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What to Charge for Your Guild Fire Quilts???


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My guild has given me three quilts to do for the guild --- they are quilts that will be given to local families who have been victim to a fire - their house burning down.

Anyway, the guild says they want to pay me to quilt these quilts. Most of them are pretty big - King and Queen sized. But, I hesitate as to what to charge for these?? What do you charge for fire quilts for your guild? Help and advice are needed.

Here is a pic of a fire quilt I just finished today. It is freehand using a design from Darlene Epp\'s little pocket guide. The pattern is called Trillium Leaf. This freehand design went quickly and I was done with this king sized quilt in about an hour or so...

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Very pretty work, Shana. Our guild is hosting quilts for four Community Service projects this year, and for the group effort quilts only, I offered half off, whole sale for the batting, and no binding. They seemed very happy with that.. I probably will just refuse to cash the check.

We were in shirtsleeves today, clear skies most of the day and winds to 51 mph.. we thought one tree would go down over the back fence, but it\'s still standing.

Good Luck on those quilts, and God Bless,

RitaR

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Hi Shana,

As charitable as you are, please do not set a precedent and quilt those tops as a donation.

The guild expects to pay you, so maybe figure out the full-bore price (.015 an inch for that pretty E2E?) and then subtract a percentage discount. You get to decide how much--isn\'t that great!

Put it all in writing on a professional in-take sheet so the guild can see everything spelled out.

Or you can charge for the first two and donate the labor on the third, if you feel super-generous.

But do charge for thread, batting, etc.

It is good to know that they don\'t expect it all to be donated.

I am sure you do plenty for your guild and they love you back!

Also, great job on that pretty top--and aren\'t Darlene\'s books the best for inspiration? You are up and running, woman!

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Shana,

Beautiful quilting. I keep trying not to charge my guild either. Like they said they would have to pay for it if they took it to someone else. So I usually only charge about 50% of what my normal billing is. But I also show what it would be on the bill and discount it. So far that has worked just fine.

I can\'t believe that quilt didn\'t take you long. Great job. Like Shari asked when do we get to see the others?

Angela

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Great quilting, Shana.

Usually, I give them an invoice with the full amount listed and a charitable discount or donation...what ever you want to call it. That way I have a record for tax purposes. The amount of the donation is a personal decision for you, whether you want to be paid for some or most of your time and supplies, but what ever you decide it will set a precedent.

Cheryl

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Shana,

I\'m with everyone else. Give them a 50% discount. They would have to pay someone else and you will still be providing the majority dollar wise. Everyone who participates is contributing. You don\'t have to be the largest contributer and it would set a precedent. Then the guild would always expect you to do it for nothing. Give them an invoice with the total price and show the 50% discount. They should be happy with that. It shows how much you have contributed.

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Shana, I agree with some of the others, it IS your personal decision, just be sure to distinguish between the "charitable" quilts and other members who want a deal.

If it were me, I would give them a bill for the full amount with the discount I feel is best for the situation. That way "good will" is done, and everyone knows you have "donated" your part - and who knows, maybe you give a guild "discount" anyway.

Just feel proud of your work and how you handled it!

WE THINK YOU\'RE AWESOME!

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Thanks, my friends. You are sooooo very much "THE BEST!" :) I appreciate your candid advice.

The charity quilts I am doing are all large pantographs or quick/easy topstitching designs that do not take too much time and energy.

OK so this is what I have decided: I will measure the size of the quilt, and charge between .010 and.015 cents per inch. I will show this total on the invoice and then I will also show a discount of 50%.

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Very pretty Shana,

I am very impressed you did that freehand and so quickly too.....I am a newbie but do agree with the idea of a precedent being set...I am doing one for my mother-in-law for their church school and she said she\'d pay me, but she produced the quilt all by herself and if i do the long arming, it gives me free advertising....maybe I should somehow get money for doing it also? Don\'t want to charge my motherinlaw....Denise

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Hi Shanna, I am a newbie. I am waiting for my Lenni to arrive. I was noticing your location. I used to live at Eilson AFB just a few miles from you. It\'s been awhile. some 25 years. It was so awsome there. We saw Moose all the time. Such beautiful country. Winters way to long though. Your quilting looks wonderful. It\'s wonderful of you to donate time to your guild at a discount or for free of charge. I must say though if you charge them at lest something they are less likely to over abuse your generosity. I agree that you should be able to use it for a charitable tax deduction. Don\'t know the rules behind that one though.

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  • 2 weeks later...

To give a discount for a cause is sometimes a tough decission.

I, for myself, don\'t charge much and don\'t give discounts. With that said, I do donate my services for certain causes.

Right now I am donating my quilting for a womens\' live in rehab center. It is a Christian based service for the truly abused women of my area, and I just consider it a \'Right Thing\' to do.

If you feel that it is a \'Right thing\' to give of yourself, then my suggestion to give yourself away. You will never regrett giving yourself away. There is more in giving that you can receive than any money can buy you.

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I am conflicted about situations such as this.

I am new and haven\'t finished a quilt yet, but here is my 2 cents worth.

How much time did other guild members spend on this quilt? One block each? 2-3 hours? Did they have to pay thousands of dollars for a machine to make that single block? If you were doing this for a "real customer" how much would you charge? $100? $200? $300? Should you give away $150.00 worth of work if others only donated two or three hours of work? Will it get you new business? Just because you can do this, does that mean you should do it, but for minimum wage?

I don\'t have an opinion about what you should do (unusual for me! ! !) I just think you might want to think about all these questions.

Suze Orman on PBS tells women, "Don\'t put yourselves on sale." I think that\'s profound.

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