Unless you have been living under a rock for the past week you have seen Abby Glassenburg’s post on all the money that is NOT filtering down to fabric designers from the large fabric houses. Â Add that to Sam Hunter’s writing on the We are $ew Worth It movement, stir the pot and watch the revolution boil up into a full flung movement that has everyday quilters asking how they can make a difference.
Now contrast this with an interaction I watched grow via Facebook last evening. Â To set the scene, a small business announced on FB that they were starting a new monthly club selling kits for an adorable monthly project with the price of $47 a month. To be clear they were OFFERING this, not demanding, swindling or tricking anyone into anything.
They made a simple offer which included all of the yardgood and precut fabric, notions, patterns and instructions each month, mailed to you so it was delivered with well enough time to complete the project for use the next month.
What came next blew me away!
Now I will say that I watched this post with interest since I am a shop owner, and the project kit is similar to items I could or might offer to my customers, so watching the waves of negative responses to what I saw as a reasonable cost for a cute project kit kept me hooked and watching the comments for a good part of the evening – a digital form of rubber-necking at an accident, I suppose. But it also made my “spidey-senses” tingle, as this being yet another piece of the larger puzzle of how consumers play into the fact that designers as a whole as paid so poorly. I get it that this jump is not as obvious as some, but just hold tight and I will see if I can explain.
It went down like this ~Â 
The offering in question was a kit to make a 12-month series of pillow covers for a “bench pillow.” Â For those who don’t know what a bench pillow is, it is a 3-foot long and 1.5-foot high pillow, much like a body pillow, but in this case used to put on a sofa or front hall bench. In this case, they are kits to then make slipcovers to celebrate each month. The price was $47 a month, including priority shipping. Most of the commenters raked the offering company over the coals for a price that was deemed “outrageous,” “excessive,” “gouging,” and many other superlatives too numerous and negative to mention.
But let’s look at the cost shall we? Â $47 a month.
First off, postage is going to be $6 for priority shipping, not counting any packaging going into putting the kits together.
The retail cost of the pattern is $10, so basic math get us $16 of the price before we even get into the fabric and notions.
The pillow is rather large and they send both the front and back fabrics for the pillow, so there is 1 yard right there, and at common quilt store prices that is $11.50 at least.  So now we we are at $27.50.
Next up is the complete selection of pre-fused, laser-cut design elements for each part of the design. On average, these patterns use 10 fabrics and 20-40 pieces to make up the whimsical designs. How much is this worth? Well, the company being lambasted has sucked up invested quite a bit upfront to make these kits. Let’s consider the cost of the fabric, shipping it to the laser cutting people, paying the charge to get it cut, having it shipped back, and then dividing and repacking all the elements. So not only is this supply cost, but man-hours as well. This part of the package is full-on convenience that allows those with busy lives to make a cute project easily each month without the hours of prep time this project would normally take. Â Let’s be conservative and say that this is $15 of each package cost. That has us at $42.50.
Add to that the included notions, advertising cost, and other ancillary costs of production, and I can bet you that these far exceed the measly $5 we have left until we hit the offering cost of $47, and yet people felt entitled to rip these people a new rectal orifice for the fact that they had the balls to price their offering at a fair market price that enabled them to take the risk, buy the supplies, pay their workers and make some sort of profit (since, HELLO, that is what it is.. a business!).
You’re right HOW DARE THEY!  ahem ……. are you getting it now? Hell, I did not even go into some of the other costs I can think of that have bearing… the rent, heat, light and water of  where they work, the cost of even having employees, (paying fair wages, taxes, insurance and more).
Could this project be made for cheaper? SURE IT COULD, and they are not stopping you. They are just offering a fast way to make a cute project doable during all the crazy that is our lives these days. They are doing it to make a living, no different than you or me, and the fact that people choose to throw a fuck fit about it ties back into why designers are paid so little. (See I am getting there!)
