Profitable Quilting - A Step by Step Pricing Guide

In Season 5 of Measure Twice, Cut Once, the focus shifts to the business side of quilting and creative entrepreneurship. The season aims to share personal experiences and host guest discussions on building a thriving creative business. 

The opening of the episode introduces Heather from PurpleHobbies.com, who designs custom 3D printed sewing tools.  My favorite is the binding third hand. But whether you want to organize your bobbins, or find the perfect pin holder, or tag and label your quilt in progress, her custom tools are like having a secret weapon in your crafting arsenal.  Use the code SBS15 for 15% off any items in her online store. Head over to PurpleHobbies.com and see how Heather is bringing innovation right to your crafting table.

If you haven't had a chance to, listen to Episode 94 of Measure Twice, Cut Once with Casey Brown.

The core topic for this episode explores the fair pricing of creative work, emphasizing the need to value the experience and skills artisans bring to their projects. Practical advice is given on calculating hourly rates and overhead costs, supported by a spreadsheet provided to help listeners price their work accurately. The episode also highlights common overlooked costs and offers a challenge to track all aspects of a project for better pricing evaluation.

Grab your pricing calculator spreadsheet here.

00:00 Welcome to Season 5

01:04 Introducing PurpleHobbies.com

01:57 The Art of Pricing Your Work

06:27 Understanding Overhead Costs

09:01 Practical Pricing Strategies

13:58 Tracking Your Time and Costs

16:12 Final Thoughts and Challenge

Want to try free motion quilting but don't know where to start? Here's 3 simple steps to get going.

