what to charge
 

I know there has been alot of discussion on the board about what to charge to our work so I ask your forgiveness for asking again but...... I'm just finishing a 50 x 50 quilt for someone and I'm stuck on what to charge her. She paid for the fabric and batting. It took me about 40 hours to make the top. I'm doing SID quilting on it. I thought about $10/hr and $100 for the quilting but $500 seems like alot (first time I've charged someone for my work). Your thoughts would be appreciated.

I think you should have come to an arrangement and contract before you made it. Any person outside of quilting will think you're nuts asking them for $500 for a small quilt, after they've bought all the supplies. You're going to have to eat quite a bit of your labor, I think.

$500 sounds like an awful lot to me. Look on etsy and see what they are charging for quilts that size. It is better to settle on a price before you make the quilt.

think of it this way, would you take your car in for service without getting a quote??? both of you should have set down BEFORE you started the quilt to discuss charges. it makes no difference if she bought all the fabric or not, you should have discussed the hourly charges before you started your work.....40 hours is about right but like others have said, no-one is going to pay $500 for a small quilt. you can give her the bill ($500 ) and see what her reaction is but if someone gave me that kind of surprise, I would tell them to keep it. good luck

I'm afraid the previous answers are probably correct, unless you and your friend did discuss the price, at least in general terms. Also $100 is too high for the quilting, IMHO, since a good longarmer usually charges .015-.035 per square inch, and this would put your quilting over the top. If it looks like this could turn into an ugly (or uncomfortable) situation, perhaps you could trade services with your friend rather than exchange money.

I know we put alot of time and effort into quilting.. but without seeing this quilt... I know if it was me ... I would be stunned to get a bill for $500.00 for a quilt of that size. Without any agreement in advance... someone is going to get their feelings hurt in this deal.

I would look for similar items premade on Etsy - might give you a good idea of what it cost all in (incuding materials) Unless you are a known artist, I think it is very difficult to figure out what to charge for this kind of thing. I was just making a tote bag out of scraps for a quilt that I just made. I spent about 3 hours on it last night, 2 this morning, and probably another hour before it's finished. At just $10 an hour, $60 plus materials for a simple fabric tote would be a tough sell for most of the people I associate with.

Agreed 100% with all the posters who said to get the price settled before you start....I don't really think you will get anywhere near the $500, maybe not even half....most people who don't quilt have no idea of the time involved in producing a quality quilt and are shocked at suggested pricing....if you post a pic of the quilt, maybe we could help you decide on a reasonable price.

I think sometimes we creators are sometimes surprised at how much time is involved in making something when we actually figure out how long we spent on the item. And that's probably not even counting 'thinking/planning time'!

So - I think if this is a first-time run on making an item, it would be difficult to even make a guess on how long it would take to make it.

I also think someone's feelings are going to get hurt. Simple quilting is about $0.01 in my area, so the quilting by a long armer would only come to about $25, although they probably have a minimum. I guess I would start by telling her that you kept track of your time and it was about 40 hours of work. Without seeing the quilt, I think I would ask for $200.
Is this the same quilt you asked for pricing suggestions in October?
You also have to promise us that you will never take on a another project for someone without coming up with an estimate, in writing, before you start!