Price to Charge for Making Custom Quilt

[quinceandquilt]

Hi there:

This is my first post. My long-armer suggested I ask this question here.

I've been asked by someone to make them a quilt (or several) and I have no clue how much to charge.

For the sake of discussion, let's assume the following:

1. finished quilt about 70" X 90"

2. difficulty level 2 out of 1-5

3. cost of materials say $200

4. what I will pay the longarmer say $150 (until I'm good enough to do it myself)

5. Labor? I'd say minimum 100 hours.

How much do you think I should charge. Note that this person can pay any amount and is willing to pay any amount. I don't want to gouge him, but I'm not going to work for $1/hour either......

I'd love to hear some different opinions. Someone from Arkansas I know said she knows women who would do it for 500-600$, but I wouldn't do it for that price.

Thanks,

Cynthia

[Quilting Heidi]

Cynthia you need to decide how much you want to make an hour and then price it accordingly. Don't sell yourself short. 100 hours sounds like a high estimate for that size but since I don't know the pattern you're using I could be way off. For a 2 I'm guessing it is just simple straight lines and bigger blocks.

[ffq-lar]

$100 per square yard for piecing. 70 x 90 = 6300. Divided by 1296= 4.86 square yards. Charge $500 for fabric shopping, cutting, and piecing. Charge full retail for batting even if you get it discounted (covers your drive time/inconvenience).

$500 for piecing

$200 for fabric

$25 for batting (W&W two yards at 94" and $12.99 a yard.

$150 for quilting.

$75 for binding (machine sewn on front and hand-sewn to the back.)

Looks like $950.

At $500 for the piecing, you will only be making $5 an hour if it takes 100 hours. Raise the price or find a way to shorten the piecing hours. I know--easier said than done!

[Nadia Wilson]

Hi Cynthia,

100 hours? For piecing one top with a difficulty level of around 2? That seems high to me.

I make a number of commission quilts and basically price them out as follows...cost of materials and pre-washing fabric and shrinking batting, cost of labour for piecing, cost of longarm quilting, cost for applying binding. Get a quote from your longarmer before giving your customer a price so you know what that cost will be. I have a form my clients sign with everything laid out, such as deposits, fabric colours, quilting design, etc, etc. I get 1/3 payment upon acceptance of quote, 1/3 before the quilt gets longarm quilted (goes on my frame) and the final payment when the quilt is picked up. The last commission quilt I made was Eleanor Burns Underground Railroad (60" x 90"), took me 28 hours to piece and apply binding to the back by hand. I base my quote/prices on about $25 per square foot.

Hope this helps.

[quinceandquilt]

Wow thank you so much for explaining it like that.

So I guess the only thing that would change is the $/sq. yd depending on the difficulty factor......so what would you suggest for a difficult level of 3/5 or 4/5?

I think about $1000 is reasonable and about what I was thinking intuitively without an equation. I don't think 100 hrs is an unrealistic estimate--I know I spend a lot of time arranging and rearranging patterns and colors; everything I make is very bright and scrappy.....I don't think I'm a fast piecer either, kind of slow and steady like a diesel truck. ;o).

I'm so grateful to get replies so fast!

Cynthia

[quinceandquilt]

Originally posted by Nadia Wilson

Hi Cynthia,

100 hours? For piecing one top with a difficulty level of around 2? That seems high to me.

I make a number of commission quilts and basically price them out as follows...cost of materials and pre-washing fabric and shrinking batting, cost of labour for piecing, cost of longarm quilting, cost for applying binding. Get a quote from your longarmer before giving your customer a price so you know what that cost will be. I have a form my clients sign with everything laid out, such as deposits, fabric colours, quilting design, etc, etc. I get 1/3 payment upon acceptance of quote, 1/3 before the quilt gets longarm quilted (goes on my frame) and the final payment when the quilt is picked up. The last commission quilt I made was Eleanor Burns Underground Railroad (60" x 90"), took me 28 hours to piece and apply binding to the back by hand. I base my quote/prices on about $25 per square foot.

Hope this helps.

So Nadia, based on your evaluation, what final number did you arrive at?

[Nadia Wilson]

Cynthia,

For the quilt I mentioned above the final total price was $952.

[klwheeler]

I charge $50/hr and up for custom quilt design and/or quit pieceing/applique, or quilt repair. Then the quilting is by the density and complexity of quilting. The cost of batting is added in as well as the fabrics for the top and bottom. I also machine bind the quilts at $25-$75. I've made several quilts custom and they are special. Prices are usually no less than $800 for a twin. Your's might run as much as $1200 or more.

[Corey]

When I do commission quilts, I estimate the degree of difficulty, then I start with these guidelines I made for myself:

beginner/big blocks, $10 per square ft

intermediate $15 per square ft.

advanced applique $25 per sq. ft.

Corey

[Omega QW]

I am making a custom signature quilt which will have about 60 signatures, queen size, with a (hopefully) simple appliqued butterfly in the center. The pattern is two half-square triangles with the signature obliquely through the block. The applique was thrown at me after I quoted the price, but I'm doing it anyway. I quoted $2,000 for everything from start to finish, and she agreed. I helped her choose the fabric; she paid for it. I don't know how many hours it will take, but I figure that I'd be making a quilt this summer anyhow, and this way I'll get paid for it.

[klwheeler]

How is it going everyone?

[Merryjo2003]

I agree with everyone above! I usually start out for a simple queen size around $1200 and it goes up depending on the difficulty (thus more time) of the pattern. I've had people ask me if I was using gold plated thread! When I break down the costs of fabric, quilting, binding, etc., subtract that from the total and estimate the hours of piecing, they understand it isn't gouging them at all. Then I ask them if they would work for that amount per hour. That really gets them.

I've even had someone say they could go buy a "bed in a bag" at Sears for $70 on sale. I tell them to go right ahead and buy it. I can't even begin to get the fabric alone for that. They'll wash it once and give it to a charity if it isn't in pieces. If they don't sew, they have no idea what it takes to complete a quilt, all the time and effort. They recognise the difference in quality and want the better quilt, but are shocked at the price. I tell them there's a huge difference between a chinese bed in a bag vs. handcrafted quality work. If they don't want to pay, fine with me. I have plenty of customers with quilt tops to quilt so I'd rather quilt and get paid!

[mitzi]

If I do a charity quilt and want to figure out a cost to claim I basically start at $20/hour plus all costs. It is amazing what one can get done in an hour when you are actually keeping track. And I figure that my time is worth at least that much per hour.