The Quilt That Never Was

Molli Sparkles

Quilt maker to the stars. Spiller of truth tea.

38 Responses

  1. It is so tough to price quilts and make it something an average person would want to pay – especially when you factor in your time. Glad to hear you're working on a second idea so your colleague will still get a fabulous quilt.

    Perhaps you could make those blocks into cushions to go with the quilt?!

  2. I would have loved to have seen your original design made up, I'm sure it would have been fabulous!

  3. A crazy thought, could you use a king sized flat sheet for the backing fabric? That might reduce costs further too, plus no seams!

  4. Adrianne says:

    Thanks for posting about this. It's pretty much the exact reason I don't sell my quilts. I value my time too highly not to charge for it, but I don't think people are willing to pay more than the materials cost. I prefer to give my quilts away – that way I get to choose what I make and when I make it (although I do take requests from immediate family members). I do agree that it's disheartening though – I think it would be fun to make the odd commissioned quilt, but I don't think I'd really enjoy it if I felt like I wasn't being fairly compensated for my time (and there's also the issue of devaluing the value of other quilters' work if you don't charge for your time properly).

    I think the way you've gone about this is a good one – you have to be honest and upfront and if the person isn't willing to pay what you think is a fair price, then no deal. Sounds like your friend is a pretty good client too. By the way, I couldn't see that you'd taken the cost of batting into account in your calcs so the price might be even higher than you thought :-S

  5. Liz says:

    I bet you could halve the fabric cost by buying from fabric.com and Kristy's favourite fabric stash. Get your sale on – even with US shipping charges, the uber cheap fabric makes it much cheaper – you need to buy 9yards at a time to make the most of the us $25 shipping fee. So you get designer fabric cheaper than at spotlight (which I love to hate).

  6. WOW. who would have thought? We do take ourselves for granted I recckon! 🙂

  7. Vera says:

    It is/was very interesting idea. For once I would voted for random placement. For reason unknow I don't fancy that trip whatever thing. Anyway it's great and useful post!

  8. The O's says:

    Gorgeous block! Hilarious post! I snorted at the 'down a few red bulls' and 'major chain piecing'! Too funny.

    • The O's says:

      oh and as a PS: I can take you to a place where you can get quilt backs backing for $11/m sometimes even less… I have some in my stash I paid $7 for…

  9. Sooli says:

    Interesting post. Good on your work colleague for not being put off entirely by the cost too, which is hard to argue with when its all laid out for them to see. I hope you can both come up with a project which works for you both, love to see a win/win situation. Compromise can work. No reason why your white trip around the world couldn't become your own project as something on a smaller scale, say lap size.

  10. giddy99 says:

    $24 AUD for a yard of fabric! That's insane! Too true about the quilt math, though – when someone asks me how much it will cost for me to make them a quilt, I just tell them $10,000, and that shuts the conversation down. 🙂

  11. What's a square inch? What a diverse following you have! Excellent post. Yes, we all do the math in our head, on occasion, but to lay it all out there for your prospective client to see…. You did the right thing. Hope she can find a way to make it work.

  12. Leigh Anne says:

    Thank you so much for posting this. As someone who is building a business through quilting, it can be hard to explain to people the cost behind it. I'm happy that you are working with someone who knows your worth and I sincerely hope that you are able to find a way to make this quilt. Cause based on these two blocks, it would have been a stunner!

  13. Auntie Pami says:

    Goo job. People don't understand, but seeing it inwriting does help. Perhaps this might be a future QAL. Don't we all have bits of lights to use?

  14. Muttmomkay says:

    love the dream… makes me wish I could ship you some fabric from the US.

  15. Poor quilt that never was. I'm certain it would have been divine.

    Though, I do think you could easily downsize the quilt just a bit. 120" is massive. Massive I tell you. I made queen size for a friend (a BIG queen size) and it was 96" on each size. A queen mattress is only 60" by 80". Yes, I know you have to allow for shrinkage and you do want some overhang, but I'd guess it's not going to shrink that much. You'd decrease your cost significantly if you made it 8×9 blocks instead of 10×10. Though if you want the look of lots of overhang on the bed (to the floor), then I guess you need that size?

    http://quilting.about.com/od/quiltsettings/a/mattress_sizes.htm

  16. It is frightening how the cost of a quilt mounts up, which is perhaps why we don't really work it out until we have to.

    Great post though!

  17. Mary Gregory says:

    I hear ya! I almost dread getting calls from family friends or acquaintances saying they love looking at the pictures and can I make something for them. I always give them a ballpark and just wait for the reality of labor costs to sink in.

    It's awful that you got this far into the design process before she realized the price involved. It's so hard to fall in love with what you're doing, then completely curb it back.

  18. Oooh I love it. Love love love it. The great irony of a quilt: most can't afford to buy them, and yet we often give them away for free.

  19. It is a scary thing to work out who much time, equipment, and supplies you use to make a quilt. I know it is strange but the cost to make a quilt is why I give them away. You can never recoup your costs so I do not try – it is handed off with love.

