What would you charge
 

My mother in law just retired and opened a country craft shop. She asked me to make a couple of lap quilts for her shop since she is getting requests from customers. This quilt is 59 x 59. What would you charge. I was thinking 150 before I finished it. Now that I am done, 150 barely covers the cost of making it. What would you charge. ( My dear husband thinks 150 is way too much ) Really???

I personally feel that 150.00 is to cheap....but it really depends on your demographics.. people these days dont want to pay a ton for quilts....although you do run across a group of people who do appreciate handmade quilts. I know I have lost customers based simply on the cost of supplies.. lovely quilt btw

You should use her tax id to get fabric whole sale than see if it's worth it....Once again people who don't value what it takes to make a quilt say it's too much. I think 150.00 is too little. Maybe make place mats. by the way the quilt is beautiful, great job!!!!

$150 sounds really low to me. However, you have consider your market. What kind of customer comes to the shop? Is the shop in an affluent area where price isn't an obstacle for her customers? I would probably put a higher price... even as high as $300 (rule of thumb - double your material cost) and if a after numerous attempts to close a sale, no one bites, your MIL could discount 20 or 25%. Buyers always love buying an item "on sale". It's just psychology! In the end, your customers will drive the price point you can reach ... then you can decide if it's worth your effort. Good luck to your MIL... I envision myself doing something similar in about 10-15 years :-)

I totally agree with the ones on the board 150.00 is way to low. Your time and all the work put into the quilt is worth more than 150. You need to up the price quite a bit hon.

A lovely quilt made in America by an American . Thats a point right there. Calculate all materials and the cost if you had it quilted. Then how many hours it took to make it and charge what you would like per hour i.e. $20.That will be your total. Look at it and decide if that will be a good price. Sometimes if the price is too low people will think its not worth it. You could raffle it too.

Sorry but your husband did not do all the work.

Depending on the geographic location, quilts can be a really hard sell. Shoppers are looking for Walmart prices. I agree with the poster who said to estimate the number of hours in the project. Then realize that there's no way you will even get minimum wage :confused: When you add in costs of materials, and estimate $75 just for the quilting, you are in the stratosphere!
That's why people just take the NON SALE cost of the fabric, batting & thread and double or tripple it.
I would provide the hours worked and the material and quilting costs to your DMIL, and tell her that unless she feels that she can get the big bucks, the large quilt will be a one of a kind, but you will love to make smaller quilty things, like placemats or totes until you see what sells. You might be pleasantly surprized!
If forced to come up with a dollar amount, I would think the 200 to 300 dollar range.

I know there are math formulas to figure it all out but my general rule of thumb is to at least double what I spent on ALL materials used to make the quilt then add about $30 handling fees. For the quilt you have pictured I wouldn't go lower than $175-200 then if you feel like you need to put it on sale you could go to $150 but that is a steal of a price. Just because it is a hobby for you and you would do it if no one paid you doesn't mean your time isn't worth anything. I would definitately try to use your mom's tax id to purchase materials at wholesale--of course only on the material that you are going to use for selling quilts ;-)
Good luck on your adventure

it's a gorgeous quilt. as the others have said, worth more than 150, but only if you are in an area where folks will pay that much.

Another thing you need to remember is that you are setting a precedent. If you price your item too low, everyone who saw the low price will have that in their mind and it may be difficult to get more later. It is much easier to put something "on sale" as others have suggested. I hope you can get a price you are happy with.

Darren

Ditto l agree with all the above....
we work way too cheap.
fabric plus time = 's

My thought was, Are you doing this for your MIL or for yourself? Is she paying you to attract quilters or for the privilege of having the quilt displayed in the shop, or will there be a buyer who pays you directly? If it's the former, you can go low. Otherwise, I've turned down offers to make a quilt for pay because there's no way you earn what it's worth. Yours is especially beautiful and intricate and took lots of hours over and above cost of materials.

I'm doing it more for my mother in law. But she refuses to keep the profits.
Thank you everyone for your input.

If $150 barely covers your costs (and does not include your time) you must also factor in the questions of do you want to make lap quilts to sell at cost or at a profit and do you actually want to commit to a lap quilt business?

