How to price a quilt is such a hot topic and does seem to get everyone very hyped up and of course everyone has an opinion on this.
When I first begun my quilting journey 4 years ago, I was making quilts and just giving them to family and friends that had admired them when I was in the process of making them. They just had a say they liked the colour and that one would have their name on it!
Once everyone in the family had a quilt, I was still churning quilts out and the bed in the spare room looked like something out of ‘The Princess and the Pea’, but I was having fun and loved my new hobby that I just kept going and tried to learn a new technique with each quilt that I made. I could also see how my workmanship had improved with each quilt that I made too.
I sold a few quilts to friends and family that they gave as gifts to others, this helped keep the pile down a little.
Then I made a personalised quilt for a newborn baby, with the baby’s name and birth date on it, suddenly no one wanted to buy my already made quilts anymore, they all wanted personalised bespoke quilts.
I knew early on that quilting for me would be a long term hobby, it is not a business and is not something that I will be making a living from, so I decided that my prices would reflect that.
However, as all quilters know, the materials needed for a quilt do not come cheap.
I have seen charts on various quilters groups showing that a quilt is worth hundreds of pounds, sometimes thousands and how they come to that price. But realistically who is going to pay that price and how many would they sell at that price?
So how do I price a quilt???
The Fabric
I buy my fabric from shops and shows in the UK, online and abroad, and the prices vary from £3.50 per metre to £30.00 per metre. I was lucky enough to find a shop a 40-minute drive away where I buy my solids for £5.00 a metre and they are 96 inches wide, ideal for backing.
The Design
If someone is buying an already made quilt from me, I will have already worked out a price that I am happy with, taking the design and fabric used into account.
Should someone want a bespoke quilt made and they have a design in mind, I will give them a price based on how big they want it, how much fabric and wadding will be used and how complicated the design is.
If a bespoke quilt is required but they are happy for me to create a design, this always excites me and is my favourite type of customer, I will give them a ballpark figure saying that the quilt will be between X and Y £’s.
The price
If someone, for example, wants a cheap baby quilt, I will show them my cheap fat quarters or yardage so they can choose what they like, I will keep the quilt small and do a simple design just sewing squares together or use a panel with one or two borders on it.
If they are happy to spend a little more, they can choose from more expensive fabrics and panels and I will make a slightly larger quilt and harder design.
If they say to me, I want to spend £X’s, I will create a quilt where the fabric, wadding, threads used come in just under that price.
My calculations
Fabric – I work out how much fabric I will use on the top, what it cost me and work out the cost of the top. If lots of different fabrics are used, I work out how much of each fabric I will use and the price of them all. Next, how much backing fabric will be used and cost of this. Lastly how much binding I need and the cost of this.
Wadding – For most of my quilts I use Hobbs 80/20 and I like to use a double layer so that the quilt is not too thin, again I calculate how much I will need.
Threads – I use Guttermann thread for my piecing which is £10.00 for a reel and I use different threads for the actual quilting so again I price accordingly.
Time – Now this is the really contentious bit, how much should I charge for my time. Most people think you should charge at least the minimum wage per hour for the time you spend on making the quilt. Some people think it should be more.
I decided when I begun making quilts for other people that I would not charge for my time, simply because, for me it is a hobby, something that I enjoy doing. If I do not want to take on a commission then I don’t but if I do, I work when I choose to and stop when I want to. I make things in my time and pick my own jobs. I enjoy it and as long as I cover my material costs, I am happy with that. I do not want my hobby to become a business and if I start to charge for my time, then it will feel like a business and add pressure on me to complete jobs quickly so that I can move onto the next one and this will take away my pleasure of quilting.
I love quilting, it relaxes me, and it brings me pleasure when I am creating something for someone and that to me is priceless.
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