Pricing for crocheting

[Addicted2patterns]

Hey, I have a question. Someone has asked me to crochet a christmas gift for them. They would provide the yarn. The finished project would be 39 x 80. Anyone have an idea of how long it will take and/or how much one would charge for their time. Thanks.

[wheat]

I have been avoiding commenting here because my feelings on pricing are not gentle. 

 

Please if you have delicate sensibilities - skip to the next message.   This is directed at no individual just thoughts from a woman who has been around this business for too many decades and thus the rosy coating has long since worn off her glasses.

 

The ability of some to rationalize working for  wages less than are paid to illegal alien field hands is beyond my understanding.

 

There are people who choose to apply a manufacturing model of  X times the cost of materials - The problem is that this model is meant to be sued when something is machine produced and there is very limited human involvment in the processes.

 

Pricing a work for hire is probably much closer to an R&D (research and development model)

 

Your mention they would provide the yarn makes me very nervious - but that just may be a lack of information.  My first quetion to them would be what yarn - maybe it will be one you cannot work with because of allergies  or  even because it is not a texture or quality you will be comforable wiht (remember it is going to be running thru your finges for at least 20 or more hours for even the simplest project of that size.

 

What stitch pattern.  The complexity of the stitch is going to effect the amount of time and effort needed.  Simple Single Color DC either width or lenghtwise - one thing.  Squares, don't forget the time and attention needed to put them together.

 

Will there be additional work (fringing, cross stitching on the surface for personalization) 

 

Not an issue since this is July and December is far away, but time constraints should always be factored in.  Deadlines may mean setting aside time that interferes with personal time - so are you willing to give up time with your family or friends to work for $2 an hour? 

 

Many have and will tell you that you will/can not expect to be paid reasonably for your time.  And in most cases that will be correct. 

 

I have far more empathy with those who make things they want to make, with materials they enjoy using and then underprice it = "to buy more yarn"  because they have had the joy of the making. I don't much like the effect they have on the "what the market will bear" but at least they have had the benefit of enjoying the work instead of having its terms dictated.  And I still do a fair amount of "charity" projects each year, but it is on my terms - from patch work type collections of swatches to items made as part of pattern development but finished nicely.

 

What I can tell you from hard learned life lessons is that nothing sucks the joy out of a craft doing it without the joy that can so easily seep into a work for hire. 

 

Most of the time I offer to teach them what they need to know to get started because frankly 99% of the time I am not willing to work for someone who does not have a clear understanding of the time and talent required to perform the service they are requesting. 

 

What only you can decide, after taking all the true costs for planning, materials and production - loss of personal time,  is whether "what the market will bear" is acceptable to you.

 

The "choice is yours"

[Aisles]

As a designer maker myself I will not ever underprice myself as it not only de values my work but it's an insult to my skill and talent.  I also have to put food on the table and pay my bills.

 

I do take commissions but I will not break someone else's copyright and just become a talentless rip off merchant.  I always take a non returnable deposit for commission pieces.  If it's a personalized item ie with a date or name then I take the whole amount up front.

 

What we do is specialized it's hand made and therefore far more exclusive than factory sweat shop thrown together cheap rubbish and we should charge accordingly. 

 

Never compare what you do to cheap rubbish you'll find in the cheap stores.  You are not pricing to those people you are pricing to those who appriecate and understand handmade is quality.

 

$80 sounds like peanuts she's clearly looking for some cheap sweat shop labour.

 

Let her try to produce a large Double afghan and then maybe she'll begin to understand the time and talent it takes to produce a quality item.

[guiness56]

I agree that the area you live in makes a difference.  In WA state where I lived, no body crocheted.  When I started making afghans I was gifting them to friends at work, because I like doing them.  Co-workers started asking me to make them and offered to pay me.  It was nothing for them to pay $100 for one and buy the yarn also.

 

I moved to Arkansas and everybody crochets so I haven't even tried to sell any.  I was offered $30 for one and the yarn was almost $60.  I wouldn't sell it.