I always find it so interesting to hear input about selling quilts. I have not ever sold a quilt, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. I would put a higher price tag of say $400 with the make an offer price tag, and state this is a one of a kind quilt, hand made in America by an American artist, I would also advertise that custom quilts are commissioned. If it doesn't sell in a period of a few months take your quilt back. Don't leave it their for a long period of time allowing the customer's to say "see nobody would pay that". Truth be told our handmade quilts are a work of art and quite different from a Walmart quilt or a quilt from a high end store. They are one of a kind with lots of skill and talent used to create them. Either you have someone who is very fond of you and makes you a handmade quilt or you pay for it. However, as Greenheron stated factor in the question of do you want to make lap quilts to sell at cost or profit.

Very nice! I also think $150 is to cheap. I'm new at quilting but I've bought them a lot and paid more than that.

When I saw your quilt, my thought was offer it for $250.00. And even at that price I think it's worth more. Depends on economics of where you live. I think it would be good to advertise as Grace Creates stated. Good luck.
margaret

very nice! Ask you MIL for what you feel you need for it. Then let her,put a retail price on it. I feel $150.00 is way too low.!!!!! Tinker

It truly depends on who is looking to buy the quilts and how much they can spend. I agree the $150.00 would be low, but maybe if you had a couple of simpler quilts that would be less expensive, then the more detailed quilts wouldn't seem like so much because they can see the difference. A friend of mine used to make quillows for a touristy gift shop in Oregon. She charged $60.00 (this was 10 years ago) and the flew off the shelves. She used fabric that fit the area and the quillow worked well in a car. She could put them together quickly and didn't make a living at it, but it gave her something to do and some money to spend on other items.

wow..I was surprised at the responses thinking 150.00 is too low. If it were mine, I would probably charge the same as in trying to sell my own quilts, I never have luck with getting a good price for them. Btw, not the ones I have shown here on QB !!!! People will just not pay for the cost of materials, time etc. Sad, but they would rather get theirs from Walmart etc. I am not saying yours is not worth more only that people will not pay what it is worth. However, good luck.

Unfortunately there is little money in making quilts to sell unless you are a well know quilt artist. We have a lady here who has a group called Caritas Quilters and they use strictly donated fabrics and quilt them themselves. She does manage to sell a lot, but she is selling completed quilts for 1.5 cents a square inch, and that is what a lot of longarm quilters charge just to quilt. Perhaps she could post information in her shop and take orders for quilts that she could get prepaid orders for, using this quilt as an example of your work. otherwise you may be putting in a lot of time and money and get no buyers.

Thank you all for the input. I am really not looking to get into making the quilts to sell. This is the fifth quilt I have made. I mostly make them as gifts for family. This will be the first one I " put a price " on, and as stated it is more as a favor for my mother in law.

I agree 150.00 not enough!!!!!!

Don't know about the charging, but the quilt is just lovely.

I agree with the others that $150 is too low. As I hand quilt, I charge 3X material costs and sometimes more depending on the intricacy of the pattern and quilting. Fact of the matter is that you may sit on a product for a really long time that way. I'm sure your MIL appreciates beautiful eye-catchers in her store however. If you look at it that way - and remember to tag the item correctly, and make it known that you are willing to do commissions ( state your parameters here - this pattern, your colors; any pattern , your colors, etc) you will find people who are interested in YOUR work. My items can sit for a long time on my artfire site - but when they do sell, I am one happy lady. Folks who undersell make me very angry. It hurts all of us who might like to make what we are worth! If all else fails - give it to someone who will appreciate it - or keep it for yourself!

I have no idea what to tell you price wise, but your quilt is lovely. I'd start on the higher price range - you can always mark it down some but you can't raise the price. Like someone else said - people love sales. :)

Is the store in Jacksonville? Haven't been that way in quite a while but who knows where we'll be next.

Lovely, great job and thank you for sharing, $200.00
Have a Blessed day and Merry Christmas
Ellen

Visit any Amish area and they are not shy about putting $400-$500 or more on their handmade quilts. Very much worth it. If your MIL wants homemade in her shop, she needs to pay the fair price for them. Is ths a "consignment" arrangement with you? Draw up a contract....this s a business relationship either way.

Great quilt BTW.
SANDY

Sadly the time involvement is so great compared to what people want to pay. It is so pretty that lots of people would want to buy it until they hear the price.

Think simpler quilts like an Irish chain. They look complicated.

I get so many people who want to buy my quilts. They have no idea of the time involvement. My friend showed her quilt and someone saw it, fell in love and wanted to buy it. It was a queen size log cabin with hand applique, gorgeous thing. She was tired of it, never used it and thought $300. It paid for the fabrics and a little time but not much. No the person was not even willing to pay that, she was willing to pay less than the actual cost of the fabric.

