charging for thread

[K. Szymaszek]

I would appreciate those in business weighing in on this. Do you charge for thread, if so, how do you charge. Have you ever had any customer complaints. I am finally putting my pricing to paper. Pricing is the absolute hardest thing about quilting for customers for me. I have not yet charged for thread but feel like I am cheating myself. I did a custom king and had $30.00 in bobbins in it. Maybe I'm looking at it all wrong.  Need input, please help! K

[witha'K'quilting]

I keep track of the bobbins used..and charge $1 per, with a minimum of $10 in thread. Nobody has complained yet.

[Janette]

I am probably out of the norm here, as I don't charge for thread unless it is cotton or variegated....  for my standard go to glide polyesters I don't charge, but inbuild it into my allover quilting prices...  If I have to order it in on a custom job though I charge about £5...  I am wondering if I should charge more, but it works at the moment for me....

[lindasewsit]

I charge $6 for thread .  Doesn't matter if the quilt is 90''x100'' or a placemat...  I have NEVER had anyone complain.  I just tell them up front that I charge $6 for thread, regardless the size.  Seems to work out well.  

[LinneaMarie]

I charge $10 for a large and $5.00 for a small. I also charge $5/per thread color change. No complaints here either.

[RoseCity Quilter]

$2.50 per bobbin no matter the thread type....

[JenniferBernard]

I charge per bobbin according to the kind of thread I use. When I started I actually wound a bobbin and then wrapped it around an 18 inch piece of cardboard to see how many yards were on a bobbin of the different threads I typically use. Then you have to double amount of thread for the top thread. I charge $.50 per bobbin of Sew fine from Superior, $1 a bobbin for The bottom Line because it is finer and a bobbin holds more. I think I charge $1.50 for variegated Kung Tut. I don't use much cotton thread. None of my customers complain since I tell them of the charge. So I add up quilting time ($15 per hour), thread charge and batting for my total quilting charge. My computer program to keep track of my business expenses and type invoices for each quilt has thread built right into it. Gosh ! I can't remember the mameof the program!! Senior Moment!

Yes! Machine quilters Business Management by Eureka Documentation! I can look it up on my I-pad when the "completely blank" moment comes!

[Barbara Conquest]

I don't charge for the first two colours of standard thread.  After that it's $2.50 - $5.00 per colour, leaning toward the latter if there are a lot of thread changes.  I charge $5.00 for each use of specialty threads -- variegated, metallic etc., -- if they're the main thread used on the quilt.  After reading the above posts, that seems a little under the going rate, but I think I'll leave my charges where they are at least for the time being. 

[mamu]

I charge $2 per bobbin...I use Magna bobbins which typically hold more thread thus less bobbin change.  I have never had anyone complain about the thread charge.  It seems to work out pretty good as some clients want dense quilting (more bobbins) and others want open designs (less bobbins) it evens itself out this way and seems to be a fair way to charge for what the client wants.  I don't charge by the thread type, just the bobbins used.

[LinneaMarie]

I was thinking about charging per bobbin instead of per square inch. It comes out to $25.00 to $30.00 per bobbin. Customers might not like to see it that way! hehehe

[lkl]

I’m in my first year of quilting for others so the following might change in time. 
 

I don’t charge for thread.  I buy most of my thread wholesale.  My quilting service charge is calculated by the square foot.  My customers seem to prefer the calculation based on $ per sq. ft. rather than a fraction of cents per sq. inch.  I mostly quilt E2E pantos making it fairly easy to give an accurate estimate of the cost.

I have a range of density pantos including budget designs that are less $ per sq. ft. than others because they are more open, hence less thread usage.  I do not charge for loading the quilt but I have a minimum charge of $50.  I charge sale
tax and usual apply a discount to the final cost, more if the batting or backing is purchased from me.  So far no complaints.

 

[K. Szymaszek]

Thank you all for sharing. I now know I am going to charge for thread. Does anyone else have a hard time charging for your services. I don't know what my problem is. When I was paying for longarm services, I didn't make a fuss. I just payed my bill. I must conquer this issue.

[ffq-lar]

Two dollars per bobbin for Bottomline pre-wounds.

Two dollars per bobbin for self-wounds.

$1.50 per bobbin for Fil-tec Magna-glides.

I figure the retail price per bobbin and double it to cover the top thread cost as well. Why the retail price and not the wholesale price? Because of the massive amount of money I have in thread inventory.

Before I was able to purchase a turbo-winder I was using my on-board winder on my Milli. It took me three minutes to wind a bobbin of Bottomline thread. If I needed ten bobbins it took me a half hour. I needed to be compensated for that time spent so that's where I got the self-wound price.

 

 While many quilters don't charge for thread (whether because of prevailing charges in their location or not wanting to deal with inventory calculations) what other industry will provide tangibles without charging? If you get a new windshield and they tell you the "threw in the gasket at no extra charge" you know the cost of the gasket is hidden in the price for the service. No way/no how is anything "free". So if you don't have a listed price for thread, make sure you're charging enough by-the-inch to make a reasonable profit.

 

A flat charge is great! But I've used as few as two bobbins on a quilt and as many as 24. I wonder if it all evens out? I'd rather charge for what's used and then everyone knows what it really costs.

 

My way works for me and at no time would I suggest that anyone change their process or prices.

I will add though--charging for thread used was my first step towards raising my prices when I was a newbie. 

Customers don't care how you charge as long as the quilts are beautiful and they're happy with your work!

[ffq-lar]

Thank you all for sharing. I now know I am going to charge for thread. Does anyone else have a hard time charging for your services. I don't know what my problem is. When I was paying for longarm services, I didn't make a fuss. I just payed my bill. I must conquer this issue.

 

Your confidence will grow as you progress and realize that yes, you can do this. Yes, you're darned good at it. And yes, you should charge enough that you make a reasonable profit from your efforts! It'll come slowly, but your customers will praise you and it gets easier.

[Butterfly]

I charge $5 per quilt and $7 for verigated. If its a large heavy custom job, I will double that.

[K. Szymaszek]

Thank you all for chiming in and thank you Linda for the pep talk. You are absolutely right.  K

[FloridaMissy]

I also charge for thread, $6 for plain color and $9 for varigated.  On a king size quilt or one that is densely quilted I will double that fee.  I might refigure though and charge per bobbin. 

I did have one customer complain.  She said I thought that was what I was paying you for and I politely told her no that paying me per square inch was my labor lost.  I also explained that ordering a special color for just one quilt at say $29 plus shipping she was getting a wonderful bargain.  She agreed.

[witha'K'quilting]

i just upped my bobbin price to $2 per. i feel like this price is more accurate to account for the top thread used. I will leave it this way for any thread that runs through my machine.

i just quilted a queen size quilt and charged $16 for thread, Might be a little steep, but then I can't always get a deal on the thread that i use.

[Bekah]

I have not charged for thread, I mean I do but I usually discount it off. Now I am thinking I better rethink this policy.