The Upshot~Â
It seems that as a nation, we have decided that everything should be available to us at a discount. That somehow, by the very fact that we breathe, we automatically deserve somewhere between 1o-30% off retail pricing every day, and it is just not true. Retail pricing is there for a reason. The difference between the wholesale (read that as RISK) I pay and the price I charge has to pay for everything else that it takes for me to be able to have it to sell it. If I and others like me were not taking the risk (and it is a HUGE freaking ri$k, don’t think anything else), then no one would have a source of fabric to fondle, thread to ogle, and notions to noodle, or much of anything else, for that matter!
So, the truth is that each time a consumer “refuses to pay retail,” they put each of us in a difficult and dangerous position. For each person who walks out of my store, or any store, because I don’t have a sale section, or it is not deeply discounted enough for their liking (yeah, totally true), then that is less product I can buy from those fabric housse for which the “sale only shoppers” have so little respect, only buying such items at a discount. That leaves designers only able to ask for and get so much money for their work. It is an ugly cycle that has a whole hell of a lot of misunderstanding about how business works and who is making money where. (Sure, there are a lot of other reasons for another day.)
How you can help~
Quilting and sewing is a luxury sport, no doubt about it. No one is doing this to put clothes on their body or to stay warm at night, since we all know that clothing and quilts can be found for much cheaper in any big-box store in the nation (yeah, lots of wrong there, but there is only so deep I can dive right now). I am not saying that when your local or ethically run online store is having a sale, you should not giggle with glee, whip out your debit card, and go wild. What I am saying is to shop where you love and support the designers you adore by purchasing as close to local as you can and from a shop that shares your desire to make this industry better with each transaction. In short, vote with your dollars, knowing that how you use them makes a difference greater than your fabric stash.
I worked for a quilt shop for short time and they try your keep prices reasonable. Your are right the cost of fabric includes all the overhead things like rent utilities staff taxes cameras because of shop lifting and other thefts. I don’t think people realize that the shops lose 3 to 15% or more when we the consumer use our debit or credit card. At my local quilt shops I try to use cash or a check. I have been finding meanspirtitedness on some of the Facebook sites and I usually scroll past it unless it it’s really bad. Then I report it to site administration and block that person with the vendetta. I have also found that some of these people are not sewers or quilters or crafters. I enjoy your log and site and the long distance views of your shop
As the one-time owner of a quilt shop that had to close recently for economic reasons, I wish every customer I used to have would have to read your post! So sadly very true.
I used to think that the attitudes I ran into had to do with the fact that so much of our industry is based in the work of women whose labor is severely undervalued (not to mention their creative contributions). I am glad (relative word here) to hear that this kind of attitude happens in other industries, too. Clearly there is a problem with small business in general. Sigh.
Not only the general public is out-of-sync, though. The main reason my shop had to close was the unrealistic expectations of our landlord who did not understand small business – our rents were kept artificially high as the management company was accustomed to renting (in other locations) to lawyers and doctors and thought any small business should be able to generate the same kind of revenue.
Linda
I get the breakdown if it were a one-month project. I think you completely skipped the point that it’s $564 to make ONE bench pillow. The pattern and the cutting and packaging could be done all at one time. If people want to pay $6/mo or $72 JUST in shipping, instead of buying it all at once or going through a LQS, that’s their own deal, I agree. And I agree that there’s not much money to be made, but only for the first month or two. The notions, packaging, cutting, etc. is all one cost that would take all of the profit out of the first month or two, but why wouldn’t the rest be profit? Maybe I’m missing something, but $564. $564. For someone to think that a $564 bench pillow is something people are looking for is out of touch.
I forgot to add, I completely and wholehearted agree with everything else and the main point in general, but that seems like it should be mentioned or addressed to make a complete argument in my mind. Maybe I am confused (hopefully).
Noooo it makes 12 bench pillow covers, and different one each month 🙂 🙂
When I had my quilt shop I felt that since people were blasted with sales all the time from all those big stores that they felt I should be doing the same thing. I tried to keep my prices as low as possible to survive and pay my employees. People don’t understand that you can’t discount below your cost. They also have to remember that you have to add the cost of shipping to the discount price of the fabric you just bought, sometimes bringing the cost of the product back up to a similar price.
