Cost of craft work

6 11 2011

For my most recent quilt, I sort of kept track of my fabric and thread usage and time and got a BIG surprise:

16x batik fat quarters (@ ~$7 each = $112; offcuts of this fabric made the binding)
2.5 metres backing fabric (@$22 per metre = $55)
0.5 metres yellow border fabric (@$22 per metre = $11)
1 metre blue border fabric (@ $22 metre = $22)
500 metres Superior thread ($15)
500 metres bobbin thread (~$10)
2.5 metres bamboo batting (@ ~$30 metre = $75)
Pattern from Four Paws Quilting (~$10)

So, the supplies alone for this lap quilt cost a surprising $310!!! PLEASE NOTE: Australian fabric prices are more than double what people in the US pay. We pay between $22 and $30 a metre for fabric (compared to the US prices of $9 to $12 a yard [2013 prices]), and at least $6 for a fat quarter. Our prices for batting, backing and thread are also much more expensive than US prices.

Time taken (approximately):

Choosing main fabrics and ironing them prior to cutting: 1 hour
Figuring out pattern instructions: 1 hour
Cutting main fabrics: 3 hours
Sewing top together: 8 hours
Choosing, ironing, cutting and sewing on border and binding fabrics: 3 hours
Sewing extra blocks into backing fabric: 1 hour
Laying out the three layers and pin basting: 2 hours
Quilting on the HandiQuilter Sweet Sixteen: 10 hours (some 84,000 stitches!)
Final ironing, squaring up, trimming ready for binding: 1 hour
Adding binding (all by machine): 1.5 hours

Total time (approximately): 31.5 hours

I didn’t count electricity usage (sewing machine, quilting machine, iron, room lights) or amortisation of the costs of the sewing or quilting machine, or factor in annual servicing for both, or attendance at courses/retreats to learn new techniques.

If I charged $20/hour for the time taken (that’s less than a cleaner makes in Australia!), the base cost of this quilt would be $940 ($630 labour + $310 supplies), before looking at any profit. Adding a 25% profit margin would make this quilt $1253! I just can’t see anyone paying $1250 for a lap quilt.

Let’s do some more sums, assuming fixed costs for the supplies ($310) and a fixed profit margin (25%) but changing the labour rate:

Wow! I’m charging WAY too little for my quilts on Etsy. That said, people still baulk at more than $100 for a lap quilt. As you can see from the above, the supplies alone cost more than $300, without factoring in time or profit.

After all that, this quilt is going to a friend as a gift. That’s my choice.

But I tell you what, after looking at the real costs of making a quilt, I won’t be quitting my day job any time soon. I’d be going backwards trying to compete with some of the prices on Etsy, and would be getting nothing for my time, let alone any profit margin. I can’t see how someone can make a lap quilt and sell it for $100, unless they are getting the fabric for nothing and have a team of ~~slaves~~ elves to help them.

It’s all so very depressing… How can an artist/craftsperson make a living doing their craft? How can they charge a fair price for their labour, so that they aren’t in the poor house, yet the customer feels they are getting value for money?

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Date : November 6, 2011
Categories : Quilts and fabric stuff

3 responses

6 11 2011: blue, yellow and green all over – new quilt « At Random (17:11:22) :

[…] Challenge Quilt 2012: The challenge Cost of craft work […]

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26 12 2013: Scrappy quilt: The start | Rhonda Bracey: At Random (15:16:47) :

[…] Already I reckon I’m about 10 hours (or more) into it, with many more hours to go. Anyone who thinks that paying $300 for a hand-made quilt at a craft fair is too much, has NO idea of how much time and effort goes into it (see this blog post for the costings for a quilt I made a couple of years ago: https://rhondabracey.com/2011/11/06/cost-of-craft-work/). […]

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18 02 2015: deejayf79 (05:25:06) :

So sad, but so true! Gotta do it for the love of it, because the money basically goes one direction–OUT.

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Rhonda Bracey: At Random