TeresaK Posted January 26, 2012 Report Share Posted January 26, 2012 I am trying to figure out how to charge for thread. Most people in my area seem to charge a flat rate of $5 for solid colors and $10.50 for variegated thread. I have found one that charges $2 per bobbin. I have an app on my IPad from Superior Threads that gives you an estimate of how much thread it will take to quilt a top of a given size and density of quilting. Based on this app a queen size quilt with medium quilting would be 1,000 yards for the top or 2,000 for top and bobbin. Usiing this assumption I have calculated cost based on wholesale priciing. The lowest cost for a solid color poly with a prewound bobbin was $3.71 up to a high of $5.43. On the variegated threads in poly it ran from $8.27 to $15.53. Charging by the bobbin for 2000 yards resulted a range of $4.80 to a high of $16.59. How do you all calculate your thread cost? Thank you all for your advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Sparrow Posted January 26, 2012 Report Share Posted January 26, 2012 that App sound very useful! Care to share the name of it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeresaK Posted January 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2012 Matt the app is from Superior Threads. It is called "How Much Thread Does it Take?". I downloaded it from Apple's App Store and it's free. I don't know if it is available for Android devices. It provided me with some basic yardage numbers to calculate how much thread I might use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primitive1 Posted January 26, 2012 Report Share Posted January 26, 2012 What a great idea, I looked at the android apps and it is there under the same name.... Downloading it now! By the way, I usually charge a flat $5.00 thread charge and $2.00 per prewound bobbin. Afterall, when you get an oil change, you pay the people who change the oil for you as well as the oil itself, so that is my reasoning.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Linda S Posted January 26, 2012 Report Share Posted January 26, 2012 I just charge a flat rate of $5. It's kept me in thread for many, many years, and keeps me from sweating the small stuff. All of this can get very technical if you let it. As long and you make sure you're not cheating yourself on expenses, I'd relax about it. Oh - by the way - although I absolutely love the pretty variegated threads, I rarely use them. Unless they are a deliberate thread painting, they generally don't look as pretty as the customer envisions them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RunningThreads Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 We don't have a separate charge for thread unless it is something special We do have a set up charge of $30 and that includes meeting with the customer, loading, light pressing if needed, thread and trimming the quilt when done. I hate buying stuff and seeing a bunch of extra charges added (airline tickets are a perfect example). I think if you are going to charge for thread I think Linda's five dollars is low enough that the customer isn't tempted to bring their own crappy thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmcclannan Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 I don't charge extra for thread either. I like to keep things simple so my charge includes set up, thread, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 I don't charge a set up fee, and I'm not a nickle and dimer on the invoice, but I do charge for thread ($2.00 per bobbin) and as an example... the average costs for thread on my quilts is between $5.00 and $10.00. I primarily use Bottom Line in my bobbin, and some times So Fine. The only other "extras" I charge for are: piecing the backer together $5.00 per seam Batting (depends on size) Machine binding services (per linear inch) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cblevins Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 We don't do a thread charge. Our price per sq inch quilting varies with the density of the quilting. We have it priced to cover thread. The only seperate charges we have are for backing...batting...binding...and seaming backing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb2bie Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 I don't have a charge for 'regular' thread, but if I use a variegated or metallic or other specialty thread, I charge $5 for smaller quilts $8 for Twin or Double, $12 for queen or king. Ofcourse this charge is optional and if I'm doing custom quilting and charging well for it, I might not charge. I just added a loyalty club to my business. After 10 quilts, I add all the charges together and divide by 10. The sum is what they get off their next (11th) quilt. That is a 10% discount. My panto prices (done with IQ) are super cheap already so this is just a little incentive to keep them coming to me and not "spreading it around". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra Darlington Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 I don't charge a fee for thread (although, I may consider it if/when I want a way to raise my rates a bit). Debbie - I have a "loyalty club" or "frequent quilter" club, too. Mine is to add the cost of five quilts, divide by 5 to get the avarage cost of one quilt, then take 50% of that amount off of quilt #6. I only include the quilting charge, not batting or PITA type of fees - just the quilting. It does keep my customers interested and it is easily attainable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb2bie Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 Wow Sandra that is a great deal. I will see how mine goes. Always room to improve if this doesn't do it I'll try your numbers!! I was going to do a bakers dozen but decided that would be too many. 10 may be too many too, we'll see!!! Thanks for the input!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra Darlington Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 Debbie, I'm still trying to build my business so this was something that was suggested to me. I think it has helped. It did kind of "stink" when I had 3 people in November/December bring me their 6th quilt. But, on the other hand, they brought me 6 quilts, so that is a good thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 I don't charge for bottom line, Sofine or Metro. If I'm going to use King Tut, rainbows, varigated (very rare for me) then I'd charge $7 specialty thread fee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myrna Ficken Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 I add a fee of $5-15 for thread into the quilting fee. I don't itemize the thread cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonwoman Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 I use prewound bobbins most of the time so I take the retail price of the bobbins and double it for my thread charge. but if silk or something I probably will not use again show up I have charged the individual the retail for the spools and given them the balace of the spools when I'm done. That is only when I don't want to use it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonwoman Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 I charge 1.50 for bottom line so with a normal thread my charge would be 3.00 a bobbin that would cover the top thread also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyLake Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 I almost alway use Bottom Line pre-wounds, so I sat down one day and figured out the cost of each type of top thread by the yard, then added the cost of the pre-wound. I priced the thread by how many bobbins used with each type of top thread (retail). Lately, I've been charging $2.00 per bobbin, no matter what the top thread, as that seems to be the average. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carolinequilts Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 I charge $1 for every 100 yards of thread used and I calculate how much I've used based on # of bobbins I've used and how much I can wind on each bobbin, then multiply by 2 to account for the top thread. For example, if I've used 5 bobbins and can get 60 yards on each bobbin (if I'm using So Fine) , I charge 5 * 60 * 2 = 600, or $6.00. Seems complicated, but it works for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kusmaulk Posted January 27, 2012 Report Share Posted January 27, 2012 Holy mackerel!!! I have been charging .70 per bobbin since I started my business in 2007. Maybe I need to raise that price? Hmmmmmmmm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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