Transcript

0:48

Welcome to Season 5 of Measure Twice, Cut Once. This whole season is an exploration into behind the scenes of not just quilting, but building a creative business that truly lights you up. As someone who's navigated the exciting, sometimes bumpy world of turning a passion into a profession, I'm excited to pull back the curtain and share my own experiences. Some episodes will be just me. Diving deep into my personal journey, while others will feature guests who are also navigating the world of creative entrepreneurship, We'll explore the nitty gritty of building a creative business, the lessons learned and the unexpected challenges that come with transforming your craft into a thriving enterprise. And don't worry, I'm not leaving storytelling behind. Instead, I'll be weaving them into the conversations about what it takes to grow a business while staying true to your creative spirit. So whether you're dreaming of starting your own business, or you just love hearing about creative entrepreneurship, this season is for you. Let me introduce you to PurpleHobbies. com, a small business that's changing the game for sewists and quilters. Heather's custom designed, 3D printed tools are seriously genius. Instead of settling for off the shelf accessories, Heather is creating precision tools specifically engineered to make your sewing and quilting more enjoyable. Her 3D printing approach means each tool is crafted with incredible detail and purpose. My favorite is the binding third hand. But whether you want to organize your bobbins, or find the perfect pin holder, or tag and label your quilt in progress, her custom tools are like having a secret weapon in your crafting arsenal. And here's the best part. Use the code. S B S 15 for 15 percent off any items in her online store. Head over to purple hobbies. com and see how Heather is bringing innovation right to your crafting table. Creative friends, today we are diving into something really important that came up in last week's conversation with Casey Brown. The art of pricing our work fairly. You know what I mean, right? That thing we crafters and artisans tend to do where we only think about certain aspects of our process, like maybe our time, but forget about the amazing skills we bring to the table, the experience and knowledge, or the workspace well stocked with all the tools and products we In last week's episode, Casey told the story, it's very possibly urban legend, of Picasso and his drawing. If you haven't heard that episode yet, you really want before you go further into this one. Go ahead, we'll wait for you. It's episode 94. The essential point was, Picasso created a drawing in just a few minutes. When the person he was drawing for balked at the price for only five minutes, he replied that it didn't in fact take five minutes, It took a lifetime. Let me tell you a quick story that really drove home Picasso's point for me personally. Last year a client brought me this gorgeous heirloom hand pieced quilt top that her grandmother had sewn together in the 1930s or thereabouts. She asked me what I'd charge to quilt it with an all over feather design and my first instinct was to just give her my standard edge to edge rate. But then I stopped and thought about what this project really required. I needed to bring my years of experience working with delicate vintage fabrics. I needed my knowledge of quilting hand piecing, which usually presents in tighter and fuller areas here and there and looser areas elsewhere, sometimes drastically so, and the extra care and attention this piece would need. This wasn't just about the hours I'd spend at my machine quilting. It was about. all the skills that I developed over the years that would help me preserve this family treasure. It would help me know how to handle those super delicate fabrics, what needles, what thread, what quilting design, and it would help me deal with bias and stretched edges. And ultimately, that experience is what enabled me to produce a lovely flat and square and gorgeous quilt for my clients enjoyment. But even with simpler and more Every day, air quote, projects in my studio, there is still so much more than just machine time that experience brings to the project. Very recently, a client brought me a lovely modern quilt again for basic edge to edge quilting. Now that's very straightforward. Choose a quilting design, load it up and go. And I typically am doing free motion work in my examples. But let's break down what actually went into that project if I step back and think about it for a minute. I spent time selecting three of my free motion quilting design options that I thought would complement her piecing. And then from those, we narrowed it down to one. Once we had decided on one, I tested it by drawing it out on my audition board because the scale needed to be just right for her design. I pulled out five different thread options to find the perfect match. And I also knew how to choose the batting for the type of feel that she wanted for her quilt. And you know what? I did all of that in about 15 minutes because I've done it hundreds of times before. That speed, that confidence, that comes from years of experience. And frankly, many dollars invested in studio supplies. Having the thread choices, having the batting choices, all at hand. So when we talk about pricing, this idea of attaching a value to the experience we bring is the least concrete part of it, but arguably a very important one to remember. Like Picasso, we're not just pricing that 15 minutes. We're pricing the journey that makes that 15 minutes possible. Valuing your skill as an artisan is one side of the pricing coin. Casey, last week, was so helpful in getting our mindset about that in a good place. Again, refer back to episode 94 if you need a refresher on the points Casey made. But the other side of the coin is more practical. It's the more concrete aspects of our work, the literal time and components. And costs involved in delivering the finished product or service. This is critical. I want to help you today to think through your costs, all your costs, and then work your way toward pricing the service or product you deliver. I'm going to speak particularly to long arm quilters as that's where my expertise and experience is, but no matter what your artisanal business, I trust you can find points and ideas here that will help you find your own pricing. And guess what? I've got a gift for you. A super helpful spreadsheet that will make this whole practical pricing valuation so much easier. So stay tuned for more information about that. Here's how we're going to tackle this. First, we're going to reverse engineer, or work backwards. I know it sounds strange, right? But we'll start with what you want to earn per hour, and then we'll look at all the factors that go into the work you offer. And trust me, some of these might surprise you. So starting point, What do you want or need to earn per hour? After listening to Casey, you're in the right headspace to make a decision about this. You're not working for entry level wages, right? You're clearly and honestly considering the value of your work and what your hourly time is worth. Pause here if you need to, seriously, and get a number in mind. I want you to have a target to aim for, and of course you can adjust this at any time in the future, but for today's working purposes, have a number in mind. However, we're not just talking your time spent here. You've also got to consider all the overhead costs as well. These are things that you don't shell out cash for. for each and every quilt, but they're the big ticket things you invest in, and they're the consumables that you keep stocked. All of these, whether small or large, were purchased once and will need to be replaced or replenished in the future. So these items you need to