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RRRR - need to vent


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Got a call from a nice lady last night. She wants a baby quilt done and turned around (baby born 3 weeks ago) & needs me sew the binding on too. I was very good and asked all the right questions so i could give her a ball park estimate.

I think she had a minor stroke when I told her the esitmate. I have a minimum price for size, and then any hand work I do is at a premium. geez!! SHe said she needed to talk to her husband. I don't think she'll call back - but doesn't she really think people do this for free????

Okay I am better now!

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Guest Linda S

Yes - stick to your guns. You want to wait until you get the customers who don\'t flinch at all when you tell them the price. That\'s starting to happen to me and I just love it. It is so nice to be paid for all the work you put into a quilt.

Linda

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If she had to hire a plummer she would pay him!! My DH is the worst, if I tell him a new customer called, but when I quoted a price they acted like they needed a ventilator...he tells me he thinks I should lower my price so the work will come in...No...I am not going to undercut the other quilters in my area just to get all the business. He has also suggested I have a flat fee, $50 Full size..yada yada...no way!! Now I only tell him when I get a commitment, not the other phone calls. I have about 8 customer quilts presently. It seems when one goes out, one comes in. Sometimes I am up to 15, sometimes 5. That is okay with me. I feel like I can accomplish something at that rate. But I am not going to lower my prices or try to do something for people to "make their hobby affordable" - I like that - I think I will make a poster and put in on my wall!!

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I wish Rod would look at it that way. I raised my prices at the first of the year because I was lagging behind all the other quilters in our area. One of them works part-time at the LQS and she asked what I was charging for my minimum price, I told her .01/sq in, she said that I needed to raise it, everyone else was at .015/sq in....ya think she just told me that so I would out price myself :D oh, boy, just thought of that I was typing...

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Statistically speaking more woemn than men are afraid of setting realistic prices or even raising lagging ones. Not keeping up is one of the leading causes for women to lag behind as wage earners. Many women when asked say that they are afraid that if they tell a customer their rates go up, that they will loose the customer.

What women fail to realize more than men, is that your relationship with your customer is based more on their comfort and trust of you and your service than the amount of your service.

Customers are relatioships not just price points.

My DH and I just had a confirm of this about 6 weeks ago. Our financial planner set out on their own. OUr fees were going to go up slightly, but they are so focused on us and our goals and needs that it is worth every penny!

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Hi to all!

I met with a lady yesterday about quilting one of those embroidered whole cloth kits. (She does lovely embrodery work BTW.) She\'s completed 2 others kits similar to this one & has had a woman hand-quilt them following the little blue dots on the fabric. Her hand quilter is no longer in the area, so she\'s looking to have this top machine quilted (unless she can find somone to hand quilt it for her)... same method, following those little blue dots. There are some feathery motifs in a section, cross-hatching in the center & a piano-key border. In addition to the quilting, she also wants a binding put on or, the older method of finishing, the outer edge brought around to the front & turned under. She really has no preference for finishing, just that she doesn\'t care to do that part--she\'s only an embroiderer!

This will be a custom job, as following the little blue dots will be intense work. To make it somewhat easier, however, the channel locks can be engaged for the piano key border & the quilt can be turned to do the same in the cross-hatched areas. I\'m not sure what to charge for finishing the edges. Is $.25/linear inch too much to charge for making the binding, machine stitching it onto the quilt top, then folding it over & hand stitching it down? If the outer back edge was just brought over to the front & folded under and then stitched down, what would be an appropriate charge for that service? Will provide her quotes with both services, so she has a choice of one or the other.

Thanks to all who have suggestions on these charges! Also, if anyone has suggestions about quilting one of these tops, I\'m anxious to hear what you have to say about them.

Pat

AZ:cool:

Mille

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I have a quilt top waiting to be quilted.. the blocks were all embroidered and have the blue marks.. I plan to do it myself, but have doubts that the blue will wash out.. If it will, I\'ll quilt it the way I want, it is my personal quilt, but if not, I\'ll follow those lines as best I can.

Does anyone have an idea if the preprinted marks will wash out?

