I finished hand-stitching the binding on the first evening of my trip, yay!
Here's the finished product, front and back:
I really really like this baby quilt, and here's why:
1) it has some neat fabrics:
2) the stippling goes very well with the backing fabric print, which is swirly:
3) the floating coins pop just as much as I had hoped:
4) but the best is this amazing see-through effect when I hold the quilt up against the light!
I hope some baby will have fun with this quilt some day.
I'm making all these baby quilts to sell and make a bit of money to pay for all my fabric purchases (though I haven't bought anything in ages after the buying frenzy earlier this year!).
I'm considering opening an Etsy shop but have some concerns about it:
1) customers can't see my work before they buy it; I mean, yes there are photos, but you can't check out every detail online, you can't feel the quality of the fabrics etc. I'd feel horrible if a customer is not satisfied with their purchase!
2) what if an order get's lost in the mail? I thought about this one and I could offer optional shipping insurance so that everything can be tracked (I've had some bad experience with an online order that never arrived...)
3) How do I know how much to charge for a quilt? Is there a formula? Do I just pick a number?
Do any of you have experience with selling quilts? I'd love to get your input!
.JPG)
3 comments:
I too have worried about the ETSY store questions as well as had some different ones of my own. I'd read that quite a few people start out with some small pieces to get their ratings up before they sell larger items because many people are hesitant to buy big purchases from those with lower ratings.
I've never sold a quilt. The only lady in my mom's guild who sells and also turns a profit makes one extremely custom quilt a year, think art quilt meets patchwork. She goes over every detail with them as she works. She sells a little larger than a wall quilt for 800-1000 but she adds lots of hand work.
I've also heard through another friend of my moms that quilts aren't selling as they were a year or so ago. Recession!
For me I would ask no less than 275 per baby quilt because I do everything by hand.
I think list one and see what happens. If I ever get one completed this was my plan and if it sat for six months to a year I might consider taking it off etsy and seeing if you could start establishing a local customer base first. Maybe ask around local quilt shops if you could put up a free flyer on a bulletin board with a pick of the quilt and maybe try craft fairs.
I think it's an excellent idea. I too would love to sell something just to get a little more fabric money. ;)
look at other people's etsy shops to see what they are listing their quilts for - a lot of them are only selling very small quilts - like anywhere from 30 x 30 to 50 x 50 inches. Prices I have seen range from $80 to $250 mainly - these all seem to be machine made some have more quilting than others. I have no idea if they are selling. I suppose you might be able to e mail some quilters that have these shops and see if their items are selling
Karen
http://karensquilting.com/blog/
I love the quilt but have no idea about selling them. Karen and Serena had good advise.
Crispy
Post a Comment