Making Cash By Quilting
Are you a hobbyist quilter or a part-time quilter looking to earn some extra money from your quilting? Are you having a hard time monetizing on your work? If the answer is yes, then read on.
Research the market before you begin
If you are really serious about converting your quilts into money, it's important that you research the market before you begin trying to sell. This helps you discover what types of quilts are in high demand. As soon as you find out, you may consider only making those quilts which are in high demand among your potential customers. This makes it easy to sell your quilts while getting a good enough price for a quilt.
People who take quilting only as their hobby don't have to spend much time researching the market as the results from the research might end up in a conclusion that the demand for the item which they love to produce is very low. If your choices are flexible or if you are ready to produce any quilt then there shouldn't be any problems for you to earn a good amount of money from your hobby.
Setting the price for quilts
Estimating a price for a quilt consists of a few steps, the first one is market research which you should have already done prior to sewing a quilt.
Keeping track of the time spent
The second step in pricing of your work should be done during the creation of the quilt, which is "keeping track of your time". You need to note down or keep a record of the time spent on each quilt; this includes the total time you spent on the quilt (from choosing a design to completing the piece).
Start with finding out the total time you spent on different steps in making a quilt (preparing the pattern, piecing, basting, quilting, binding, putting your sewing room back in order after the quilt is completed etc.), then estimate the total time taken on all these steps and divide it by the size (in sq.ft) of your quilt. Now you have calculated the time taken to make one square foot of a quilt in that particular type.
Figure out how much your time is worth to you
The next step in pricing is finding out the value of your time, or deciding how much the time you sped on a quilt is worth.
If you are a beginner or if you are doing an unskilled work then the minimum wage can be between $6.00 and $7.00 per hour. If you are a seasoned quilter or doing difficult tasks, then your time is worth significantly more than that. Something around $10-$15 per hour should be good rate in this scenario. Nevertheless, it's truly up to you to decide how much your time is really worth. The market research you had done should help you in making a decision about this. You may also wish to contact other quilters near by and talk with them about this and then come to a conclusion.
Appraisal
An appraisal is awritten document about the estimated value and other specifications of a quilt. Things that might be included in a quilt appraisal are, a description of the piece, a defined value, system used in selecting the value, the reason for the appraisal (sale or resale, insurance purposes, IRS obligation, division of property etc.) and the signature of the appraiser.
Selling quilts
After your quilt is complete, you would likely want to sell or market it so that you can generate money for the time and effort you had put in sewing the piece. Amateur quilters, new quilters, part-time quilters, or someone doing quilting as a hobby usually discover that the promotion of their product is tougher than the production. So let me list a few quilt promotion methods which will be helpful for the above mentioned group.
Quilting brokers and quilt shops
It will be difficult for small scale quilters and part-timers to open their on quilting shops and sell their creations there. For these types of quilters it will be useful to look for other ways of marketing their quilts. There are quilt brokers and handicraft shops who will be glad to sell your pieces upon paying a cut. It won't be hard for you to find such brokers and stores near by and offer your products through them. When your products become popular and when the demand for your products increases you may wish to step up to larger scale or full time quilt work and consider directly marketing your products to customers.
Selling your work at internet auction websites
Another option available for amateur or part-time quilt makers is to list their quilts on internet auction sites. There are a lot of such sites available on the internet. Such sites make it simple for a quilter to find a way to sell the product at maximum price. Some of these websites even allow you to sell your products at a fixed price instead of listing it for auctions. It's up to you to figure out if you want customers to bid for you quilt or just buy it at a price you fixed.
Certain websites might even allows you to specify a "Minimum Bid" so that you can stop your piece from being purchased at a lower price than you want. This is a really efficient method for part-time or hobby quilters to sell their quilts.
Other quilt related income sources
There are many other methods to make money from quilting related things. Next you'll find two of such that require a certain level of expertise.
Teaching quilting lessons
If you are an advanced quilter and don't have much time (only a few hours a day) to invest, then you might wish to choose this option. You can find some centers teaching quilting and contact them proposing to run a quilting class for beginner quilters. If you have a unique quilting technique of your own about which you can give classes, it will be much easier for you to get a contract as a quilt teacher. Another option is to offer quilt lessons at your own home. You might use your spare time like this and you should be able to generate decent enough revenue from this.
Creating new quilting patterns
If you are good at making new and unique quilting patters, then you can easily earn lots of money selling them as demand for fresh quilt patterns will always be great. For marketing quilt patterns you design, you can use the same methods described above for marketing quilts.
Like in any business, if you use your time and resources in the most effective way it's not hard to build a successful quilting career or generate good income from quilting.
Kirsten Stone is a long time quilt instructor. You can find more of her tips at http://www.quiltingboard.com/forums/show/6.page
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