to charge a customer for fabric and the time spent to shop for it? I am longarmimg two quilts and had to shop for and purchase the backing, required driving a long distance. Customer is not too concerned with cost, as both quilts are vintage and she just wants to be able to enjoy them

IMHO the fair way would have been to discuss this delicate issue with your customer before considering what the fee should be.

I think a flat fee per mile and another per hour would be appropriate, but the customer should be informed of this before the fact and given the chance to get the fabric herself, either by driving or online. It's better if all the charges are spelled out in advance.

.55 a mile is the going rate for mileage so that's a given. I would charge at least $25 for my time plus the cost of fabric and the customer definitely needs to approve of the charge before you do it on your own.

Was she aware that there would be a charge for you to do this for her? For the cost of the fabric I would just show her the receipt, as for the distance for you to drive, you could say so much per mile, round trip, whatever the going rate is for mileage these days. If you didn't discuss it ahead of time, I hope she is agreeable to whatever you come up with. As for your time, I would only charge that if it was agreed upon ahead of time. Hopefully you had other purchases you made for yourself at the same time so it wasn't a trip to only shop for her.

Yea, at this point I would just charge her for the fabric and maybe 5 or 10 bucks for gas if you can.

Sometimes it's just not worth the hassle.

even when a person says...it doesn't matter- it usually does in the long run- when doing any thing like this for a customer-fees should ALWAYS be agreed upon before the deed is even considered-
sounds like it's too late for that- did she know you would drive a long distance? did she have any idea how much backing fabric might run?
if it took you an hour- or two hours travel time...what is your time worth? did you take advantage of the trip and get things for yourself to use also-unrelated to hers?
do you feel you should give her a deal of some sort?
all of these things should be thought through---and settled on. you need to call her- and have a talk...and take notes-
if you are going to offer these types of services- you should already have a policy and price guidelines to cover such instances.

i agree it should be talked about before hand

Just for future reference most people have no real clue what things cost when they are handcrafted. In their minds they are thinking of the price they saw on a quilt at Walmart or Target. She may or may not be surprised at the cost of fabric, gas & time.

I would also add, it should be in writing with approval signature and half paid up front. Better safe than sorry.