cblevins Posted October 5, 2011 Report Share Posted October 5, 2011 Can anyone give me an idea on what to charge for a t shirt quilt? I looked at an old thread and found one Sylvia made using sashing to make all the blocks the same size that i like but don't know how much to charge!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LFQuilts Posted October 5, 2011 Report Share Posted October 5, 2011 Cheri, 1) check out pricing on www.campusquilts.com; 2) I think local shops around here charge $25/shirt block, but I'm not sure whether that includes fabric and batting; 3) I can't do it for less than $17/shirt if I provide fabric (backing, sashing strips) and batting. I charge extra for borders. Lynn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cblevins Posted October 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2011 thanks!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted October 5, 2011 Report Share Posted October 5, 2011 I was going to chime in with $25 per shirt as well. This includes fabric for sashing, batting, backer, stabilizer for the shirts, and simple quilting. That would be $300 for a 12-shirt quilt. I feel like I'm on the good side money-wise if I can make $100 a day and no way could I build a quilt like that in 3 days! Campusquilts charges extra for sashing, but their prices are very cheap...er...reasonable. Some forum member does a great business with these but of course I can't remember who..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cblevins Posted October 6, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2011 I believe it is Sylvia. Thanks Linda! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadyLake Posted October 6, 2011 Report Share Posted October 6, 2011 http://quiltsonthecorner.com/t_shirt_quilts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustSewSimple Posted October 6, 2011 Report Share Posted October 6, 2011 I charge $450. for a T-shirt quilt. I don't do small ones. I only do12 or 16 Ts. Same price. I pretty much stay busy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DL Semmens Posted October 6, 2011 Report Share Posted October 6, 2011 When I make them for a customer. I make them purchase the fabric (with my guidance) then I charge them $20 and hour to construct the top. My normal quilting fee, and 15 cents an inch for the binding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njquiltergirl Posted October 6, 2011 Report Share Posted October 6, 2011 I do not know how you ladies charge by the shirt, or using any flat fee. I charge by the hour ($20.) and add materials and supplies to the cost. Each quilt is different, so the cost and amount of time needed to make it varies. The fabric cost varies with what the customer wants. A simpler way to accurately estimate would be so nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharond Posted October 6, 2011 Report Share Posted October 6, 2011 This thread is very helpful. I was contacted yesterday to make 3 memory quilts. Her husband passed away 2+ years ago, and wants to have a throw made for each of her kids. She has t-shirts, polo shirts, dress shirts, ties. These will take some time prepping everything. My son thinks I should give a flat rate for the prep, and sewing of the tops and then the quilting would be a separate charge. Of course she would pay for all of the extra fabrics, stabilizers needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyn Heilman Posted October 10, 2011 Report Share Posted October 10, 2011 Hi Sharon, I do quite a few memory quilts and just want to pass on that the prep is pretty intensive when cutting up clothing. Don't short change yourself. I have found that if I can interest them in 6 1/2' half square triangles that I can save tons of time cutting them with the accuquilt. Then add a substantial border ( 6" or so). I usually meander the middle and do feathers in the border. I charge $450 for a throw size- 60 x 72. If I have to cut the pieces by hand then I raise the price accordingly. I hope this is a little helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corey Posted October 10, 2011 Report Share Posted October 10, 2011 Cheri, Check Angela Huffman's website, (IQ Rep), she has that specialty and of course Sylvia does a lot of T Shirt Quilt too. Corey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharond Posted October 10, 2011 Report Share Posted October 10, 2011 Lyn, Thanks for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njquiltergirl Posted October 10, 2011 Report Share Posted October 10, 2011 Ladies, I am stumped! How do you do it??? I just finished a custom t-shirt quilt and used xxl sized shirts. There was 8 yards of stabilizer ($6/yd.) , 12 yards of fabric ($10/yd.) for the sashing, binding, borders and back. Plus a $29 batting. Right there is at least $200 in supplies, not including piecing and quilting thread or anything else. Add labor hours for prep, piecing and quilting...I can not do all that work for a hundred or so. What am I doing wrong? I do not buy at wholesale for custom quilts...the fabric needed is different for each. If I did buy by the bolt, I'd have a lot of left over! This is a great topic. Glad you started it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anette D. Posted October 11, 2011 Report Share Posted October 11, 2011 Somehow, I've become known as the T-shirt quilt lady among mothers of graduating seniors. I have made a bunch of them. I charge for all the backing and fabric PLUS I charge by the hour. I live in a relatively low income county and charge only $15 per hour. I would charge more if I lived elsewhere. That charge