[Jayashiangel]

I crochet for something to do or the money I will get from the project But I do understand when people think $5 is good for say a hat that you can buy at say Walmart.  They don't understand that it takes you 2 hours or longer to make it just right....

 

So if I get $$ for projects I am fine w/ the amount..Last year I made 2 dozen wash clothes and was paid $60 I was shocked..My DD did a baby blanket for a co-worker for $30. I have made a few shawls that I have sold one for $25 and one for $30. I usually before I start a project I try to look up what they run on sale for on Esty... This allows me to have a base price list in my head when people ask me how much it will cost...

I however still do it for something to do and the extra money goes for something else I want that I didn't have $$ for..I guess I am cheap LOL..

[judianne]

That's why when people aske why I don't start a business with this I tell them it would suck all the joy out of it. I do have friends that over the past 2 years have asked if I had a certain thing on hand...and so I decided to make one girl baby ghan (nearly done) and one boy ghan. I also have a few hats I've made. If they don't find homes in a year or two they'll be gifted or donated. The important thing is that I've been having fun doing everything. My friend who bought the baby beanie reminded me she would have had to go out and spend money on something she probably wouldn't have liked...so...I put it into getting more yarn

I agree with wheat here. 

 

The inability to get paid for what my time, effort and skill is worth are some of the major reasons I don't sell finished items. 

 

I made a couple blankets to auction off for a fundraiser.  I had one woman offer me $50 for a 5x7 ghan.  I told her that that wouldn't even cover the cost of materials and I'd throw it in a bonfire before I accepted that price for my work.  She had the nerve to be insulted that I didn't think her offer was good enough.  Hence the bonfire comment.You're good!

 

What I've noticed - for me - is that if I do make something in exchange for money and I undersell myself I end up resenting it.  I hate working on it, I don't want to work on it and (this is the big one for me) I do think that 'energy' gets wrapped up into the item itself - the same as prayer shawls.  If you believe that you prayers can be wrapped into a shawl than why wouldn't someone believe that the negative thoughts can as well?

I totally agree with you there...whenever I'm making a gift for someone I always work with good thoughts in mind....and if I'm not having a good day I put it aside for another time.

I've had quite a few people to ask me for afghans.  For those that I'm willing to make something for I'll generally tell them that we'll go yarn shopping together, I'll let them know what I'm comfortable working with and they can purchase the yarn.  It's amazing how many people back out of it when they find out that I expect them to pay for the yarn.  Last time I checked - I don't have a yarn tree growing in the back yard.

[judianne]

The price you were quoted is way too little for that work. I charged 15 for a baby girl beanie! Online stores charge 20 for the same hat. Using that as a guide I think 80 is more realistic...a.s long as it's not a complicated pattern.

[nancybanta]

I once did a "favor" for someone who owned an upscale shop in the next town over from me.  She had bought two baby sweater sets (cardigan and afghan) from someone on Etsy.  They were both made from Debbie Bliss cashmerino yarn.  The "afghan" was the size of a small burp cloth.  She got in touch with me to make her something crib sized - two afghans to match the sweaters.  She wanted the same yarn.

 

The yarn cost $200!!!

 

Now that yarn is WAY thinner than the yarn I like to work with so I needed a much smaller hook and the stich/row count was the same as a large afghan - it just was smaller because of the yarn.  The afghan fit a crib so it's not like it was receiving blanket size either!

 

I told her that it took me just as long to make those two small afghans as it would have to make two adult size afghans and I charged her $100 EACH to make them. I TOLD her it would be $100 each to make them before I started and she said ok and when I went to deliver them she asked me how much like maybe I was going to lower my price so that she could make a profit on my hard work. Of course she never called me again but I really don't care because I sure as heck wasn't going to make them for free and it's not my problem that she chose such expensive yarn in the first place.

 

I dont' know what she quoted the woman who originally ordered them and I've no doubt she lost money on the deal but again - my time is worth something and I didn't even charge her minimum wage for my time.