As for the binding. that price doesn\'t sound too high to me, considering all you will be doing with it, start to finish.

RitaR

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I believe that the blue will wash out. I\'ve had friends who have spilled milk on the not yet embroidered design and had to fill in the disappeared area. Also a block left in an area that the sun hits, causes disappearing markings.

Is there a corner of the project that has a small L shape printed on it for framing reference? Maybe you can see if that will wash out. Or just select a design that you don\'t really want to quilt in that manner and see if it comes out with water by hand.

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The newer blocks, the blue will come out, but I dont mess with it, I didnt put it on the quilt therefore I wont take it off the quilt. The embroidered quilts really need to be soaked in cold water after the quilt is complele...it seems to me that the blue runs if removed like we do the blue markers, so , the soaking gives it more time to come out. Maybe someone else has a better idea.. I guess you need to tell the customer to soak it..and really they generally come in with food stains etcl on them too, so they really need to be cleaned.

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Fabric007....sorry you were offended by our getting off on to a different topic while talking...you do that in regular converation as well so why should it be any different here.

Rita....as long as your pre-printed quilt patterns are POST 1987 you will have no trouble getting the blue dots off your quilt blocks....the post dated ones are basicly the same blue as we use in our quilting, and as long as they haven\'t been ironed with a hot iron you shouldn\'t have any trouble with just a regular wash in your regular machine.

Now if its dated between 1974 to 1987 then you will have to soak the daylights out of it and it may even need to be soaked seveal times before they totally come out and if you happen to have some really really old stuff from the time of early stamping in the 50\'s to the mid 70\'s you will NEVER get them out. They were permanent, and that is why we were taught to take tiny tiny stitches to cover them in case they did show....

Remember to take pictures...I would love to see it....I personally think these are pretty.

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RE: the binding question: I have separate prices for cutting ($.05 per linear inch for straight, .08 for bias); attaching by machine ($.05); and hand finishing ($.10 per linear inch). This is for fabric supplied by the customer. If you have to supply the fabric, charge accordingly for that. I will not finish binding by machine, I can\'t make it look good enough to satisfy me. In some areas you no doubt could charge more but I don\'t think the market would support that here. I think your price of $.25 is very fair. Some people prefer to do the handwork themselves, if only to be able to say that they put some stitches on be hand for a gift for a loved one, so I give them the choice.

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Thanks, Catherine. Was hoping that I was somewhere in the ballpark. This lady doesn\'t want to do any more of the work on this quilt top; she\'s done her embroidery & now she\'s done with it. She just wants someone else to complete it.

Think I\'ll quote the $ .25/linear inch for a separate binding, one on which I make the binding, sew it on one side of the sandwich by machine, then hand-stitch it down on the other side. Then, if she wants an alternative, will offer to bring the backing around to the front, stitching that down by machine & charging $ .10/linear inch for that service. She\'ll have a choice in the cost of the finished project. Don\'t think there\'s much room for negotiation on the quilting--it\'s custom, plus the quilt will have to be turned a couple of times for cross-hatching and the piano keys in the border.

Thanks to all who had opinions & suggestions on this thread. Your thoughts were most helpful!

Great day to all!

Pat

AZ:cool:

Mille

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I thank everyone for the answers.. since they are relatively new, meaning 2-3 years.. I think the blue should not be a problem.

I didin\'t mean to horn in on a chain of thought going on.. just the mention of the embroidered piece brought the question to mind, and I do have a lot of brain burps.

Good luck with the quilt Pat.

RitaR

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I charge .18 per linear inch for 1/2 service (I sew down, they hand finish) and .35/lin in. for full service. Double that for scalloped borders. Yes, I have customers who after hearing that decide they want to do it, but it is very time consuming (the hand part) so you have to make it worth your while. Don\'t flinch on pricing. I have been learning that the hard way, just like the previous post. I have probably lost a customer or 2 due to price, but that\'s OK. I don\'t like feeling angry and resentful about putting a whole bunch of work into something and basically getting $1.00 an hour. Might as well sell the machine and go back into the work force. NOT.

Robin

Vista, CA

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