Tothill

My good friend Gill recently lost her mother in law after a brief battle with cancer.

I never met Jeannette, but apparently she was a quilter. Gill was saying Jeannette had several quilts in progress. Some with squares made, some cut out ready to be pieced.

The family is looking to sell the 'kits', but have no idea how to go about it.

I have seen several posts here about estate sales and great deals, how do you handle just selling the quilting supplies and 'kits'?

I did warn Gill that they will not get anything close to what she paid.

I am going to contact a friend of mine who is with the local quilt guild and see what she suggests, but I would appreciate any other ideas.

tropit

I see partial quilts up for sale all the time, especially at GW and the Hospice Thrift store. They do just want you said above...they pack them up into "kits" and sell them that way. It would be nice to have some sort of instructions, or details about the quilt in progress. They usually go cheap...under $20.

~Cindy

feline fanatic

In my mind, a WIP kit is a hard sell. First you may not have all the instructions or the pattern. It is not always easy to figure out what the kit will make if it is just a bunch of squares and strips cut out and partially sewn together. Also not all quilters have the same skill set or as precise in piecing as others. A more precise, experienced quilter may not want to rip and resew units that don't have the proper seam allowance and if the home made kit doesn't have good instructions a less experienced quilter will be intimidated or frustrated by it. Also you must take into consideration the amount of fabric in the kit. Will it make a bed size quilt, a lap quilt, a wall hanging? What kind/quality of fabric is in these WIPS? All these things will be dependent on setting a price. For a bed size quilt maybe $20 or $30. That is assuming there is the equivalent of 7 yards of LQS quality fabric AND a complete pattern/instructions in it. Smaller things go for smaller prices.

Did Jeanette belong to a guild or quilt group of some sort? If so, perhaps the family may seek them out for a sewing buddy of Jeanette's that knows her style and may be willing to take the project on.
The family would probably have much better luck selling her stash, the uncut yardage then WIPs. But even then, people do not want to pay a fair price for estate sale fabric. Most think $5 per yard is way too high even though most LQS fabric sells for twice that now. I am sorry for your friends loss.

Candace

Most of the families (of quilters in my area that pass away) with WIP, donate them to the local guild to finish and donate to charity.

ManiacQuilter2

I think that is a great idea !! My friend just finish up a rag quilt. The kit didn't have any instructions but she was able to salvage what she had and made a nice quilt for charity, I think she bought it for $10

Prism99

There are quite a few like that on eBay. Check "completed listings" to see how much they sold for. The family would likely get more money if they sold them on eBay simply because there are more interested quilters there interested in finishing quilts like this.

Is the family sure they don't want the quilts? If it were my mother, I would want to keep the quilts in the family.

quilt addict

Agree with views already expressed about the difficulties in this. One other thing is that depending on the age of the material, the colors etc, may no longer be in style and less desirable. I have seen better luck in selling as bulk or scrap fabric by the bag or lb.

Sorry for you loss. I know I will face this when my mother goes. But I think she will have kits that she has purchased and never opened so those could maybe get 50% of purchase price.

justflyingin

I would say "cheap". Not even $20-$30 unless it is something fantastic. I agree with quilt addict who says that selling the fabric as bulk or scrap is more realistic. I'd say $5-10 for the whole group of coordinated scraps/squares.

Tothill

Thank you to all who have replied.

I am forwarding this information to my friend.

twinkie

If there are several kits and you are interested, why don't you make a deal with them that you get the quilt "kits" in exchange for making a quilt they can save. That way every one is a winner. Just a thought.