  20. Forgot to say I love the white on white blocks you had made. Fabulous stuff.

  21. akainik says:

    It's expensive to make a quilt – I've never sold mines…

  22. charlotte says:

    I thank you for breaking this down for us. I know when we make quilts for ourselves and to gift to others, it's a labor of love. We know it is expensive. After all, look at our stashes. I must say though, I do love the whit trip around the world. Maybe you can still make it some day.

  23. Katy Cameron says:

    Ah yes, I did a post about this earlier in the year. I broke down the charges for my aunt for a quilt that she wanted me to make (king sized to the floor) I worked out that even for a very simple pattern it would be £600 odd for materials alone, never mind my labour costs/quilting costs. Funnily enough, she went off the idea ;o)

  24. Anne says:

    Maybe she'd be willing for you to make the white on white trip-along lap quilt? Because seriously that is STUNNING, and I really didn't like that pattern.
    Good on you for sticking to your guns about the cost. I don't even bother doing commissions because there's no way people could afford me! *does that snap in an S shape thing along with the head waggle*

  25. How bout a bed runner…..those seem to be popular with that "hotel look". Someone in my Modern Guild just did one with swoon blocks…it was fabulous. Scrappy trip would be pretty!

  26. Megan says:

    Yikes! I knew there was a reason I love the fact that my quilty maths is completely hopeless. I love those little trial blocks you made, what a great idea, I hope you figure out a way to use them even if its for yourself (I'm thinking white is a great backdrop for anything that glitters).

  27. Kudos to you on being totally real with your estimate!
    Let it be said, that I bet there is a buyer out for that dream quilt and you should definitely make it some day. 💜

  28. cakegirl says:

    loved this post and seeing a breakdown of cost in print. People ask me to make quilts all the time and I just tell them no. Most people have NO idea of the cost and time involved. I would like to forward this post to a few people who have received one of my quilts as a gift.

  29. Nony says:

    Eeee. It reminds me of that vaguely sick feeling I get whenever I look at my bursting bookshelves or overflowing stash tubs… just don't add anything up, I say! But of course in this situation you definitely have to, and it's good to get the shock of the cost out of the way straight up.

    The white blocks are gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. I can just see them working with Mirror Ball Dot in Snow to add some pizzazz and becoming something totally beautiful… and destined to disaster if it lived in my house. Somebody would get some chocolate melted on it or spill some wine and it would all be over.

  30. Cari says:

    Oh, too bad — that would have been a lovely quilt! It briefly made me think about making a white-on-white quilt, and then I remembered the black cat who shares my bed. Looking forward to seeing the simplified version!

  31. Esther F. says:

    Thank you for this clear calculation of the REAL costs of making a quilt.
    I am still on the fence If I want to sell some of my work and your post topic is exactly why.
    Esther
    esthersipatchandquilt at yahoo dot com
    Ipatchandquilt dot wordpress dot com

  32. Paula says:

    My friends keep telling me that I should sell some of my creations and this is exactly why I don't. I son't thikn they realise exactly how much went into each quilt and it is nice to see it properly said for once and how great it is that your friend was appreciative and understanting about the cost and work.
    I too live in expensive fabric land and just to be able to afford to quilt as a hobby I have to order from abroad, What I save on 4m of fabric more than covers shipping and usually the customs bill as well.
    It's a pity that this quilt won't get made(for now at least) but hopefully one day it will, because it would have been stunning.

  33. Taryn says:

    Fantastic post and a lot to think about! I've been struggling with this a bit this week. I totally undercharged for a quilt, which I realized after 25 hours (and counting!) of labor…for a *baby* quilt. Lesson learned! 😀 Your mock-up blocks are beautiful! I look forward to seeing the modifications you and your colleague come up with.

  34. My husband once in awhile starts up the "why don't you sell on Etsy" thing. THIS IS WHY. It's because once you get through the expense of the raw materials–which is huge–people don't want to pay anything beyond that. I have thought about selling quilts I would have made anyway, just sort of at-cost, but then that undermines those quilters who really deserve to be paid for their excellent work.

    I took on my first commission this week–two twin quilts–and I am doing them for two of my very dearest friends, so I am just charging for materials. They understand that and are grateful. I am hoping to use their quilts as "portfolio" type pieces and maybe drum up a few more little commissions for which I will charge more–and of course, I love them, and I'd make them any quilt they wanted anyway.

    And I live where fabric is relatively cheap. I told my husband you pay $24/yd for fabric and that really made my $6-$7/yard overindulgences this week seem like a deal!

    Great food for thought, as always. What will you do with those orphan blocks?!

  35. pforgerson says:

    how about a runner for the end of the bed like all of the new hotels are doing. It would be beautiful!

  36. CitricSugar says:

    Those blocks are too gorgeous – the quilt would have been stunning. It's completely understandable, though. I thought we got hosed on fabric in Canada… and we pay double what they do in the States. $14-20/yard. Criminy!

  37. I have just seen this ..and while i am not looking at the cost (even though that is certainly a good point to remember!) but the all white!
    My daughter is turning 30 so i thought it was time i made her a quilt..but she wants ALL WHITE and small pieces!, I said "are you sure"?
    "yes Mum"! so i have been trying to see how it would work, seeing what you have done here, it looks like i could do it. clearly I wont tell her the cost!!!
    thanks for the inspiration Molli Sparkles 🙂

Spill the truth tea.