cjtinkle Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 I am lazy, I confess! I wondered if any of you that charge per bobbin would share the yardage of the more popular threads that fit our bobbins? Mainly, the Bottom Line, it being my favorite, and So Fine. I shudder at the though of winding a bobbin of each thread, then counting the yards on it. I know I will lose my place over and over, LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AbigailE Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 Superior Threads website has that information listed. Check there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjtinkle Posted February 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 OMG seriously? You're an angel, thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 There was also a post probably more than a year ago where somebody had posted the yardages for her bobbins so that we didn't have to torture ourselves. Do a search and you might find it. I don't recall what the title was but I know it was a while ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinneaMarie Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 Bottom Line pre wounds are 118 yards. I also use it in my Bernina and pieced an entire queen size quilt with ONE bobbin! Cept for the borders, I ran out part way through the borders. So Fine does not have prewounds for L bobbins, but that is next on their list! Should be out real soon. I love Superior Threads products and info and attitude. You will not find better customer service. The president/owner, Bob Purcell, says it's because of US, that his products are so good. We keep saying what we want, and he makes it for us! Check out their website, info, blog, tons and tons of information. You can even print off an inventory sheet of all the Superior thread and mark what you have. Not affiliated, just a happy customer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjtinkle Posted February 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 I couldn't agree more about Superior Threads, I use them almost exclusively! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Beth Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 you need to talk to Linda Rech, I believe she charges by the bobbin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinneaMarie Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 I believe I would charge $25.00/bobbin if it was prewound and I did not have to change colors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 Originally posted by LinneaMarie I believe I would charge $25.00/bobbin if it was prewound and I did not have to change colors. I sure hope you didn't mean $25 a bobbin, if so I want your customers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 Originally posted by Mary Beth you need to talk to Linda Rech, I believe she charges by the bobbin. Thanks MB! I almost exclusively use BL pre-wounds. I get small packs (12 bobbins) at the LQS and have purchased wholesale the half-gross (144) in standard colors--white, cream, tan, taupe, and black. Retail price puts the bobbins at almost $1 each. I double that to cover the top thread and charge $2 a bobbin as a thread charge. My price changed from $1.50 a bobbin in January to keep up with the always-rising cost. I also charge $2 a bobbin for self-wound bobbins when my customer wants Tut on the back, or a thread to match the top thread. The thicker threads don't load as much yardage on a bobbin so the cost reflects the time I use to wide them. I use my on-board winder--still haven't justified the cost of a turbo winder. My largest thread charge so far was $22.50 when I was charging $1.50 per bobbin. Yep, 15 pre-wound bobbins. I told my customer she had over two miles of thread quilted into her quilt. It softens the blow a bit when you tell them the yardage (mileage) of the thread! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjtinkle Posted February 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 I figure charging per bobbin is the only way to accurately tell if I'm making a profit on thread. BL is my favorite bobbin thread, but I don't buy pre-wounds. Thanks for the info! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinneaMarie Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 Yep $25.00/bobbin! But that is my quilting charge. I did one with 16 bobbins, so if I charged by the square inch it comes out about the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 Wow Linnea--that is an interesting idea--and I bet it comes out closer to actual dollars-per-hour than charging by the square inch/density of quilting formula. I would never get away with this with my customers. They have their heads wrapped around cost-per-square-inch since that is the norm around here. I don't know if I could convince them to be comfortable with a cost per bobbin charge. What if you are using a thicker thread? Less thread on the bobbin=less stitching per bobbin=more money per quilt? King Tut in a bobbin is about 35 yards. BL in a bobbin is about 100 yards. Do you have separate charges for different bobbins? I am intrigued by this pricing plan. Thanks for sharing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinneaMarie Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 Well, I did a custom 92" x 92", and if I charged by square inch @ .045/sq inch it comes out to $380.88, plus $10.00 thread charge. Instead, I did 16 bobbins times $25.00 equals $400. No extra charges. It