Are you a hobbyist quilter or a part-time quilter looking to earn a bit extra money from your quilting? Are you having a hard time monetizing on your work? If the answer is yes, then keep reading.
Study the market before you begin
If you are serious about turning your quilts into money, it's very important that you research the market before you begin trying to sell. Studying the market helps you find what types of quilts are in high demand. Once you know this, you may consider only making those quilts which are in high demand among your potential customers. Doing so makes it easy to sell your quilts while getting a good price for a quilt.
Those who take quilting just as their hobby don't have to spend much time doing the market research 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 generate a good amount of money from your hobby.
Pricing your work
Pricing a quilt consists of several steps, the first one is market research which you should have already done before making quilts.
Keep track of the time you spend
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 should write down or maintain a record of the time you spend on the quilt; this includes the total time you spent on the quilt (from picking a design to completing the quilt).
Start with finding out the overall time you spent on different steps in quilting (preparing the paper pattern, piecing, basting, quilting, binding, putting your sewing room back in order after the quilt is finished etc.), then estimate the total time it takes on all these steps and divide it by the size (in sq.ft) of your quilt. Now you have calculated the time it takes to make one square foot of a quilt of that particular type.
Figure out what your time is worth to you
The next step in pricing is determining the cost of your time, or deciding how much the time you sped on making a quilt is worth.
If you are a beginner or if you are doing an unskilled job then the minimum wage can be between $6.00 and $7.00 hourly. If you are a seasoned quilter or performing difficult tasks, then your time is worth more than that. Something around $10-$15 hourly would be good rate in this case. Still, it's truly up to you to make a decision on how much your time is worth. The market research you had done can help you in making a decision about this. You may also contact other quilt makers in your area and talk with them regarding this and then come to a conclusion.
Appraisal
An appraisal is awritten document about the price and other specifications of a quilt. Stuff that might be included in a quilt appraisal are, a complete description of the quilt, a defined price, system used in selecting the price, the purpose of 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 done, you would probably want to sell or promote it so that you can generate cash for the time and effort you had put in crafting your quilt. Amateur quilters, new quilters, part-time quilters, or someone doing quilting as a hobby usually find that the promotion of their quilts is tougher than the making. So let's look at some quilt promotion methods which will be very helpful for the quilters that want to earn money.
Quilting brokers and quilt stores
It will be difficult for amateur quilters and part-timers to open their on quilt shops and sell their creations there. For these types of quilters it will be useful to look for other options for marketing their work. There are quilt brokers and handicraft shops who would be happy to offer for sale your quilts while paying a cut. It will be easy for you to find such brokers and stores in your area and sell your products through them. Once your quilts become popular and the demand for your quilts increases you might want to step up to larger scale or full time quilt work and consider directly marketing your products.
Offering your pieces at online auction websites
Another option available for small scale or part-time quilters is to list their work on online auction sites. There are a lot of them available on the internet. Such sites make it simple for a quilter to find an opportunity to sell the quilts at high price. Some of these sites even allow you to sell your quilts at a fixed price instead of listing it for auctions. It's up to you to decide if you want customers to bid for you product or just buy it at a price you specified.
Some sites even allows you to specify a "Minimum Bid" so that you can stop your quilt from being purchased at a lower price than you want. This is a really effective method for part-time or hobby quilters to sell their work.
Alternative quilt related income avenues
There are many other methods to earn money from quilting related things. Next you'll find two of such ways that require a certain amount of expertise.
Offering quilt classes
If you are an advanced quilter and have very little time (only a few hours a day) to invest, then you may want to choose this avenue. You could find some schools offering quilting lessons and contact them offering to teach a quilting class for beginners. If you have a unique quilting technique of your own about which you can give classes, it would be much easier for you to get a contract as a quilt instructor. Another option is to offer quilt classes at your own home. You may utilize your spare time like this and you should be able to earn good enough money from this.
Creating new quilt patterns
If you are someone who is good at designing new and unique quilt patters, then you can easily earn big bucks selling them as demand for fresh quilt patterns is always high. For marketing quilt patterns of your design, you could use the same techniques described above for marketing quilts.
