Bonnie Posted September 23, 2008 Report Share Posted September 23, 2008 Originally posted by PattyJo that's OK Bonnie - If you thought that I could even remotely do that, I'll take it as a compliment. HaHa :cool: Then do so....that's how it was meant.:cool: Just a bit more work than I personally would want to put into a quilt...mine or someone elses... i get lazy at times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindasewsit Posted September 23, 2008 Report Share Posted September 23, 2008 Linda Rench and Debbi, I would love to have your info!!! Thanks!!! and thank all of you who chimmed in about the cost!! I'm still trying to figure all of this out!!! linda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted September 23, 2008 Report Share Posted September 23, 2008 Here ya go! I use pre-wound BottomLine mostly. The retail on these is around 50 cents each or so (I don't pay retail). My thread charge is $1 per bobbin used. The dollar charge also pays for the top thread used. If I wind my own bobbins using King Tut or Signature, the charge is the same. There is a lot less thread on the bobbin, but this pays for the time it takes me to wind them all. I throw the cardboard bobbin empties in a bowl to keep track, or mark on the intake as I wind my own. No one has ever questioned the thread charge. It amounts to several dollars a top and gives you a reason to buy more thread! My newbie year was when I took classes at Longarm University. One of my instructors did exactly as Debbi does--she kept a spreadsheet of her entire inventory. She wound a bobbin of each different type of thread, measured it, and charged for thread by the yard. It's pretty impressive to hand out an intake sheet with the notation that 1500 yards of thread were used. Remember, this is top and bottom thread added together. So using my pricing guideline of $1 per pre-wound with 100 yards on it---one cent a yard--this is for both top and bobbin thread. So a 1500 yard quilt would have a thread charge of $15.00. That sounds very reasonable to me! The only down-side to this method is that for tax purposes you must keep meticulous records. You must track every yard on a cone so you know how much is left. And then figure the difference between the wholesale price of the thread used and the retail price you charged the customer. With EVERY cone you use. And that difference in the wholesale/retail is taxed as profit. I spend way too much time on the computer as it is--this way is not for me--but it is a great tool to show you exactly where you are in your business. I bet Debbi has a great accounting/inventory program that tracks it all for her. What do you use, Debbi? This is my thought--that thread charge is one of the few ways you can raise your prices. When all the competition is charging the same amount for the same service you are locked in and have no where to raise your prices without raising your by-the-square-inch charge. No one wants to pay you .02 a square inch for an E2E when everyone else is charging .015. That thread charge may be 5 bucks a top, but six tops will get you a couple of cones of thread! Does that make sense? Many longarmers have freebies in their service including no thread charge or free batting. I think that just eats into a locked-in price and you are undercutting any profit that way. But the wonder of all this is that YOU GET TO DECIDE!! Yay!! I hope this helps a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dtreusch Posted September 23, 2008 Report Share Posted September 23, 2008 Ok gals. Here is the spreadsheet that I built. I built it after measuring the number of yards in a bobbin for each type of thread that I have. For purposes of posting this sheet, I changed the retail prices on the sheet to the price that Superior, YLI, etc shows on their web sites. Let me also say that I DO NOT count or calculate how much thread is used by each quilt. I let MQ Business Manager do that for me. I only count the number of bobbins. In MQ Business Manager I have the spreadsheet information entered into the "Add Services Charged" drop down list. I entered it here instead of the "Threads' drop down list because it is more flexible. So when I do a quilt, all I have to do is enter the number of bobbins used for the thread type I used and then enter the amount of thread used on top and it is calculated for me. We had someone from the Iowa sales tax offices come to our longarm guild last year. We talked about at length that in Iowa, the invoice is supposed to show the amount of thread and batting that is used. They also said, that it's not likely you will get audited if the invoice doesn't show the amount. Anyway, I switched to this method shortly thereafter. Prior to that I was charging pretty much like Linda Rech does. Anyway, here's the spreadsheet for anyone to download and use as you see fit. Debbi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramona-quilter Posted September 23, 2008 Report Share Posted September 23, 2008 OK, Debbi, I have to ask. Why is a bobbin of Rainbows more expensive than a bobbin of King Tut? Is it the PITA factor for Rainbows? I have been struggling with thread charges for a few months. I had so much thread, over 250 cones, last year so I suspended my thread charge. Yeah, I know, dumb. But like Linda Rech says, it is my business and I get to make the rules. So about 4 months ago, I put a note on each invoice that the thead charge was coming back in the fall. I was leaning toward $1 a bobbin. Well, here we are in autumn. I wanted to try a per bobbin charge because that seems more fair and accurate for your work. At first, I tried just keeping the empties in a separate bowl and count them when I was done. But then I started doing a lot of Suzanne Earley's Meandering Magic. I love those and so do my customers. But it uses a lot of thread. Gammill bobbins are $3.00 each (though I just found a place that only charges $1.10 (.35 cents for APQS)) so I only had about 15 (now more). I did one of those Feather Meanders and used 14 bobbins of Signature cotton on it. I only know it was 14 because I only had 1 left. LOL. Now my machine will keep track of the number of bobbins per quilt and that is a great tool but only if you remember to use it. Thus the separate bowl procedure. 