What Should I Charge?

[Elle]

A woman that my husband does work for from time to time has an afghan that was made by her grandmother that is very precious to her. He came in at lunch today telling me that the afghan has a hole in it and the woman wants to know if I will fix it for her. She said she doesn't care what it costs, but I want to be fair! I don't want to overcharge her just because this piece is precious to her, but by the same token I don't want to undercut myself because I know it's going to involve some work to fix this thing. I haven't yet seen the piece, she's going to bring it over tomorrow, but I kind of wanted to get an opinion as to what I should do with regard to the cost of these repairs. I'm also hoping that I have yarn in the correct weight and color for the job, but I'll deal with that when I see the piece. Thanks in advance for any help y'all can give me on this!

[Miss Crochet]

I would charge the cost of the materials extra. Then I would suggest a fixed hourly rate and note down exactly when you start and stop working on it, so you have an itemized breakdown of the amount of time you spend on it. I would take care to make it clear to her beforehand that it is time-consuming work (many non-crafters seem to assume the work is done overnight by fairy hands, haha)

 

How nice of you to do something like that!

[Alaina]

Just a general question, how WOULD you go about fixing a hole in a crocheted item, other than to re-crochet the whole item or one section of it?

[RoseRed]

Take a look at it - it might be easier than you think. If it's too much you should also feel able to tell her you don't want to take on the job. It really depends on the piece.

[CLLinda]

I've done that kind of work for friends. It depends on the hole, and how you go about fixing it.

 

One of the projects I did was that it had seperated from one color to the next, so I was able to just put in a row of single crochets connecting both sections and then just going around the whole blanket. Kind of changed the project a bit, so I did that again in a couple of other sections. It looked uniform then.

 

As for what to charge, I usually just ask for a McDonald's gift card in the amount they think it should be. It keeps me in coffee and I am happy.

 

I made for a little girl a simple cape out of material and a piece of cording. Her mom asked what I wanted to be paid, and since we work together, I had the girl and her mom fix me lunch. It taught the little girl that she could do something nice for someone that did something nice for her. (She was 5 at the time)

 

But each case is different. Look and see what's needed. It could be very simple to fix.

 

[Elle]

Thanks, everyone, for the advice.

 

I think what I will end up doing is looking at the piece, and if it looks like something that I can do, I will do it, let her know how long it took me and how involved the work was, and then just tell her to give me what she thinks it's worth. That way, I'll get something out of it, and she won't feel like she's being charged an exhorbitant amount of money because it will be her own decision what to pay. She apparently knows the value of handmade items, otherwise the piece wouldn't mean as much to her as it does. Or, if it's not a case of her knowing the value, there's enough sentimental value attached to it to give it worth in her opinion.

 

If it's too involved or I don't think I can do the job and do it well, I will apologize to her and tell her that it's beyond my scope. I would rather do that than make the problem worse by trying to do something I can't do. Since the piece is so precious to her, I don't want to worsen its problems, either.