In Australia, the average price per metre is $21 - $26...and people still say,"Why is your quilt so expensive?You only make it whilst you are watching TV anyway!"

Thanks for sharing this. I agree some quilts are truely priceless! Hugs

Ditto .... especially when it's a relative that knows how much time I spend dedicated to my quilting!

Josi .... FL

If I'm not mistaken, those patterns weren't SOLD to China... they were GIVEN to them. I was incensed when I heard that some years ago. Why are we so dead-set of giving our heritage and our technology away??? :(

Thank you, Jan, for posting this for us. I'm going to print it off every time I make a quilt and include it in the folded quilt. I'm appalled that people complain about how much quilts cost. Grrrr. If the shoe were on the other foot....

it's because they have a basement full of cheap labor. And mass producing them is cheaper.

It is terrible that many, many things are made in China and other poor countries for wages and in conditions that we find abhorrent in America. (Not just quilts, and not just in China. Check out the labels on some of your clothing, athletic shoes, electronics, etc.). But oftentimes working in these bad conditions are the only jobs available for the people who do them, and the only way to put food on the table for their families at all.

It's hard to know what we in America and other wealthier countries can actually do in our own lives to impact this situation at all. Buy less, or be sure to buy only things made in this country? Difficult to do nowadays, and doing so might mean one less job for a factory worker overseas who may be the sole support of his/her family. Contribute to charities who try to help with the development of small businesses in poor countries, like Heifer International? That's one thing we can do. But of course it's only a drop in the bucket of the huge worldwide factory production in terrible conditions for the many, many products we all consume every day.

Ideas about this? My point is that quilting by American quilters for the reasons we do it isn't impacted in any way that I can tell by imported quilts, as poorly or as well-made as they may be. Most of us aren't into quilting as a business, so how are we hurt by these imports? People who do buy them surely understand these aren't made by American quilters.


Dana

I only quilt for members of my immediate family. I learned a long time ago that people who do not do handwork or sew don't value the hours that you have put into making an item or the cost of materials. I will not gift handwork to someone who does not. I find lovely pieces of handwork at just about any resale or charity shop all the time. I can't buy them all, but I certainly feel for the individual who spent their time and money creating a piece that is not valued by the recipent. Organizations that want a quilt to raffle off should at the least reimburse the creater of the quilt for the masterial instead of asking for a second quilt for the next raffle or auction.

That is a great idea. I have only been quilting about a year also. At first I wasn't very good, but I have gotten SOOO much better I feel like I should charge for my time. A gift is a gift, bu tif friends or family commision a quilt I feel like I should be paid for parts and labor.

If there is still any doubt in anyone's mind about the worth of quilts, ask yourself if your cousin, the architect, would design a home for you without charging you? How about your brother, the lawyer? Would he draw up a contract or make a will for you for free? How about your best friend's hubby, the mechanic... does he fix your car for free? Don't think so! Just because people don't appreciate the time and fabric cost doesn't mean that we can't educate them. <G> Somehow, I don't think men have this problem. Am I right?