Jeanne4378 Posted November 25, 2007 Report Share Posted November 25, 2007 I am a new long arm owner and starting a business part time (full time RN). I already have an order for a quilt from scratch, for one of my collegues. He wants a "frog" 60"X72" quilt for his granddaughter. I have purchased the fabric--$64.00. At $.015 per square inch the actual quilting will be $65.00 He wants a frog panto which I will have to purchase at $16.50. The top is fairly easy, one I have done before with 12" solid squares and 12" triangle squares. A total of 30 squares. my question is what total should I charge? I told him that it would be less than $300.00. Help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bsktsn3cats Posted November 25, 2007 Report Share Posted November 25, 2007 I just did one for someone. I charged $.06 per sq. inch plus I charged for fabric. She was happy and didn\'t mind paying my price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted November 25, 2007 Report Share Posted November 25, 2007 Hi Jeanne-- Let\'s do the math-- $64--fabric $65--quilting $16.50--panto (you may want to exclude the panto cost if you think you will use it again for a customer) Your time to do the piecing? Do you think 4 or 5 hours for an easy design? Is $10 an hour enough? Let\'s do $15----$75. $66--binding (I charge $3 a foot for start-to-finish binding.) $10--batting? I get a total of $296.50--so $300 would definitely be in the ballpark. Then there may be sales tax, I guess. How fun for you as a newbie--you get to do it all from start to finish. As a professional, present the customer with a professionally printed (on your computer) estimate listing all of the above charges--include everything and the estimated cost for each (don\'t break down the labor for piecing to a by-the-hour cost--just put down a total for that. No one who doesn\'t quilt has any idea how long piecing takes or how much it is worth!) Then get a grand total and figure out what percentage discount you will offer this friend--whatever it takes to get the cost down to under $300. You will be a hero because to have come in under the original verbal quote. And they will see what a good deal they have gotten. And you will have made money with your skills, talent, and that new machine! In reality, for what you are doing, $300 seems a very reasonable price--you are earning a reasonable amount and you are not gouging the customer. Usually from-scratch quilts are money losers--you can never make what it is really worth. There are too many cheap and cheaply-made imported "quilts" in the stores for people to have an idea of what goes into a premium quilt. Good luck and have fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted November 25, 2007 Report Share Posted November 25, 2007 Jeanne, Linda gives very good advice. I\'m doing my first customer quilt right now and it is for a friend...very good friend. I did way more on her quilt than I would on a customer quilt so when I do her invoice I\'ll show the actual price, so she can share that number with her friends, and then her price with a great discount! She\'ll be thrilled and I won\'t have to worry that she shows her friend what I\'ll do for $100! Heidi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenscratch Posted November 25, 2007 Report Share Posted November 25, 2007 I have done two start to finish quilts for customers, and have another lady asking about one. I charge whatever I paid for all the fabric, batting, thread, etc. $10 per hour for cutting and piecing the top (I keep a written record of the time). Then regular quilting and binding fees on top of that. I know it\'s probably not enough, but it\'s all I can get around here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeanne4378 Posted November 28, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 Thanks everyone for all the advice. I like the idea ofd the invioce and discount. Jeanne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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