Turning Quilting Hobby Into Money

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Turning Quilting Hobby Into Money - By: Kirsten Stone, Posted on: 2007-08-08

Are you a hobbyist quilter or a part-time quilter looking to earn some extra money from your quilt work? Are you having a difficult time monetizing on your masterpieces? If the answer is yes, then keep reading.

Research the market before you start
If you are really serious about turning your quilts into cash, it's important that you research the market before you start. Studying the market helps you find what types of quilts are in high demand in your area. As soon as you find out, you may think about making those quilts which are in high demand in your area. Doing so makes it easy to sell your quilts while letting you get a good price for your quilts.

People that take quilting only 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 cash from your hobby as a quilter.

Setting prices for your work
Determining a price for a quilt consists of several steps, the first one is market research which you should have already done prior to producing a quilt.

Keeping track of the time you spend
The second step in pricing of your work should be done during the making of the quilt, which is "keeping track of your time". You should note down or keep a record of the time you spend on each quilt; this includes the total time you spent on the quilt (from choosing a design to finishing the piece).

Start with finding out the total time you spent on different steps in making a quilt (preparing the paper pattern, piecing, basting, quilting, binding, putting your sewing room back in order after the quilt is completed etc.), then calculate the total time it takes during all these steps and divide it by the size (in sq.ft) of your quilt. Now you have the time it takes to make one square foot of a quilt in that particular type.

Determine what your time is worth
The next step in pricing is determining the value 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 work then the minimum wage might be between $6.00 and $7.00 hourly. If you are an expert quilter or performing skilled tasks, then your time is worth more than that. Something around $10-$15 hourly should be an appropriate rate in this case. Still, it's truly up to you to decide how much your time is really worth. The market research you had done can help you to make a decision about this. You may also contact other quilters in your area and talk with them about this and then come to a conclusion.

Appraisal
An appraisal is a document about the estimated value and other attributes of a quilt. Things that might be included in a quilt appraisal are, a description of the piece, a defined value, methodology used in selecting the value, the reason for the appraisal (sale or resale, insurance requirements, IRS obligation, equitable division of property etc.) and the signature of the appraiser.

Selling a quilt
Once your quilt is complete, you would probably want to sell or market it so that you can generate cash for the time and effort you had put in crafting the piece. Small scale 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 stitching part. So let me look at some quilt promotion methods which will be helpful for the quilters that want to make money.

Quilting brokers and stores
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 work. There are quilt brokers and handicraft shops that would be happy to offer for sale your pieces while paying a commission. It shouldn't be hard for you to find such brokers and stores in your area and sell your quilts through them. Once 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 think about directly marketing your products.

Selling your pieces at internet auction websites
Another option available for small scale or part-time quilt makers is to display their work on internet auction sites. There are plenty of them available out there. Such sites make it easy for a quilter to find an opportunity to sell the quilts at high price. Some of these websites even give you options to sell your products 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 quilt or just buy it at a price you fixed.

Certain auction websites even allows you to specify a "Minimum Bid" so that you can stop your piece from being bought at a lower price than you see fit. This is a really effective method for part-time or hobby quilters to sell their work.

Alternative quilt related income sources
There are many other methods to earn money from quilting related activities. Next you'll find two of such that require a certain amount of knowledge.

Teaching quilting lessons
If you are an expert in quilting and don't have much time (just a few hours a day or less) to spend on quilting, then you may wish to pick this avenue. You can find some schools teaching quilting and contact them offering to run a quilting class for beginner quilters. If you know a unique quilting technique of your own about which you can give classes, it would be easier for you to get a contract as a quilt teacher. Another option is to offer quilt lessons at your own home. You may utilize your spare time like this and you should be able to make good enough money from this.

Designing brand new quilting patterns
If you are someone who is good at drafting new and unique quilting patters, then you can easily make big bucks selling them to other quilters as demand for fresh patterns will always be great. For marketing quilt patterns of your design, you can use the same techniques described above for marketing quilts.

Like in any business, if you utilize your time and resources in the most efficient way it's not hard to make a successful quilting career or generate good revenue from quilting.

Article Source: http://higradesearch.com

Kirsten Stone is an avid quilt maker. You can find some of her posts at www.quiltingboard.com/forums/show/30/6.page

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