Join me on my journey through the world of quilting. I'll be showing pics of WIPs (Works In Progress), finished quilts, UFOs (Un-Finished Objects), and maybe even a "How I did that" every now and then. I hope you enjoy your visit.
Welcome!
Come in! Have a cup of coffee, maybe a piece of chocolate... Don't mind the thread snips... They keep the Dust Bunnies occupied.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
weighing Pocketbook and What's Right
Coyote Lap Quilt |
Coyote Borders |
So let's say your finished quilt top measures 70" by 90". That's 6,300 square inches. At $0.015 that comes to $94.50. For a full custom job($0.10), that same quilt comes out to $630.00 just for the quilting! There are times when I almost think I should become a LAQ! But most likely, the figure will more likely be in the $0.02 to $0.025 range.
Then there's the batting. Some LAQ have various battings on a giant roll and your best bet is to choose one of them and pay by the length. Others prefer to either sell you a batt in a package, or have you supply the batting. If you go the pre-packaged route, you are almost certainly going to have to go over-sized to be sure it is large enough. This isn't exactly cost prohibitive, but you will end up with lots of left over, in a less than desirable shape. you may end up with 2 pieces of batting, 11 inches wide, by 6 feet long, or some other equally maddening measurement. Too wide for potholders (assuming it's a batting suitable for extreme heat- not all are), and too narrow for placemats (assuming you need 3 doz placemats). So, you end up with a large bag, storage tote, or other container full of "it's too big to throw away and too small to use" scraps. Anyway, figure about $25.00 for the batting.
Plus the set-up fee, which can be as little as $20.00 or I've seen as much as $45.00. This fee is what the LAQ charges for loading all the components of your quilt onto their frame. Depending on the job you did getting the top and backing ready, squaring, ironing, making sure every stray thread is snipped, this can be easy and take less than an hour, or rough and use up most of a day.
Ironing. I have yet to figure out how to iron a piece of fabric the size of a small bedroom, then fold it, and not have it come out all wrinkled again. Some people roll the tops onto those foam pool noodle thingees but I doubt I could even pull that off well.
Are you wondering yet where I am going with all this? Are you even still with me? Get up, walk around a minute and get a cup of coffee... I'll wait.
Welcome back. Anyway, where I am going with all this is... With the Coyote Quilts I have 2 options.
1) Prepare each quilt (3 wall hangings, and 1 lap quilt) individually and pay a separate set-up fee for each...
2) Using a plain fabric leader between them, sew 2 wall hangings together, and the 3rd to the lap quilt, thereby making 2 longer quilts and only paying 2 set-up fees, plus the per inch quilting fees of the leader fabrics.
Part of me thinks the 2nd option is the smartest, but is it cheating? Let me know what you think in the comments.
I'll be back later with another post all about Blanket Stitch, or Buttonhole Stitch. I am still gathering my links.
See Y'all Later!
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YIKES!!!!! I say just tie them......rofl
ReplyDeleteI think their pricing sounds outrageous, personally, but I've yet to do a full sized quilt too, lol. I think you should gather all your prices, for each LAQ, then decide which is more cost efficient. I don't think sewing them together would be cheating. The LAQs make their pricing. It's not your fault there are loopholes, lol.
ReplyDeleteThis is the number 1 reason learning to machine quilt is on my list of things to accomplish this year. I will never own a Longarm, but there is much you can do on a domestic machine too. I just need to learn.
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