 

Also - another lesson here:  IF you ever make something for someone - get half your money up front.  This same woman the winter before asked me to make her a bunch of scarves - she even picked styles and colors.  She doubled the price of what I asked for and didn't sell one of them so I got stuck with 30 scarves that I had no use for.  I'll NEVER do that again!!!  My daughters and their friends had some spiffy scarves that winter!

[RoseRed]

I agree with wheat here. 

 

The inability to get paid for what my time, effort and skill is worth are some of the major reasons I don't sell finished items. 

 

I made a couple blankets to auction off for a fundraiser.  I had one woman offer me $50 for a 5x7 ghan.  I told her that that wouldn't even cover the cost of materials and I'd throw it in a bonfire before I accepted that price for my work.  She had the nerve to be insulted that I didn't think her offer was good enough.  Hence the bonfire comment.

 

What I've noticed - for me - is that if I do make something in exchange for money and I undersell myself I end up resenting it.  I hate working on it, I don't want to work on it and (this is the big one for me) I do think that 'energy' gets wrapped up into the item itself - the same as prayer shawls.  If you believe that you prayers can be wrapped into a shawl than why wouldn't someone believe that the negative thoughts can as well?

 

I've had quite a few people to ask me for afghans.  For those that I'm willing to make something for I'll generally tell them that we'll go yarn shopping together, I'll let them know what I'm comfortable working with and they can purchase the yarn.  It's amazing how many people back out of it when they find out that I expect them to pay for the yarn.  Last time I checked - I don't have a yarn tree growing in the back yard.

[Addicted2patterns]

I just want to thank you all for your input. I responded back and told her $80...now she's going to do it herself. Oh well...guess she thought she'd get it done cheaply.

[acraftylady]

$80 seems low to me.  I would charge at least $100 or more.  I know someone that does baby blankets with the fancy edgings and she gets $100 or more for those and she has enough customers to keep her busy as they are willing to pay.  Mary

[Granny Square]

Sorry Mamarose, I was thinking the 20 hour estimate came from  the original poster.  But we were both thinking the same way, to figure the cost per hour.  I would have guessed way more than 20 hours for a large blanket, unless one chooses one of those multi-strand mega-hook patterns.  More hours, of course, would reduce the $ per hour.

 

If the requestor has a pattern in mind, maybe the OP could swatch a bit of it with scrap yarn, then measure the time it took to complete x square inches (after the learning curve if it's a complicated pattern), and try to extrapolate the time that way, adding in estimates for finishing, etc.

[spiritwalker]

I crocchet on consignment for a few people. Whatever the yarn costs my fee is 3 to 5 times the cost of the yarn. 50 percent upfront and the remainer when the item is deliever. my fees vary on the pattern

and yarn, and if the pattern needs to be translated or adapted. Good luck with your project.

[mamarose22]

I really don't know if 20 hours is enough time.  I knew it couldn't be less.  I just wanted to give an idea of what was involved.  You can always check out Etsy to see what they get for twin size afghans.  A lot of the afghans you see on Etsy are "Vintage".  That means they are used and may have been purchased at garage sales etc. 

Just bear in mind that you never really get much money for hand crafted items.  Any one here who rents space at craft shows will tell you that.  You would have to be in a very upscale area to get the value of your time. 

[Granny Square]

Do you think you can make such a large blanket in 20 hours?  That would be $4 per hour for your labor. 

 

20 hours sounds rather short to me (5 days if you crocheted each evening for 4 hours, hmm) but we are all different and it would depend on the pattern and yarn.

[Addicted2patterns]

Well I know it will be time consuming and currently I have the time. She is thinking between $35-$50 but that doesn't seem worth it with the time it will take. I think $80 would be reasonable given as I won't be buying the yarn. Does this price sound within the standard of time consumed? I want to help out I just don't want to push or ask for too much.

[mamarose22]

It sounds like you are to make an afghan for a twin size bed.  That will take a lot of hours.  First of all, are you willing to spend that many hours on this project?  If you can do it while watching TV, you might not realize how much time it will take to make the afghan.  I would think it might take upwards of 20 hours. (Just my guess).  Figure out what you expect to be paid per hour and if the person would be willing to pay this amount for your labor.