is for piecing the top. I keep a stopwatch going and total up the time. Then, I charge per square inch for the quilting, as I would do with any customer wanting a top quilted. Usually I have to bind the quilt also. There is also a binding fee. I charge for all fabric. including backing and binding, and the batting. So far, I have had moms and dads who are amazed at the results. They usually display the quilt at the graduation party; that's how I get so many more of them to do. Wish I could stop that! I do NOT make regular rows and columns of squares. Some of the quilts contain 40 or more T-shirts; others contain fewer than 10--that's why I charge by the hour. I cut the backed shirt parts, use graph paper to create a layout design, and follow it to put the quilt together. If it is super large (I've done king sized quilts), I break the design into sections, make them, and then stitch them together. I always tell the customer up front that T-shirt quilts are expensive and how I plan to charge them. I hope this helps, Anette Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njquiltergirl Posted October 12, 2011 Report Share Posted October 12, 2011 Hi Anette. I am glad to hear how you price your custom quilts. It sounds very similar to my way. And, yes, each part of the country has its own going rate for labor. Cost of living goes along with that, and every thing else! Your quilts sound beautiful! I am sure once the friends see them, they want one too. Thanks for posting how you do it. Maybe the others charge separately for quilting and binding too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra Darlington Posted October 12, 2011 Report Share Posted October 12, 2011 That (Anette's post) makes a lot of sense to me, too. I will be starting a tee-shirt quilt this weekend. It is a giant 9-patch. There will be 5 tee-shirts - at the 4 corners and one in the middle. Customer wants 15" blocks. The other 4 blocks will be solid red. The borders will be solid blue cotton-poly, because it was cheaper and her daughter (a non-quilter) said it did not really need to be all cotton. The back is Phillies fleece. Binding is white cotton-poly. We have not decided on the quilting design yet. I have not given her an estimate yet. Months ago when I was first contacted I said a very general figure would be about $25 a block, but lots would depend on the actual cost of supplies and the amount of time. At that time I was receiving numerous calls asking about tee-shirt quilt prices. People would gasp and I wouldn't hear back, so I didn't think too much about this call, either, but it turned out to be a new customer. I already have the fusible for the back of the shirts, and I need to get the batting as well, and will use my thread. The rest she has paid for. I think charging $20 an hour for the piecing and then my usual per sq inch quilting charge and my binding charge. I am guessing it will take me about 4 to 5 hours to have the top pieced. That's $80 to $100 to start. An average panto is $.015 - $.02 per sq inch, so that would be $46.66 to $62.22. Then the machine sewn on binding would be $33.60. That's a total of $160.26 to $195.82. Plus, I didn't add in the cost of the batting nd the fusible yet - maybe another $25 or so. Does that sound accurate? I need to send her an estimate soon. I also have another quilt to do for her out of all of her deceased husband's clothes. That will be lots of small emblems on golf shirts, etc. including fleece jammies. Then I have 3 of that type of quilts to do for her sister in law! Right now my tiny studio looks like the Salvation Amry! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njquiltergirl Posted October 12, 2011 Report Share Posted October 12, 2011 Sandra, With only five shirts, no sashing and simple border, it should go pretty quickly. Do you have to prep the t-shirts in any way? Pressing the fusible takes a long time. I was suprised how long that process can take...10 seconds on each side, as big as your iron is. That can add up. I spent two full days pressing just for one (big) quilt top. Plus I had a sore thumb/wrist from holding the iron handle for so long. It needed steam, so my room got hot and steamy too! What size do you think the finished quilt will be? I'll check my notes and see if I have some similar...though most of mine are more complex than a 9-patch. My fusible is $6/yard, which is sold about 20" wide, enough for one t-shirt. Do you machine the binding front and back or hand sew to the back? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anette D. Posted October 12, 2011 Report Share Posted October 12, 2011 Lisa, I do not take all that much time adhering the fusible stabilizer to the backs of the t-shirts. I use an applique' pressing sheet so that I don't get any of the adhesive on my iron or ironing board (or at least try to not do so) and press long enough to make the fusible stick to the back. Try just leaving your iron on the non-adhesive side of the fusible for the 10 seconds without pressing. It works for me. If large sections come apart as I handle the block, I re-fuse the fusible. Once I get to the piecing part, I don't pay much attention to the adherence as I know it will be adhered during the quilting. I never iron the t-shirts from the front; some of them are imprinted with heat-sensitive materials and I don't want to disappoint a customer. BTW, my fusible is 18 to 20 inches wide and 4.23 a yard. I can get it in black or white. Since I purchase it by the bolt, I sometimes get a percentage off. The fusible I use is a woven fusible. Hope this helps, Anette Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qwltnldy