Hand binding for others question
 

Hello everyone,
My friend has been asked to finish a quilt for an older lady who has some health challenges and can no longer spend more than 15 minutes at a time quilting... she has managed to piece an I Spy quilt and wants my friend (who longarms) to finish it. My friend has never done hand binding for anyone else and is at a loss what to charge - I have never done it for a fee before either... any ideas what is a reasonable rate? Open to any input you quilters can give.. thanks...

This is a site that google brought up in answer to that.
https://www.arrowquilting.ca/rates#:...ch%20to%20back).

I know a LAQ (now retired) who used to charge "per inch", but I have no idea what it was then ... or the going rate now.

However, in knowing the circumstances, if it were me, I would have a hard time charging, and would do it as a gift to this good woman, who kept at it despite all odds!

I have to agree with this statement. If the two women were members of the same guild, odds are that they would each be donating time to finish quilts.

Binding can be sewed on both front and back, in which case an entire quilt can be done in well under an hour.

I agree with b. zang about machine stitching the binding front and back instead of hand stitching the back. An I Spy quilt is usually for a child and the machine binding will hold up a lot better.

As far as doing it as a favour--that can rebound in two ways--the person might be offended, so a (small) fee should be charged. Or, the person might be so thrilled with the 'free' service that she might heap more unfinished quilts on your friend, so again, a (small) fee should be charged.

I agree with GingerK. Charge something. The act of kindness could become an entitlement. I have seen it happen to my longarmer friend. She was stressed about it for weeks and had to have a conversation she never thought she would have. She learned her lesson and now nothing free except donation or QOV quilts.

I love to do hand binding...and I do a lot of it.😊 I charge $25/quilt, regardless of the size. I stitch the binding on the front by machine, hand stitch the binding to the back, and am happy to sew on the label too if they have one.
I know most people charge much more, but I just do it because I enjoy it.

Thank you for your answer - I appreciate that your answer was specific to what I asked. My friend will be doing the binding the way you indicated, that is the way both she and I finish our quilts. I have never found that hand finishing the binding is a weak point, and I like to do it. Thank you again...