Skratchie

You know, I've seen a lot of grousing from folks about how they can't make money selling quilts, and that a big part of that is Etsy. But based on some of the outrageous prices I see mentioned here when the subject of making quilts comes up ... well, if others have the same grand ideas ...

I'm sorry, but few people are going to be able to command thousands of dollars for their quilts, or even hundreds. I have made some lap sized quilts, and get about $300 for them, but when you start talking about the cost of materials for anything larger, people pale at the idea of what you're going to charge them, and for good reason. I think that most of the people that sell on Etsy at "cheap" prices are either a) just interested in recovering the costs they have into an item, which allows them to buy more materials to make the next item; or b) are buying their materials at wholesale prices, which allows them to make quilts and sell them at a much lower price than someone buying fabric at their LQS.

I'm really not sure why people are so intent on getting cost of materials plus $XX per hour for making a quilt. Artists rarely make a lot of money doing what they love; they don't do it for the money, they do it for the love of their art. And I've personally known several painters who sell their labors of love for small amounts of money, often just enough to cover their costs. I look at quilting in the same light - it's something I do because I love it, and if someone loves my work enough to reimburse me for the cost of materials, I'm good with that. Because guess what - I'm going to make the quilt anyway, and if I can get my money back from the quilt so I can make another quilt, well that's ok with me. I usually give them away anyway, so why not recoup my costs when I have the opportunity?