cbjlinda

Next time you might want to discuss price with the person before hand. not everyone realizes what goes into a quilt. but now that its done it sounds like she is still happy with the quilt so stop worrying about it. enjoy the fact that you made such a great peice of art and I am sure she will love it for a long time to come. one good thing about it is that when they have to pay for what goes into it they are much more likely to value it! lols

GrannieAnnie

Old rule--------------tell them it's going to COST----------before you start

sassey

Due to limited income I would be more than happy to make a quilt for a friend if she purchased the fabric only diffrence between that and making a donation quilt you have free fabric to play with and you know you are making something they will like and treasure Donated quilts are wonderful if you can afford to do it but you do not know the receivers personality or what they would really lik

RAChhap

If you have any of your receipts perhaps you could show them to her so she would realize how expensive good fabric is today. Also, visit with any good custom sewing workshop (one that makes draperies & bedspreads,pillows etc.)and you will find that they charge at least $40 per hour for labor. I learned pretty early on not to say yes to anyone's request for "just a little sewing" unless I was ready and willing to do it for free. I do my quilts mostly for family- one or two per year and rotate them- and they are always happy to get one.

Rose_P

I don't know the financial circumstances of your friend, but if she's shopped for stylish home decor in fancy stores, she realizes that this is actually a bargain, and the surprise might have been that she thought "homemade" would be much cheaper than mass market. It's time to educate people that it's just not a reasonable way of looking at it. It's hardly fair for you to fulfill this request of hers without charging for your time, unless you offered to make her the stuff as a gift. It doesn't seem from what you wrote that this was the case. There is absolutely no justification for you to feel embarrassed, unless you gave her the impression that this was going to be much less. If you have settled on $700, I hope she is gracious enough to at least offer to do something very special for you.

Friday1961

And maybe insure it as art accordingly.

Pilgrim

If people don't make quilts they have no idea how much fabric, thread, batting, etc. costs. They also have no idea how much time and effort is put into making one. People tend to relate price of quilt to cost of China made items.
I hope this does not become a problem between you and your friend. This is one reason I do not make quilts for sale. I make what I want when I want to. I give 90% of what I make to charity and am glad to do it as I feel blessed and enjoy helping others who are in need. I think I would have told my friend that it was going to cost a great deal to make a quilt and see if she was still interested. I would have put some charge for your work for no other reason than to help purchase more fabric or whatever for future purchases. Again, she is lucky to have a friend who would do this for her.

Suzette316

I totally get your reaction to how much the quilt ended up costing and then having to tell your friend of this amount. It has nothing to do with your shopping abilities (which seems pretty good!) or your gifts or talents (which are not in question at all!) or even your right to being fairly compensated (you most certainly are!!). It just has to do with something ending up costing far more than the client may have anticipated and then having to convey this to a good friend. Oh yeah, I get that!!

BUT . . . in the end, your friend did seem to understand and even feel appreciative of your talents and efforts and the value of these items. I would keep that in mind and relax now and just use the advice of others here to, in the future, either let the client buy the fabric and give it to you or better yet, take the client with you when shopping for fabric next time (my favorite since you never know what they will come back with if they go on their own! lol). Then discuss your labor fees.

I too can't wait to see this quilt - it sounds stunning!

Cogito

I am really curious and please don't be offended. I have been quilting since the early eighties but had to stop for about 12 years when life got in the way. I have been amazed at the increased cost of fabric, etc. but I don't understand how the cost of just materials could be $700? If fabric were $12/yd, that would be 58 yards. I know that is ignoring cost of thread, but even so.......how could it take 50+ yards of fabric? Or was the fabric significantly more expensive than that? I have been slowly getting back into my piecing and quilting but am beginning to wonder if I will be able o continue long term as I can't justify this type of expense on a limited income.
mary

PumpkinSundae

I am in no way near that quilting level and just reading all of the things you had to make stresses me out..lol. She absolutely got a fantastic bargain. I guess some people who don't quilt will really never understand what goes into making one.