Posted October 12, 2011 Report Share Posted October 12, 2011 I do exactly the same as Annette. That said, I recently made $525 for a T-Shirt quilt, start to finish. The total bill came to just over $600 as this included reimbursement for all the fabric & stabilizer. None of my T-shirt quilts are the same. I think the same size square with sashing and cornerstones is really boring but that's just me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra Darlington Posted October 13, 2011 Report Share Posted October 13, 2011 Lisa...Yes, I will have to prep the t-shirts and iron on the fusible stabilizer, then cut and sew, but I don't anticipate it taking very long (except for pressing the shirts - I really don't enjoy that part!). The finished quilt will be 51" X 61." That will be 3" side borders and 8" top and bottom borders. These were the measurements the customer gave me, based on a fleece throw she measured. The blocks will be 15" square. I think this will be a very boring quilt! I drew it up in EQ7, in color, and took the print-out to her so she would get a better understanding of what the quilt will look like. She stared at it for a bit and then said yes. Due to the fleece backing, I am going to machine stitch the binding to the back and flip it over and machine stitch it to the front; maybe using a feather stitch on my Bernina. I don't plan to handstitch the binding to the fleece backing. I showed this gal, her daughter and her SIL pictures of different t-shirt quilts, but they didn't like any of them, so they deisgned the one they want. I just hope they really do like it. I think it will be rather ugly due to how boring it will be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njquiltergirl Posted October 13, 2011 Report Share Posted October 13, 2011 Sounds like you have many hours in it already, Sandy. Seems like a $250 quilt to me. Keep track of your total hours - it will be interesting to see how long it takes. The more you make, the better you will be at estimating. Custom made quilts are not for every one. They take a lot of time to make and materials are not inexpensive. It also takes a lot of investment in machinery - how much do you have in your DSM, professional LA, templates, patterns, markers, cutting tools, thread?? It all adds up. You could have well over $20,000 in equipment and supplies, add to that the cost of instruction. It is just like a car repair business that has skilled workers with many years of experience and lots of tools and supplies needed to do the job right. Any one can get a cookie-cutter, low quality throw or bed covering at a walmart type store...but only we can make a beautiful, quality, custom made quilt. Be fair to you and your customer in your pricing. Just my two cents!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra Darlington Posted October 14, 2011 Report Share Posted October 14, 2011 Thanks, Lisa. I've done a few others from start to finish and just did the quilting on a numbers of others. The ones that I just did the quilting, I charged my regular price for the quilting deisgn the customer picked out. On the few that I did from start to finish, I charged by the hour for the piecing, then the quilting charge and then the binding charge, and added expenses to that figure. This giant 9-patch, I suppose should be the same pricing structure that I have used before. I was just curious to hear what others would charge, to see if I am in the right ball park, or not. I am wondering how to quilt this one, though. The other t-shirt quilts were not photographs, like these are. The 5 t-shirts are pictures of the deceased with his grandson (the quilt is for the 12 year old for Christmas, from his grandmother) and are a white background with a black & white picture. Then I have a solid red alternate blocks and a solid navy blue (thin poly) border. The only time I tried monofiliment thread on my LA, it was a disaster, so I gave the thread to a friend who loves to use it on her domestic machine. Any suggestions on the thread choice and quilting design? If I use white or off-white So Fine to do a loose meander on the picture t-shirts, do you think it would look OK, or detract too much from the pictures? I was thinking of using red thread in the red blocks and maybe using a CL spiral in them (if the customer likes the design). Then maybe I would do piano keys in the navy border, using matching thread. Also, SID around the blocks and between the body and the border. So, what do you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njquiltergirl Posted October 14, 2011 Report Share Posted October 14, 2011 Hi Sandra. Quilting depends on the customer. Does she want custom or all over? Mono or SF would be my choice. Not sure about the photos - good luck with them. Some are very thick as a brick, others are like nothing at all. Just like regular t-shirt printing, they vary. Post pix...should be a fun project for us to watch! Good luck with it all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra Darlington Posted October 15, 2011 Report Share Posted October 15, 2011 Hi Lisa, Maybe I should order some Mono and use that to outline the photos on the tee-shirts. I really don't want to go over the faces, even with a Mono, so I guess that leaves outling them, and maybe filling in around the edges of the photos. The tee shirts are not the rubbery stuff, so quilting them should not be a problem. I am just oncerned that I will distort the features if I stitch over them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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