skg55 Posted August 12, 2013 Report Share Posted August 12, 2013 I have been asked to make (piece) and quilt a T-shirt quilt and I do not know what to charge for the piecing of it. She wants King size... didn't say how many blocks or T-shirts but enough to make a king size quilt..(it will be a qift that she is giving to her dad)... I need to get back to her with an estimate. I have made t-shirts quilts before but only for myself and close family... they are time consuming but rewarding.... Any help on pricing ???? Thanks so much everyone... Sue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted August 12, 2013 Report Share Posted August 12, 2013 Standard seems to be $15 per shirt. This usually includes prepping the shirts with fusible and cutting the blocks. Charge extra for materials and quilting. If you go online you can find commercial companies doing this very successfully. But it depends on how much you need to make. There are several quilters here who do this as a main part of their business and hopefully they'll chime in with FAQs and pricing hints. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NollR Posted August 12, 2013 Report Share Posted August 12, 2013 I charge $8 a block, but then charge separately for the interfacing, any fabrics used for sashings, borders, backing and batting. I use my normal quilting and binding charge. Any extras such as a hanging sleeve, label are also extra. This has worked out well for me as every t-shirt quilt I have done (and I make alot) is unique with different layouts, fabrics used etc. to match what the customer wants. Check out my Facebook page for quilts that I have done. Hope this helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BethDurand Posted August 12, 2013 Report Share Posted August 12, 2013 I'm with Linda. I charge $15 per shirt without sashing, $20 per shirt with. They provide the fabric for sashing, or reimburse me for it. I provide batting and backing of my choice, but they can provide their own, and I will discount that amount. I.e. I offer poly batt as a standard. If they want wool, they will be reimbursed the amount I paid for the poly. One thing I learned recently, the hard way, was to be clear about how much work is going into this. The prices I quote above are for a standard shirt. You take the shirts, trim them down, fuse them, and sew them into a quilt. I recently did one where it was "Take this part of this shirt and applique it to this shirt" repeatedly. This was a LOT of extra work that I didn't get paid for. Set limits up front as well. Bringing me shirts with zippers and expecting me to be able to fuse those with the zipper intact isn't going to work. From now on, I'm charging an extra $1.50 per seam for everything. If a shirt needs to be pieced to another shirt, or 4, that's $1.50 for each and every seam. Same if something is to be appliqued on. I then quilt them with an large, loose E2E meander in monopoly thread. That way I can control what part is being stitched. No need to be stitching over the 15 extra layers of appliqued stuff if necessary. Yes, I learned a lot of that last quilt. She wants me to make 2 more. Oh joy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skg55 Posted August 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2013 Thanks everyone for your help... will let you know how it turns out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LFQuilts Posted August 13, 2013 Report Share Posted August 13, 2013 My experience has been that people's eyes glaze over when you give them complicated pricing - so much per block but then you have to pay for materials, batting, quilting, binding, etc. People who quilt or craft understand all of the separate charges; non-quilters just want a price. Of course, you have to have control over materials to be able to give a flat price per shirt. I end up charging between $20 and $25 per shirt depending on the quality of backing, sashing, and border fabric. Check out www.campusquilts.com. Their per shirt block charge decreases as the number of shirts increases. In some ways that makes sense - you have a certain amount of set up time regardless of the number of shirts. Keep careful records of time and materials for the first few quilts you make. You will get a sense of what to charge going forward. Lynn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinneaMarie Posted August 13, 2013 Report Share Posted August 13, 2013 I usually charge .07/psi and that includes EVERYTHING! Sashing, batting, backing, interfacing, and binding done by machine on both sides. It sounds cheap, but when you figure it out ; it's kind of expensive. I only ask that the Tees are clean when they hand them over. Then I fuse to interfacing and cut. I have made 4 of these for the same family. One was a Boy Scout remembrance wall hanging and 2 queen size bed quilts, plus a Florida vacation memory quilt. The big ones were in the $500. range. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LFQuilts Posted August 14, 2013 Report Share Posted August 14, 2013 LineaMarie, Your pricing on the large quilts may even be on the low side. Your customers have gotten a good deal from you. Lynn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calicokat Posted August 14, 2013 Report Share Posted August 14, 2013 Just this year I started doing these, and I must be on the high side - I charge $25 per shirt. They bring me a stack of freshly washed and dried shirts, I give them back a finished quilt. However, I do custom quilting on the front - matching threads for each shirt, variety of fills for different blocks. I also use a 3.5 inch sashing between blocks with a 6.5 inch outer border around the quilt. So they get a really nice sized quilt when done. I also flip the binding and sew it by hand - I stink at doing that part by machine! The only down side to this is if the quilt is wonky or wavy anywhere . . . . . I can only blame myself unfortunately! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoAnnHoffman Posted August 15, 2013 Report Share Posted August 15, 2013 Thanks for asking. I needed the answer. I think $25.00 is reasonable considering it is a completely finished quilt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bliss Quilter Posted August 16, 2013 Report Share Posted August 16, 2013 I too thnk $25 per T-shiirt/block is reasonable is a good price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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