Honestly How Many Hours

[Grammie]

Let's take an 80x80 quilt for instance.

If you were to do custom about how many hours would you spend give or Take 2 hours if its to broad a question.

The example of Judy's newest quilt would be good. Looks like a lot of wonderful work.

I am about to do a Custom and I will probly take twice as long as the experieced Quilter would so I'm curious. My quilt will be approx 85 x100 I believe. I haven't measured it just yet but I think that what is on the information form at home.

[JudyL]

Tammie: It's really hard to give a good estimate because even the size of the stipple being just a bit larger or smaller can add hours to an 80 x 80 quilt. Also, the size of the motifs used -- if it's a large motif, say with larger feathers, that leaves less space for stippling.

Based on the quilt you saw that I did, I'd say if everything was very similar, same amount of SID, same amount of stippling, same amount of freehand, same amount of thread changes, I'd guess 20 - 25 hours.

[Grammie]

This really helps me. I fully understand.

I'm getting a quilt top loaded now. I'll take a pic for the before

[GERRY]

Wow Judy:

How does a person charge for 20 to 25 hrs. on one quilt, 25 hrs. times $10.00 an hr. is $250.00 & your worth more than 10 bucks an hr.

Haven't started my bussiness yet, my Milli. is coming in May.

I know what I've paid for in the past (an all over pano), a 90x90 quilt cost me around a $100.00, the quilter charged 1.2 cents per sq. in. plus extra for varigated thread. I thought that was a fair price, it seems to be what everyone here charges for pano's & that is were I will set my prices as well,

I have a lot to learn and the info you folks share is invaluble

[JudyL]

I charge by the square inch and my time is *definitely* worth more than $10/hour. My custom prices pretty much start at .028 and then anything with lots of stippling goes up to .08 or .09 pretty quickly. But, there are tons of things that can be done between that .028 and .09 price range so I can come up with a plan to fit whatever price range the customer wants to stay within.

I usually try to give three quilting options, one being on the lower end, one being mid-range and one being on the upper end. After having some of the customers for the past 7 or 8 years, I know that some are not going to want anything but a panto. Some are not going to want anything other than a .08 or .09/psi quilting job.

But no matter what the preference of the customer, I know the hourly rate I want to make and if the quilting they want, with the price they want to pay does not fall into my hourly rate, we're not a good match and I send them on their way. Doesn't happen often because my reputation around here is that I'm outrageously expensive (not true!). Those coming via the internet have usually looked at my website and have seen my prices so they know what to expect.

There's only so much quilting one quilter with one machine can do. I can work my tail off for $10/hour or I can work my tail off for $20 - $25/hour. Guess which one I usually choose!

[GERRY]

Well Judy L.

I have alot to look forward to. After I P.P.P. my summer away.

I don't know if anyone around here is charging those prices. I'll have to check on that. There is a Milli. with a C.Q. 30 min's drive from here, most of her clients are old friends from were she used to live, & she only works 3-4 hr's a week on her quilting,(has a full time job). I know she is planning to retire in 4 years, & I plan to have a full compament of my own clients by then. I'm not sure if she does hairloom quilting or not, or what she would charge, if she does.

Keep the info coming, Thanks

[Farmersdaughterquilting]

Hi Gerry,

I have done a lot of research on the various cost of LAQ in British Columbia. I am in South Surrey / White Rock not that far away from you. I think that Judy is right on the mark with her prices, keep in mind that her prices are in US dollars, so converted it is even more.

I believe that we should not lesson our prices due to the lack of understanding by the few people who will have issue with it.

I look at it this way, if they think that I am to expensive for the quality of work provided, perhaps it was not meant to be.

I was a Professional Interior Designer for 15 years and learned the hard way that selling a service is a hard message to convey some times. But you always get bitten if you try to provide more for less.

Judy?s approach with 3 different types of quilting priced accordingly is perfect. It gives the choice back to the customer and you maintain your pricing. Although it would be nice, your business does not need to come from your immediate community.

You (we) have all invested allot of time and money in our skills and equipment. I think that if we were to make things less expensive we would devalue our skills as artisans. Be proud of your skills and price accordingly.

My apologies if I have come of snippy, this subject always gets me going?.

[White Rooster]

Judy L. is an exceptionally talented quilter and her work is absolutely beautiful. As a result, her prices seem very reasonable. The quality of our quilting definitely has a bearing on what we can charge. I have been quilting 2+ years and recently increased my fees because of my improved skill level. However, it will be awhile before I can command the same fees as Judy. But like her, I am very thankful for the oppiortunity to do what I love.

Thank you Judy for being such an inspiration and for posting pictures of your quilts. They always remind me of why I need to PPP.

[JudyL]

Thanks everyone for the kind words about my work but I really don't do anything the rest of you don't do or can't do. I think things always look better in pictures too. Up close, you would see that my work is far from perfect.

I get very little work in those top price ranges. I do more than my share of panto and light custom work and my prices for those are probably right in line with what the rest of you are charging.

For those of you wanting to do the type work as in that yellow quilt, my suggestion is that you take a huge piece of muslin, mark a bunch of stencils on it and get to work. (git 'er done! Hey, I live in KY . . I can say that!)

Classes are great and I highly recommend them but I have never had a class of any kind on the longarm. The main reason is because when I started, I didn't realize they were out there and I pretty much learned what I needed to know on my own. The second reason is . . I'm a mom of a teen/wife of a husband who travels way too much with the job and getting away is more trouble than it's worth. So, if you're thinking you can't do custom work or feathers because you haven't had a class yet . . you're making excuses.

So .. no more excuses. If you want to go a step farther than what you're doing right now, make a commitment to do something out of your comfort zone next week!