How Much Does A Hand-Made Quilt Cost (#2)

(See my previous blog on the cost of a smaller quilt)

Whether you want to make a quilt or hire someone this should shed some light on what you (and your pocketbook) might be in for.  First, I confess that I'm a sucker for quality textiles and pre-packaged bundles of perfectly coordinated prints. This quilt top was made from the Alison Glass "Road Trip" and Moda "Behind The Scenes" Layer Cakes. There are, of course, cheaper fabrics available.

After finishing the quilt top, many people choose to outsource the actual quilting (stitching all the layers together), but I prefer to do this myself and rent time on a long-arm machine (pictured below). This is the materials cost break-down of my Bullseye Queen size quilt (72" x 92") - and that doesn't include the roughly 40 hours of labor (cutting, piecing, ironing, long-arming and binding).

Renting time on the Long-Arm
("Lucey" is a $13,000 machine)

Materials	Cost
Road Trip Layer Cake (3)	$98.00
Behind The Scenes Layer Cake  (3)	$118.00
Custom Template Supplies	$12.00
Flannel Sheet (Queen) for quilt back	$40.00
Binding Fabric (1 yd) + 2 extra fat quarters	$20.00
Long-Arm rental (10 hrs)*	$250.00
Batting, Queen pkg	$30.00
Total cost of Materials:	$568.00

Since my costuming generally fetches $20/hr (or more), I'm not inclined to set that work aside to make quilts for, what would have to be, considerably less. Even if I only charged $10/hr, that would still add an additional $400 on top of the materials cost. Not only would it be difficult to sell a $900 quilt, but I'd be selling myself considerably short on the labor.

Costs could be reduced by using cheaper fabric, but could also be greater if using a more intricate pattern. T-shirt quilts may seem like less work because there are fewer pieces, but those pieces have to be prepped individually with a non-woven backing before they can even be sewn together, adding considerable more work (and materials cost).

Of course there are people who make more affordable quilts, I'm just not one of them. And no, I don't have any referrals. You might ask your local quilt shop or contact your local quilt guild if they have a list of people for hire.

* This was a challenging longarm design that was a little advanced. It is possible to quilt a Queen size top in 4 to 5 hours with a simpler stitch design.