prorate, to use a fancy word, that simply means to spread out those costs over time or over pieces of work, so that a little of it is picked up with each project. What kind of cost do I mean? Well, let's get really practical, and here's where the spreadsheet that I talked about earlier will become your favorite tool. I've itemized these things and given you a place to organize them and add them up and then factor them into your rate. And because it's a spreadsheet and does all kinds of handy math for you, you can plug in variables or change variables very, very quickly until you work your way back to that hourly rate. that you've got in your head. So let's talk through them again. First, we're going to look at the major overhead costs or investments. Speaking of long arm quilters, the first and foremost is going to be the cost of your machine. So whether you work at a domestic sewing machine or a sit down mid arm long arm or a long arm on a frame such as I have, that's likely your largest major cost. But include in this accessories such as a backup power supply, um, an overhead light, perhaps if you're working at a long arm, maybe ruler base and rulers, extra feet. If you've financed your machine, include interest as well. Some other, um, investment type expenditures would be supporting equipment and tools, such as your ironing board or other surface, the iron. A sewing machine, scissors, rotary cutter and mat, these sorts of very regular supplies. And then there's your consumable supplies, your marking pens, your rulers, your pins, your spray bottles, rotary blades, etc. Then think about your inventory that you keep on hand, such as thread, batting, digital or pantograph patterns, and you may think of others. Then I have a few that you perhaps have not thought to add in, but really consider these today. Think about. added insurance. I personally carry an extra insurance rider on my home. My studio is in my home because I have other people's very precious quilts in my home all the time and I want to be sure that those are covered. So there's at least some recompense if something were to happen to them. So do you need extra insurance for that or for people coming to your door, walking up your steps, those sorts of things. Think about maintenance. having a professional maintaining your machine from time to time. How often do you need to have that done? Does someone come into your studio? Do you take it out? But it all takes time and has a price tag attached. Think about your underlying costs, such as electricity, cell phone usage. How about record keeping software? Or even a small app. How about shelving, bins, other organizational tools that you have built up over time in your studio. And that from time to time, as I mentioned earlier, you might want to grow or replenish or replace. These are part of the cost of producing your work. Think about design apps or software, if perhaps you design digital things or patterns. Think about, business cards, stickers, or other graft, or things that you give away to your clients to express your appreciation. And, as in my case, think about the use of the home. This is something you'll want to talk over with your accountant and figure out, How they come to a figure for that. Commonly, this is a percentage of the square footage of your dedicated workspace relative to your home, and that's how you determine what, in fact, you can call rent for the use of your home space. These have all been quite concrete and specific overhead costs. Now let's think about what I call incidentals that we need to factor in. These are things that find their way into every quilt but are so, so often overlooked in our minds when we're adding up our time. So here's a few examples from my spreadsheet. There are more there and perhaps you can think of additional ones in your own workspace. Most quilts require consultation time. So meeting with the client or phoning or texting or sending emails back and forth, perhaps measuring and assessing a quilt before you start into it, threading and bobbin winding and getting your machine prepped for work, uh, photos and social media. Loading the quilt, packaging it up after it's done to deliver it back. Um, seam ripper time. This is something that we don't like to think about and don't really want to plan for, but it is a factor. So I feel like a bit of seam ripper time ought to be factored in to every project. And then of course there's your regular cleaning, oiling and maintenance and those sorts of things. Confession time. When I was working on this spreadsheet for you, I put in some numbers here for these different items just quickly off the top of my head. And I was pretty conservative. Five minutes for threading and bobbin winding. Five minutes for cleaning and oiling my machine. 15 minutes for loading, 5 minutes for seam ripper work, ha ha. 10 minutes for photos and social medias. You'll agree, these are not huge time allotments per quilt. But still, when I added up the incidentals, they totaled 1. 75 hours per quilt. So I want to really underline, these are things that So quickly, eat up a little time, but we tend not to track, and therefore we're not being realistic about how much time they are when they're all added together. One incidental that so many of us don't account for is record keeping. Maybe like me, you've thought to yourself, Oh, it just takes five minutes to whip up an invoice and email it. And that's true, but don't you need to sit down from time to time and spend much more than five minutes to reconcile your bank account, or file your tax return, or consult with your accountant? These are very real costs of doing business, and they need to be factored in to the price tag we attach to our work. So back to the spreadsheet. I've shared a link to it in the show notes. What you'll see is all the factors I've thought of, And my suggestions, gentle suggestions for prices. Don't take my numbers as gospel though. The intention is that you'll make this your own. And if there are some other factors you think of, insert them. Attach different prices to the items as you see fit. And if you're in a different niche or industry than long arm quilting, change the line items to reflect the details of your business. But most importantly, when you've dropped in your variables and your prices, Look at the bottom line, be honest with yourself. Do you need to make adjustments to ensure you're getting fair pay for what you deliver? So here's a challenge for you. Try tracking. Everything you do and every supply or product you use for just one project. And I mean everything from the first client contact, the texts, the emails, the phone calls to all the in between details, right down to advancing the quilt and needle changes and thread breaks to the final invoicing and delivery and accepting payment, write down every minute you spend thinking about working on. or communicating about that project. I bet you'll be surprised by the total, but this knowledge is what you need to properly evaluate your earning and rate. Using my spreadsheet, it's really easy to change one or two factors, watch it auto calculate, and see what a difference that makes in the bottom line. And then you can just keep doing that until you are happy and satisfied with the result. As we close, remember that when we price our work appropriately, We're not just doing ourselves a favor. We're also helping to raise the perceived value of handcrafted work for all artisans. You and I know what goes into our creations. Now let's convey that value to our community. Let me know if you found these thoughts and the spreadsheet helpful. You can do that by leaving a review. There's a link in the show notes, and I'd love if you would share this episode with a friend who needs to hear it too. So until next time, may your sorrows be patched and your joys be quilted.