I was commissioned to make a bed runner for my neighbor, really a runner to protect her mother's cedar chest that graces the foot of her king size bed and to complement her current comforter, which is an abstract wash of seafoam to sagey greens mixed with rosy to almost coral pinks. I told her I'd probably have to order about $25 worth of fabric, though I'd most likely not use every little bit of it in her project, and that I would charge her $90, including the fabric, for a machine pieced and entirely hand quilted runner, truthfully, less than I would charge someone who was not a friend/neighbor. I didn't even charge her for the batting, which I had on hand here.
The final result was 30" x 80", as wide as a regular bed quilt. It is made with first quality 100% cotton quilt fabrics from Thousands of Bolts, who sells excellent fabrics at wonderful prices, often less than even Walmart's lesser quality stuff. I bought fabrics for her runner at one of their great sales, most of it less than $5 per yard, and if you know good quilt fabric, a real steal.
My neighbor works at a senior center. Apparently, she told them what I was doing for her, and without even seeing it, without knowing the size or the quality, without knowing of my skill at hand quilting (I pride myself at being very good at what I do, with 30 years experience), they started spouting off:
1)You're paying way too much for that.
2) She could get much cheaper fabric somewhere else.
I was insulted and angry. If one more person denigrates my pricing for custom hand quilted work one more time, I swear, I'm going to tell them Wally World is their friend and to go waste their money there. Would they work for less than 50 cents an hour? Of course not, but they expect me to do so and throw in the fabric for free. And if I have the fabric in my stash already, it's still not free--if I use it in their project, I cannot use it in something else and will have to replace it.
I could have found cheaper fabrics?? Where?? Not likely! The worst quality cottons at Walmart are $4 per yard, you know, the ones you can see through? Their usual prices are $5-7 per yard now and they are starting to get somewhat better quality cottons at some locations, thankfully. The cheap cottons are never a good choice in a quilt and you pay the price in other ways, even if you can save on the fabric. It doesn't quilt well nor wear/wash well.
Here is the runner in question. That outer border fabric is such wonderful heavy cotton, it feels like flannel. I got 2 yards of it for just $4.95 each, half the cost at any quilt shop in the U.S. She wanted paisleys, not much floral, a challenge with these colors, but I searched and found quite a few paisleys, including that large border fabric, in addition to flourishes, florentines, botanicals, etc. If it was going to be a bed quilt, I would have done some extra quilting in the outer border, but it will live on her cedar chest.
By the way, I told my neighbor that if she didn't like it, she didn't have to buy it and I meant it. She said she likes it and I hope she's being sincere.
The final result was 30" x 80", as wide as a regular bed quilt. It is made with first quality 100% cotton quilt fabrics from Thousands of Bolts, who sells excellent fabrics at wonderful prices, often less than even Walmart's lesser quality stuff. I bought fabrics for her runner at one of their great sales, most of it less than $5 per yard, and if you know good quilt fabric, a real steal.
My neighbor works at a senior center. Apparently, she told them what I was doing for her, and without even seeing it, without knowing the size or the quality, without knowing of my skill at hand quilting (I pride myself at being very good at what I do, with 30 years experience), they started spouting off:
1)You're paying way too much for that.
2) She could get much cheaper fabric somewhere else.
I was insulted and angry. If one more person denigrates my pricing for custom hand quilted work one more time, I swear, I'm going to tell them Wally World is their friend and to go waste their money there. Would they work for less than 50 cents an hour? Of course not, but they expect me to do so and throw in the fabric for free. And if I have the fabric in my stash already, it's still not free--if I use it in their project, I cannot use it in something else and will have to replace it.
I could have found cheaper fabrics?? Where?? Not likely! The worst quality cottons at Walmart are $4 per yard, you know, the ones you can see through? Their usual prices are $5-7 per yard now and they are starting to get somewhat better quality cottons at some locations, thankfully. The cheap cottons are never a good choice in a quilt and you pay the price in other ways, even if you can save on the fabric. It doesn't quilt well nor wear/wash well.
Here is the runner in question. That outer border fabric is such wonderful heavy cotton, it feels like flannel. I got 2 yards of it for just $4.95 each, half the cost at any quilt shop in the U.S. She wanted paisleys, not much floral, a challenge with these colors, but I searched and found quite a few paisleys, including that large border fabric, in addition to flourishes, florentines, botanicals, etc. If it was going to be a bed quilt, I would have done some extra quilting in the outer border, but it will live on her cedar chest.
By the way, I told my neighbor that if she didn't like it, she didn't have to buy it and I meant it. She said she likes it and I hope she's being sincere.
Last edited:
) Tallboy for my linens. Because thats what these handmade items are, treasures.