Like in any business, if you utilize your time and resources in the most effective manner it's not hard to make a good quilting career or generate good income from quilting.
Study the market before you begin
If you are serious about turning your quilts into money, it's very important that you research the market before you begin trying to sell. Studying the market helps you find what types of quilts are in high demand. Once you know this, you may consider only making those quilts which are in high demand among your potential customers. Doing so makes it easy to sell your quilts while getting a good price for a quilt.
Those who take quilting just as their hobby don't have to spend much time doing the market research 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 generate a good amount of money from your hobby.
Pricing your work
Pricing a quilt consists of several steps, the first one is market research which you should have already done before making quilts.
Keep track of the time you spend
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 should write down or maintain a record of the time you spend on the quilt; this includes the total time you spent on the quilt (from picking a design to completing the quilt).
Start with finding out the overall time you spent on different steps in quilting (preparing the paper pattern, piecing, basting, quilting, binding, putting your sewing room back in order after the quilt is finished etc.), then estimate the total time it takes on all these steps and divide it by the size (in sq.ft) of your quilt. Now you have calculated the time it takes to make one square foot of a quilt of that particular type.
Figure out what your time is worth to you
The next step in pricing is determining the cost of your time, or deciding how much the time you sped on making a quilt is worth.
If you are a beginner or if you are doing an unskilled job then the minimum wage can be between $6.00 and $7.00 hourly. If you are a seasoned quilter or performing difficult tasks, then your time is worth more than that. Something around $10-$15 hourly would be good rate in this case. Still, it's truly up to you to make a decision on how much your time is worth. The market research you had done can help you in making a decision about this. You may also contact other quilt makers in your area and talk with them regarding this and then come to a conclusion.
Appraisal
An appraisal is awritten document about the price and other specifications of a quilt. Stuff that might be included in a quilt appraisal are, a complete description of the quilt, a defined price, system used in selecting the price, the purpose of 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 done, you would probably want to sell or promote it so that you can generate cash for the time and effort you had put in crafting your quilt. Amateur quilters, new quilters, part-time quilters, or someone doing quilting as a hobby usually find that the promotion of their quilts is tougher than the making. So let's look at some quilt promotion methods which will be very helpful for the quilters that want to earn money.
Quilting brokers and quilt stores
It will be difficult for amateur quilters and part-timers to open their on quilt shops and sell their creations there. For these types of quilters it will be useful to look for other options for marketing their work. There are quilt brokers and handicraft shops who would be happy to offer for sale your quilts while paying a cut. It will be easy for you to find such brokers and stores in your area and sell your products through them. Once your quilts become popular and the demand for your quilts increases you might want to step up to larger scale or full time quilt work and consider directly marketing your products.
Offering your pieces at online auction websites
Another option available for small scale or part-time quilters is to list their work on online auction sites. There are a lot of them available on the internet. Such sites make it simple for a quilter to find an opportunity to sell the quilts at high price. Some of these sites even allow you to sell your quilts at a fixed price instead of listing it for auctions. It's up to you to decide if you want customers to bid for you product or just buy it at a price you specified.
Some sites even allows you to specify a "Minimum Bid" so that you can stop your quilt from being purchased at a lower price than you want. This is a really effective method for part-time or hobby quilters to sell their work.
Alternative quilt related income avenues
There are many other methods to earn money from quilting related things. Next you'll find two of such ways that require a certain amount of expertise.
Offering quilt classes
If you are an advanced quilter and have very little time (only a few hours a day) to invest, then you may want to choose this avenue. You could find some schools offering quilting lessons and contact them offering to teach a quilting class for beginners. If you have a unique quilting technique of your own about which you can give classes, it would be much easier for you to get a contract as a quilt instructor. Another option is to offer quilt classes at your own home. You may utilize your spare time like this and you should be able to earn good enough money from this.
Creating new quilt patterns
If you are someone who is good at designing new and unique quilt patters, then you can easily earn big bucks selling them as demand for fresh quilt patterns is always high. For marketing quilt patterns of your design, you could use the same techniques described above for marketing quilts.
Like in any business, if you utilize your time and resources in the most effective manner it's not hard to make a good quilting career or generate good income from quilting.
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