also tell them you'll put them on the list - and the list is at 25 projects right now. LOL

There is a magic word that I use when someone wants me to do something I don't want to do. The word is NO, thank you. Try it! It works. You don't have to come up with an excuse,you really don't. Quilting is what you do for you, if you wanted to turn it into a second job, you probably wound have done it by now.

And the converse of that would be that since you know that she cooks, surely you don't have to! Wonder how that would sit? :rolleyes:

Jan in VA

Great answer!!!