works out about the same. Say, for instance, a quilt is 60 X 74 @ .02/sq inch = $88.80, + $8.00 thread charge = $96.80. If it takes me 4 bobbins I get $100. I guess it depends on how dense the quilting is too. Then it uses more bobbies~!:P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quiltmonkey Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 Well, this is just my scenario, but I charge $2.00 per bobbin to recoup the costs of my top and bottom thread. I use Bottom Line about 95% of the time in bobbin. I don't have different charges for different threads. The most I have charged for a quilt for thread costs is $20 for a king size quilt, but most quilts average between $6 and $10 per quilt for thread charges. I don't do a lot of detailed custom quilting (rulers, marking, etc) so my ballpark psi charges are between .0125 and .020. Most of my quilts are either freehand e2e or panto (I don't do many pantos) so.... I rarely charge higher than .020 for my quilting services. So the thread charges help. My main goal is to average between $20/hour and $30/hour for my psi quilting. This per hour average--the psi quilting---does not include the thread charge. This quilting biz is a little side business for me so if I am making between $20/hour and $30/hour for my quilting time I am happy enough with that and I have a steady stream of quilts coming in (not too many quilts in line to do and not too few quilts to do). I have a little calculation on my excel spreadsheet (what I print my invoices from) where I can plug in the hours I spent on the quilt to see if I was in my $20-$30 range and usually I am right in there. Do y'all think I am undercharging? (I don't think I am but speak up if you think I am way out of line) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinneaMarie Posted February 25, 2010 Report Share Posted February 25, 2010 You are underselling yourself Shana! And I've seen your gorgeous work up close and personal!!!:P My psi charges START at .020/psi and I go up to about 12.5/psi. I think you are worth wayyyy more!! JMHO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted February 26, 2010 Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 LinneaMarie, That is interesting way of doing it. I thought you were doing an additional thread charge on top of a psi. I'm more in line with Shana but I do more custom work. Most of my e2e is .02 psi and light custom starts at .03. I don't have a thread charge for BL or SoFine but I do for anything else. I have debated about that one. I don't use prewounds so it is a little cheaper for me, although yes I know it takes time. Really I put on a bobbin to wind when I take one so they wind while I'm quilting. I think I would have a hard time trying to estimate how many bobbins a quilt would take. Some that I do SID on don't take a ton of thread but they do take more time so I think I might get shorted using the bobbin charging method. I'll have to track some and see how it comes out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliagraves Posted February 26, 2010 Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 I charge by the bobbin, and charge separately for top and bobbin thread. I got a chart, I think from Superior, that is very acccurate for me, so if I lose track of number of bobbins, I go with the chart (size of quilt and density). Size Light Quilting Medium Quilting Heavy Quilting Lap 200 yards 400 yards 600 yards Single 400 yards 800 yards 1,200 yards Double 500 yards 900 yards 1,400 yards Queen 600 yards 1,000 yards 1,600 yards King 700 yards 1,500 yards 2,000 yards I charge by type of thread: 1 bobbin (which I estimate at 200 yards): Bottom Line - $0.80 So Fine - $1 Rainbow - $2 King Tut - $2.80 No one has ever complained about the thread charge and very often pick the more expensive threads when given a choice (and the price explained). Check out my website, soquilts.com - I have a lot of info on it. Julia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witha'K'quilting Posted February 26, 2010 Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 I started charging $0.50 per bobbin on top of my normal rate (for the few quilts I have done for a fee). It is the only way that I feel I can easily recoupe the cost of my thread. Nobody has complained yet. I can change threads and I figure that covers that too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliagraves Posted February 26, 2010 Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 I also charge per square inch for the quilting - what I posted before was just the charge for thread. Julia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjtinkle Posted February 26, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 Thank you Julia that is very helpful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Butterfly Posted February 26, 2010 Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 After reading these comments, I think I may be under-charging. I usually don't come near $20 and hour. Most of the stuff I do is custom and time consuming though. Jessica Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witha'K'quilting Posted February 26, 2010 Report Share Posted February 26, 2010 Jessica, If I quilt for others...I usually only make a few dollars an hour if that....that is why I have a full time job! I am an Engineer so that is where the money is for me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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