Questions about calculating CQ quilting costs...

[TinaCollins]

Here's my post from last year (in the "Chat About Anything" forum) that I am copy/pasting below to answer the question of how to calculate costs for CQ quilting:

Here's how I figure the pricing...

On edge to edge quilting-

After sizing the pattern for the desired scale and quilt top dimensions, the CQ tells you how long it takes to sew each row and the number of (rows) passes needed. Add 5 minutes to each row for cleaning/changing the bobbin, and multiply by the number of rows. Use the calculator on the CQ computer.

For example if I am doing an 85 by 85 inch quilt with an E2E pattern that takes 42 minutes each row and the quilt needs 7 rows:

47 x 7 = 329 (actual quilting time in minutes)

329 / 60 (minutes) = 5.483 hours

Okay, I always round up to whole hours so....

6 hours x $25 (or what ever you want to earn per hour) = $150 charged for this quilt

Now, I take this amount and divide by the total square inches of the quilt to come up with the price per square inch for this pattern at this scale -

Which is $150 / 7225 (85 x 85 inches) = $0.0207

Round up to $0.021 per square inch and enter this info on the Notes page for this pattern quilted at this approximate size for future reference.

For custom inset designs:

Figure the size of the motifs needed and note the time to sew-out (Don't forget to round up the time) Multiply by the times the motif is needed and use the same process to figure price per square inch.

There will be times that you have to figure the quilting times for several different motifs and border treatments and add them together.... so also add some extra time for your estimate calculations to the bill too.

I know this probably sounds very complicated written out step by step... but before too long this pricing stuff becomes second nature and even the most complicated quilts can be accurately estimated in a matter of minutes.

Clear as mud.... right??? -LOL!!!!-

***Don't forget to add the price per square inch (for E2E) and price per design (for motifs, borders, etc) on the Notes page for each design so that you will automatically know what to charge for every other quilt from that point on... :cool:

[smorris]

Hi tina

Thanks for reposting that information especially the last paragraph. Although the pricing is a little different in Australia your methods are very useful.

Happy Christmas to you and your family

sue in Australia

[Myrna Ficken]

Tina, Where have you been?

[TinaCollins]

Hi Myrna!!

I\'ve been busy traveling all over setting up CompuQuilters!!! :P

I have also been teaching freehand in quilt shops with longarms, but I\'m home until Dec. 26th- So y\'all might be hearing more from me in the next week!! LOL!!

Soooooo....How is the busiest longarm teacher (this would be you) in the world doing????

[kathymartinez]

Hi Tina,

When calculating my time, especially with CQ, I find I spend an hour to clean the machine and load a fairly big quit. I couldn\'t believe it took this much time, but I\'ve kept track 3 times and it\'s pretty consistent.

It also takes me considerable time to design a custom quilt.

What about stitch in the ditch for customs. I seem to always add this because they just don\'t look really good without it. If you are charging only by the stitch out time for borders and motifs, you may not be doing SID.

I do know one thing, I am spending way too much time/quilt, but can\'t figure out how to decrease it. I\'m not making minimum wage.

[Myrna Ficken]

LOL I don\'t think so Tina. I am feeling a little useless right now.

Good for you. If you are in my area let me know and we can get together.

Myrna

[yeoldeforest]

Hi Tina,

Thanks for the info. Good...I was relatively getting my price right from your info before!

Glad you are staying busy!!!

So when are you coming to NC to teach us freehand quilting techniques???

By the way, we have been very busy since your assistance in setting our CQ back in July! Thank you for all of your tips and techniques and letting me ask you a million and one questions while you were a "captive" audience!

I do have a "newbie" question...do most of the long armers who use CQ for pantos tend to do the heavier quilting designs or more of a light or medium quilting design for their customers? We have been leaning towards the lighter or medium quilting panto designs with our services. My prices have been a lot lower based on the density of the design and I am not competing on any level with the "custom" quilters. We are getting customers so I am assuming this is what my customers want.

Guess it depends on pricing and what the customer wants as always but would love to hear feedback from the experts who have had a lot of CQ quilting experience. What pantos are the most popular? What are the majority type of quilting for owners of CQ? Do most CQ owners do pantos - and if pantos is the quilting light to medium or more medium to heavy or are custom orders the norm for CQ owners? So many questions but I am curious so if anyone is willing to share please do so.

Happy Holidays!!!

[TinaCollins]

Triple Dang It!!!!:mad:

I just spent over half an hour typing out the answers to everyone\'s questions and I somehow lost the post!!! I am using a new lap-top with the pressure sensitive finger pad- which I evidently do NOT have a flipping grasp on yet!!! I was typing my heart out and swoosh---- It was gone!!!

I will answer the questions tomorrow evening, although I\'m sure it won\'t be nearly as good as the lost one! LOL!!

I have to teach again all day tomorrow, so I\'ll be getting up at about 6:30 and it is already past 1:30- Not good, especially since I am NOT a happy early bird ... Who cares about a stupid worm anyway????

It\'s been really nice talking with everyone again... Type at you later!!!;)