14 bobbins X 200 yds per bobbin = 2,800 yds for bottom only. So 5,600 yds for one quilt. So at $1.00 per bobbin, the thread charge would be $14.00. Some of my customers would croak if they saw that on their bill. But the irony is that retail on replacing that 6,000 yd cone of Signature cotton is $20.95 (redrockthreads.com). So what do I do, charge $2.00 a bobbin? And how is that fair for the quilter who just has a lap quilt done that only needs 3 bobbins? I have listened to the methods of quilters that I respect here and I think that for a person who has difficulty keeping track of the number of bobbins I use, I need to have a regular thread charge, like $5.00 and a Feather Meander thread charge of $1.50 a bobbin. YIKES! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dtreusch Posted September 23, 2008 Report Share Posted September 23, 2008 A bobbin of Rainbows is more expensive per bobbin than King Tut because the bobbin holds about twice as much thread. The actual price of Rainbows per yard is less than King Tut. Confusing? This works great for me, because I have the information in MQ Business Manager and let it do the calculations. Linda - I've done the meandering magic on several quilts and don't use near that much thread. I did a queen size awhile back and only used 5 prewound bobbins @ 112 yards per bobbin. So that is 1120 yards total. Less than half of what you are using. Are you making it pretty small? Debbi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PattyJo Posted September 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2008 I hate to interupt the thread discussion, but I do have an idea on how to quilt this. I would like a yea or nea from you quilting diva's out there. I found a feathered heart that I could put into the center corner of the 4 block design so that there are 4 feathered hearts coming together in the center of the knots. Then the small vine with a leaf in the sashings. I just think that to do SID on all of the geometric lines would make this quilt a very masculin looking quilt for a wedding quilt. She said she wanted it to be an heirloom quilt. What do you think of that?:cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dtreusch Posted September 24, 2008 Report Share Posted September 24, 2008 I'm sorry Patty Jo. I didn't mean to hijack your thread. As far as the quilting designs, I think your plan sounds good. However, I would make sure that you have batting with enough poof to see the hearts over the geometric lines. Otherwise, I think the feathered heart might get lost. If you echo around the feathered heart it will also help it to pop out. Debbi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judi Posted September 24, 2008 Report Share Posted September 24, 2008 Patty Jo - I was thinking the same thing - a Feathered Heart in each block - meeting at the points / center. Since that is what the customer wants.... Personally - I would rather see the SID like on the link Bonnie posted, that is how I see a quilt like this needing to be done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted September 24, 2008 Report Share Posted September 24, 2008 Patty Jo, No Diva here but I think a feathered heart would get lost in the design and also detract from the knot design. Just my humble opinion. Maybe with the right batting like Debbi said you'd be able to see it better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PattyJo Posted September 24, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2008 OK, I'll check with my customer and give her the 2 options, Feathered hearts (or as my mouth slipped telling my DH, heathered farts) or SID with micro/McT or ?? to nail down the background. I understand the reason for the SID, just not sure that is what would represent a quilt for her daughter or not. Thanks for all the input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCramer Posted September 24, 2008 Report Share Posted September 24, 2008 Like your idea for the quilt Patty Jo, really cracked up about the heathered farts, how do you make something (farts) somewhat discussting, sound pleasant. Maybe that's what all women should call our farts from now on, they're "heathered"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judi Posted September 25, 2008 Report Share Posted September 25, 2008 Patty Jo - Let us know what she choose to go with..... I hope the SID!!! I think it is perfect for her daughter - Lover's knot and all. Maybe in the yellow sashing do a loopy meander with Hearts in it instead of the leaves? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramona-quilter Posted September 25, 2008 Report Share Posted September 25, 2008 PattyJo and Martha - ROFLMAO. Heathered farts. So is that stencil available at the Stencil Co.?:P:P Debbi - I think I need some recliner time to see exactly how much Signature cotton goes on a Gammill bobbin. After you said that you only used 5 prewounds, it made me think. If you only get 38 yds of KT on an APQS bobbin, maybe I only get about 76 yds instead of 215 yds. Hey, if I send you some KT, Signature and So Fine bobbins, will you measure them for me? I'll be your BFF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie Posted September 25, 2008 Report Share Posted September 25, 2008 Suppose you took a spool of whatever thread you wanted to measure and wound the entire spool on bobbins. Divide the yards on the spool by the number of bobbins used and you have the answer to the question of how many yards on a bobbin. You aren't wasting thread because you would use the bobbins anyway......... It just seems easier to me than un-spooling a bobbin and wasting that thread. And to keep this post on topic for Patty Jo.... I have quilted a few Celtic Knot quilts. Anything quilted over the Knots won't show. You could easily do some SID alternatives (Jodi Robinson, I believe) or some nice side to side sashing quilting (Diana Phillips books) to give texture without actually doing a tight background fill in the background. Just some other ideas....