If you want to sell them and at least make fifty cents an hour, use bargain fabric and do a quick quilt that looks complicated. People don't know fabric quality, hardness of design or even workmanship, they see color and shape.

But for this wonderful quilt, I see people wanting it for it's beauty but not willing to pay the time involvement plus cost of materials.

Beautiful quilt. I would put a higher price on it. I also think in the $200-$300 range. And yes if your MIL lets you use her distributors and her tax ID on the purchase of supplies that would be even better and it would definitely help you with the cost factor

What size is the Quilt/Quality of material/Type of Quilting done...FMQ/Longarm/tie etc.../binding or turning it inside out/do all the seams match?? Of course if its a design that is impossible to find in a store...that will bring the price up...You may want to start a service that personalizes the quilt...offer to use their children's clothes/Mothers/Fathers shirts...just an idea...they provide the material and you charge the same as if you were...People have no clue what its costs so they do not want to pay for it///and always think...what would I pay//pretend you are not a quilter and have no idea on the cost of materials. 59x59...that is a lap quilt...I would not pay more than $150.00

i work in a quilt shop on long island and asked price. they think $150 is right in the ballpark. usually you charge 3 to 3 1/2 times what the material cost you. you cannot put a price on material and fabric. you'll be sitting with it a long time. good luck!

One way to calculate is to take the total square inches...59 X 59 and mulitply that time 10cents which comes to $348.10. Another is to take the cost of all the materials and multiply by 3.

My MIL's shop is in Lewistown PA. Not a high dollar clientele there. Thank you all for your input! I think I have made a decision. I am going to tell her $225 and if it doesn't sell within a month to put a 10% off sign on it. If it still doesnt sell then my MIL will have a nice lapquilt for herself :) as a gift from me of course.

I agree wholeheartedly with this. I've also got quilts for sale, but am unwilling to drop my prices. I've used good quality material, spent time LAing them & so forth. I'm not going to turn around and give them away just because a non-quilter wants to pay Walmart prices. If that's what they want to pay, go to Walmart & let it fall apart in a year! Mine last forever! I do have repeat customers that commission me to make quilts for them, but they know I don't use cheap materials & know I spend the necessary time to complete a quality product.
What I do to come up with price is take all the materials, quilting, etc & double that amount for the time I've spent on it. Hence, if your costs amount to $150, you should be asking $300 for that quilt. Don't be shy either, stick to your guns on the price. If it sits for several months, then discount it 10-15% & maybe it'll sell. Don't sell yourself short! Too many people out there are not recouping their costs for material, don't be one of them.

Ditto on all the replies re demographics. In South Central Texas, $150 is too low. After about 6 years of selling quilts & quilted items at a high end, jurored Christmas event nearby, my daughter and I arrived @$6.75/sq ft. ($163.17) for a 59x59. HOWEVER, we scoured the area for fabric and batting sales, and we stayed with simpler pieced patterns to keep that rate down. A more complicated pattern such as yours made from fabrics purchased at the going rate would have be much more or you would be giving them away! A good way to determine a 'gettable' rate for your area is to visit local quilt shops and check the prices on their displayed quilts. We made notes on sizes and prices and then came home and did the math. Good luck!

Here's what bothers me:Why will ordinarily sane women go buy a bracelet for $$$ and then add charms in the $$ range and not pay $$$ for a nicely constructed handmade quilt ? Or pay upwards of $300 for a stinkin' purse because some famous person has their name stamped on it. Quiltmakers need to stand firm on their value...what makes that tough is the economy. But we now pay up to $15 a yard for fabric (which is narrower, have you noticed?), so if someone wants to work for free or make goods and sell them for the enjoyment of it...well, that makes it hard on those who do need to make money this way. If someone really wants something, they find a way to pay the asking price. If you reduce the price on this quilt, you will be expected to continue doing so. IMHO

Melody: Your quilt is beautiful. I do not make any quilt for sale, as people are not willing to pay for the cost of materials, quitting, and time spent. I agree that $300 is a fair price, but you might consider making some smaller things, and realize that most people still think that Wallmart prices are what the going price is. I was a potter in Japan and could sell my things there, but here I was told that the prices were too high. Remember the cost of your time is important and just because you enjoy doing it, you should get paid a fair amount.
Ms. Mouse

I would consider at least cost plus 25% on to as a minimum. Great job on quilt.