How much do you charge?

[GERRY]

O.K. Judy L: In referance to that quilt you spoke about on page 1 the New York Beauty.

If you have worked 36 to 40 hr's. on a quilt, How much will the finale price be.

37 bobbins =_$_____ or

40 hr's. =_$_____ or

per sq.in. =_$_____

just a rough guess, if you don't mind PLEASE

I'm not really comfortable asking this, & the only reason I'm asking is that I'm a newbie & haven't charged anyone anything. The only other LAer I've spoken to, charges $0.01.5 for almost every thing, she does panto's mostly. My plan was to start out charging the same as she is until I can get really good at more costum work, & if I could see a break down of charges from a LAer who has been doing such wonderful work for a long time, them maybe I will understand the pricing approch a little better.

I hope you don't mind.

This has been a most interesting topic, I'll refer to it in the furture

[Bonnie]

MIGO--- your inquiry was regarding the thicker battings. Unless you are using a "Mountain Mist" FatBat the longarms don't have the problem you get with a domestic machine; we get a pretty equal stitch...I'm going to stick out my neck here and say that I think most of us use Hobbs 80/20, Warm and Natural and Dream Cotton or a good quality batting like this and we don't usually have to change our tensions, because of battings, now threads are a different story.

Dialing in tensions with batting isn't a really big issue with the LA's, the hopping foot or in my case my huge washer foot is set at a certain height from the base of our machines and we skim over the battings very easily....our machines are so powerful that we mash the fibers to actually thinner than you can with a domestic machine. Yes, we have to adjust our top and bobbin tensions for the different threads that we use, but its not because we aren't meeting in the middle its because our machines are so powerful that they pull the threads at a different speed. Some metalics drag where some cottons don't....some of the thicker cottons will drag where the others thinner ones don't, but that has nothing to do with the thickness of the batting. I agree with you that some threads do have a discrepancey between spools of the same color and manufacture, but again I don't believe that has anything to do with the thickness of the batting but how the spool is wound and how old it is.

Tish---I'm so sorry that you had a bad experience with a quilter, I would have been very angry with her, and to have her blame you, how rude. I have cut a customers quilt myself so I know it happens, but there were huge apologies and I even fixed the oops....This happened twice with the same customer and on two different quilts, when I first was getting started...I NEVER use a seam ripper now, I clip my threads that I need to remove with a pair of tiny scissors and can honestly say I haven't cut a quilt in over 7 years. I have to say it makes you so sick to your stomach when it does happen though. Keep practicing....they say what doesn't kill us does make us stronger, but remember this is to be fun so don't be so hard on yourself.

[JudyL]

Geraldine: Whew . . I hardly remember those two NY Beauty Quilts I did. That was back in 2002 and I can't remember what I did this morning, let alone 4 years ago!

I charge totally by the square inch. I don't charge by the hour or by the bobbins. I will add a thread change charge if there are multiple thread changes.

There's so much to consider when figuring how much you should charge and while I'm not giving advice on pricing to anyone, here are a few things to consider.

Set the rate that you're comfortable with and don't worry about what everyone around you is charging. I'm multitudes higher than anyone around me and for the most part, if the quilters want a show quilt done or something special, they call me. I was a piecer who sent my tops out to be quilted before I got my own machine so I appreciate a fair price. Suppose we're all happy making $30/hour. Quilter A has a mortgage on her machine and she has to charge $150 for a quilt in order to net $30/hour. Quilter B has no mortgage on her machine, and can charge $90 for the same quilt and net $30/hour

Be fair to yourself. Determine what you want to make and back it out from there to figure how much you need to charge. It's hard at first to guestimate how much time each quilt will take but it really does get better.

Don't be afraid to turn down a job that you know you will lose money on unless you feel it has advertising value. Maybe it's going to be in a show and you know the lady can't pay what it would cost to do what you think the quilt need but you feel having others see your work is worth something.

Always be fair with your customers. If someone comes to me with a quilt that is destined for a panto, I will tell them they can take it down the street where she charges .015 for a panto and does a darned good job. I'm going to charge .022 for a panto. Sometimes they'll thank me and take it elsewhere, sometimes they want me to do it.

I've been really blessed with the business I have. I think it's because I started back when there weren't quite so many of us longarmers. It can be kinda scarey when there are no quilts on the shelf waiting to be quilted but I do believe they will come.

More than you wanted to know I'm sure but I just met a deadline, almost a month early and I am so happy!!!!

[FowlManorQuilting]

Any business should maintain a profit and aquisition strategy. Your time is worth $so an hour, you have the cost of materials and maintenance and or payment of machinery and you have the need to aquire more neet stuff. Your charge should reflect every part of your strategy. If not you will be backing up or floating with out a current. This is expected in business, people expect to pay for what you offer them. I say let them and smile. A dollar earned is well spent.

GDT