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Earning Cash By Quilting

Are you a non-professional quilter or a part-time quilter looking to earn some money from your quilts? Are you having a hard time selling your quilts? If the answer is yes, then check this out.

Author: Kirsten Stone

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Are you a small scale quilter or a part-time quilter looking to make money from your quilt work? Are you having a difficult time selling your quilts? If the answer is yes, then read on.

Research the market before you begin
If you are serious about turning your quilts into money, it's very important that you study the market before you begin trying to sell. Studying the market helps you discover what types of quilts are currently in high demand. As soon as you find out, you may think about making those quilts which are in high demand in your area. Doing so makes selling your quilts easy while getting a good price for your quilts.

People who take quilting only as a 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 reasonable amount of revenue from your hobby quilts.

Pricing
Determining a price for a quilt consists of a few steps, the first one is market research which you should have already done before producing a quilt.

Keep track of the time you spend
The second step in pricing should be done during the creation 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 each of the steps in making a quilt (preparing the pattern, piecing, basting, quilting, binding, putting your sewing room back in order after the quilt is completed etc.), then calculate the total time taken on all these steps and divide it by the size (in sq.ft) of your quilt. Now you have the time taken to make one square foot of a quilt in that particular type.

Figure out what your time is worth
The next step in pricing is determining the cost of your time, or deciding how much the time you sped on a quilt is worth.

If you are a relatively new quilter or if you are doing an unskilled job then the minimum wage might be between $6.00 and $7.00 per hour. If you are a seasoned quilter or performing difficult tasks, then your time is worth significantly more than that. Something on the range of $10-$15 per hour would be reasonable rate in this scenario. Nevertheless, it's truly up to you to decide how much your time is worth. The market research you had done can help you in making a decision about this. You may also contact other quilt makers in your area and discuss with them regarding this and then come to a conclusion.

Quilt appraisal
An appraisal is a document about the value and other specifications of a quilt. Things which might be included in a quilt appraisal are, a description of the piece, a defined value, system used in determining the value, the purpose of the appraisal (sale or resale, insurance requirements, IRS requirements, division of property etc.) and the signature of the appraiser.

Selling
Once your quilt is done, you would probably want to sell or market it so that you can generate your revenue for the time and effort you had put in sewing the piece. Amateur quilters, new quilters, part-time quilters, or someone doing quilting as a hobby usually discover that the promotion of their product is tougher than the production. So let's list some quilt promotion methods which can be very helpful for the quilters that want to make money.

Quilting brokers and shops
It's difficult for hobbyist quilters and part-timers to open their on quilt shops and sell their quilts there. For these types of quilters it will be useful to look for other options for promoting their quilts. There are quilt brokers and handicraft shops who would be glad to offer for sale your pieces upon paying a cut. It should be easy for you to find such brokers and stores in your area and sell your quilts through them. When your products become popular and the demand for your products increases you might want to step up to larger scale or full time quilt work and think about directly marketing your products to customers.

Selling your work at internet auction websites
Another option available for amateur or part-time quilt makers is to list their quilts on internet auction sites. There are many of such sites available out there. Such sites make it possible for a quilter to seek an opportunity to sell the product at high price. Some of these websites even give you options to sell your products at a fixed price instead of listing them for auctions. It's up to you to figure out if you want consumers to bid for you product or just buy it at a price you specified.

Some websites might even allows you to specify a "Minimum Bid" so that you can prevent your item from being bought at a lower price than you see fit. This is a really effective way for part-time or hobby quilters to sell their quilts.

Some other quilting related income sources
There are many other ways to earn money from quilting related things. Below are two of such which require a certain level of knowledge.

Offering quilt classes
If you are an advanced quilter and don't have much time (only a few hours a day) to spend on quilting, then you might wish to choose this avenue. You could find some institutions teaching quilting and contact them offering to run a quilting class for beginner quilters. If you have a unique quilting technique of your own about which you can teach classes, it would be much easier for you to get a contract as a quilting teacher. Another option is to offer quilting classes at your own home. You might use your spare time like this and you should be able to generate good enough revenue from this.

Designing brand new quilt patterns
If you are someone who is good at making new and unique quilt patters, then you can easily make lots of money selling them as demand for fresh quilt patterns will always be high. For marketing quilt patterns of your design, you could use the same methods described above for marketing quilts.

Like in any business, if you use 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.

About Author

Kirsten Stone is an avid quilter. You can find some of her posts at http://www.quiltingboard.com/forums/show/120/5.page

Article Source: http://www.1888articles.com