Tuesday 23 February 2010

Elizabethan Flowers


I've at last got around to finishing the machine blackwork flowers that I started at a workshop last year. I made three flowers and a smaller one which is wired so that is a 3D addition to the bottom flower.




I quilted the background simply in a diagonal grid using a decorative stitch from my machine.

In May we're having an Arts, Crafts and Flower Festival in the village, to raise funds for the church, and I've been asked to exhibit some of my quilts . It's a bit daunting, as none of my quilts so far have been for anything other than private use. However, I have a few things in mind, and this is one of them. We've also been asked to sell some of our exhibits, with a percentage going to the church funds. How on earth do you decide on a suitable price for a quilt? If you take into consideration the number of hours spent on each one, and charge even minimum wage plus the cost of materials, you're getting into prohibitive prices. Has anyone else been in this position? How would you decide what price to put on a quilt?

9 comments:

Heckety said...

These blackwork flowers are gorgeous! I never thought of trying out blackwork on the machine, I've only worked it on aida cloth. I do love it though, and yours are impressive!
Congratulations on being asked to exhibit some quilts! Its daunting to show them to people at first, and for me, still, but you'll be amazed what a boost it is too. Pricing is tough, I try to work out rough costs, add a bit and then figure what sort of folks will be at a place and how much they'd like to spend. Maybe go on Etsy and look at people's pricings for the size you'll be having as a rough guideline. The bottom line is that you won't ever get what its worth, that's my experience anyhow.

Amelia said...

Yes, pricing of a quilt can be very tricky...I had rather give one away than try to get money...I got stung real bad one time so I have shied away from selling them.

Love the black and white piece...and then the 3 dimesional one just gives it that extra pop.

Good luck with deciding on what to take to exhibit.

Jo, a retired teacher said...

Your flowers are very cool!

The quilt thing is very tough to answer. All you can do is price it for what you feel is fair and see what happens. I've seen homemade, hand-stitched, quilts offered for everything between $35 and $200.

Good luck.

Pia said...

Hi Amanda
The Danish National Quilting Guild (Dansk Patchwork Forening) has a list of insurance prices that we use for exhibitions and I use that as a guideline to set a price when I sell something to a stranger.
If you ask me to make you a bag I'd say the materials times two and not think about the hours spent because you're someone I know and I hopefully will have fun doing the bag.
Something to think about. Looking forward to hear more about your exhibition.
Pia

Unknown said...

Nice blog. Like the design of Elizabethan Flowers. It really looks cute. It was nice going through your blog. Iflorist.co.uk

Lynn said...

That's a tough question especially since your are donating it for sale to a charitable cause. I think for charity the rules may be different. You wouldn't want to set it too low and not have it bring in enough money, or too high and not have anyone buy it. I would price it according to how much you would personally donate. Rereading this - I'm not much of a help at all. But I love the blackwork. Really is very artistic. The 3-d flower is such a creative addition and your quilting with the decorative stitch are really impressive.

Gina said...

I love your flowers. They are really effective.
I'm no help with the pricing sorry as I don't sell my stuff. I would say that make sure you feel as though you are getting a fair price though.

Love and hugs Gina xxx

Candace said...

I don't know anything about prices, but I think your flowers are very elegant and classy.

Kay said...

These are very beautiful, Amanda. I like the 3D effect. All your creations are worth a million dollars!