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dtreusch Posted September 25, 2008 Report Share Posted September 25, 2008 Linda - no way will I measure thread for you!! I did this once and don't intend to do it again unless I add a new type of thread. What is a BFF? Laurie - The only thread wasted was winding the bobbin one time. After that, I had my answer. I have 5-6 types of thread and wound 1 bobbin of each. The most on a bobbin was 100 yards of bottom line. Maybe $2 all together in wasted thread for the 5-6 bobbins. Not a whole lot of waste and I never have to do it again. Patty Jo - Let us know what you decided to do on this quilt!! Debbi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judi Posted September 25, 2008 Report Share Posted September 25, 2008 Oh Debbi - Couldn't you just re-wind the bobbin if you are careful of knots? Just kidding!!!! I would cut it up and toss it out for the birdies in the spring... they like that stuff for their nests - right?!? I would just wind another one too. Oh - and you can never have enough bobbins thats forsure!! I do perfer to use prewounds, they hold so much and are wound just right - nice and tight. Oh and BFF means = Best Friends Forever!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PattyJo Posted September 25, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2008 I've sent my customer an e-mail and I think they are out of town till next week, so probably won't hear from her until then. I'll post what she thinks. I gave her the 2 main options, feathered hearts or SID & nail down the background. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PattyJo Posted September 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2008 Ok, I've heard from my customer and she wants the SID with stitching down the background - I'm not a whiz kid with rulers, but I guess I'll give it my best shot. I was thinking of McTavishing in the background. Also What would you charge per sq inch to do that? I was thinking 2 1/2 per sq in but is that too much? Let me know what you all think. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonnie Posted September 26, 2008 Report Share Posted September 26, 2008 I wouldn't think so...and in my area, I think I might even go 3. McTavishing is a heavy thread drain and SId is major custom work so...I guess you know better of what your area is doing right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PattyJo Posted September 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2008 Thanks Bonnie - I'm thinking as you said, that 2 1/2 might not be enough - It is a King size quilt and I know that this is going to take some time. I'll need to get a bunch of thread at Innovations and will probably get the batt up there as well. She wanted Warm & Natural but it only comes 90" so would have to piece the batt. I'd rather get a batt that is full width so I wouldn't have to mess with seaming it. I know that this has been discussed many times before but does anyone have any recommendations on a 100% cotton batt that would be at least 105" wide? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dtreusch Posted September 26, 2008 Report Share Posted September 26, 2008 Hi Patty Jo. I wouldn't use warm and natural with McT. My experience with it is that it tends to get stiff with heavy quilting. How about the Hobbs heriloom or Hobbs 80/20? They both come in sizes wide enough for a king. I would also charge at least 3 cents per inch with all of the ruler work and you will have lots of stops and starts. Please post some pictures for us when it's done!! Debbi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bekah Posted September 27, 2008 Report Share Posted September 27, 2008 Patty I agree with the 3 cents. that is going to be a lot of ruler work. Your McTavishing is super so I would go with that. Can hardly wait to see this beauty finished. you can get warm and whith or warm blend which is 50/50 124 inch widths. I have used the warm and white and like it a lot. I also have used their warm and bright and it also comes in the wide width and you can get most of these at JoAnnes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Judi Posted September 28, 2008 Report Share Posted September 28, 2008 Patty Jo - Good news!! I am glad she is going with the SID!!! I would use Hobbs Poly down lite to get a little more "puff" in the un-quilted areas, it is 108" wide. The 80/20 is so flat, or maybe something from Quilter's Dream.... I just carry the Hobbs here. If you get the 3 cents - then Yes! You will be spending a bunch of time (and thread!!) on this baby! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PattyJo Posted September 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2008 I got an e-mail from my customer and she is going to go with a blend batting. Thank God for that. She also only wants micro stippling, so this will be done in short 10 to 15 min time slots once the SID is done. And how would you do this, All the SID then mircro , then roll - or - Sid the whole quilt, roll back up and then do the micro work? I think that just so that my muscles would get a bit of a break, I should do all the SID & micro, then advance, etc to the bottom. Let me know what you think. I think I'll have to go into training on this one. You know, the theme to Rocky playing in the background, put on my sweats, maybe the all sport training shoes, towel around my neck, and Bill in the family room yelling "Pat, Pat" Do you think that will work. You know that rulers are not my friends and now look at what I've gotten myself into!!!!! YIKES :cool: Did I say this is a King Size????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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