I for one believe in supporting our local businesses. This seems to be a little known fact, small business owners are not rich. Does that surprise you. You might really be surprised to know how many people resent the small business owner because they believe they are rich. So therefore owe everyone sales and something for nothing. Well guess what they are trying to pay their expenses and feed their families too. I applaud those who love what they do enough to work 24/7 to bring a product or service to the rest of us. I agree with Maddie about the $47 price topic. More importantly , if you don’t like the price don’t buy it. If it is convenient for you and you want to spend your money great. No need to bash about it. This is not big business bashing or scheming. Small business owners, artists, service providers have expenses and overhead we can’t even imagine. Not to mention the government issues and insurances. They are our neighbors, family and friends. They are real people. The only way they get a raise is to raise prices which they try to keep to a minimum because they care about us. They do not get cost of living raises. This is America and I say we need to buy local and support people who live here. I want them to still be here, still care about us, and enjoy their work and families. I’ll bet each and every one of us knows a business owner personally. The local market, hairdresser, tire shop, farmer, landscaper. Why should hobbies be any different. If the economy get tougher who do you want to support. People who care about me get my vote.
Right on! I agree. I support local and designers!
This hits home to something I overheard at a JoAnn’s the other night. I was there buying some fabric, and the woman in front of me at the cash register was asking if the store would be getting more of some item in. The staff person told her “we’ll be getting in 72 next week. Would you like us to hold some for you?” The woman immediately complained (and continued to complain), “but they won’t be on sale next week.” I bit my tongue, desperately wanting to tell that woman she was not ENTITLED to the sale price and that the store probably wasn’t charging enough for the item in the first place.
Amen! You spelled it out so clearly! Someone just complemented me on my shop yesterday and said that it must do quite well, and something else about money that I cannot remember, but whatever it was elicited an answer from me was that there would be no way for me to have my store if my husband’s job did not support me as I do not make a living wage. Part of the reason I don’t make a living wage, maybe, is that I choose to employ several other people because I believe that good customer service is one of the most important things in a well run business, so rather than have too few employees on staff so that I can make more money, I choose to go with less money myself. My entire customer base should be thanking my husband for their local quilt shop being in business still.
Another reason though, is that the cost of fabric and the shipping we pay to get in our fabric, have gone up as the willingness of customers to pay full retail has gone down.
Also, just yesterday, one of my regular teachers told me how the little guild that meets in my shop once a month wants her to take over leading it (the last “leader” just moved away) and asked her to teach something next month. When she suggested a table runner out of a book she was working on during the sit-n-sew time, and they showed interest, she said everyone would need to buy the book so she needed a count for me to order them. They asked Why? and suggested that she could just teach them from her book because she was not selling anything from the book just teaching them. Incredible how everyone wants something for nothing!
Thank you for addressing this issue!
Good article…could have skipped the “F” word…it did not help the emphasis. But agree with the problem. I am a consumer not a shop owner.
Sandy, thanks for taking the time to comment. Hearing from consumers as well as shop owners gives us a better appreciation for how the whole issue shakes out. I am sorry you were offended by my use of the word fuck, for me it is a brilliant word full of the intense if not ironic emotion, conflict and the frustration I feel when the situation warrants it. I do not use the word on the blog of others but feel comfortable using here in my own online home and hope you can look past it and feel genuinely welcome here anytime.
I would invite anybody who didn’t want to pay $47 of the kit to go ahead make their own. Keep track of the drawing and design time, making the templates, the 10-12 different fabrics at retail, and of course the assembly time and don’t forget any special notions needed. Without even considering postage or handling I bet you can’t do it for that price. And of course keep track of your time doing all the prep before you sew.
The thing I DON’T GET is why someone would fight the price of an object rather than just simply not buying it. A kerfuffle over quilt patterns- how low we have sunk.
I agree with what you said about the cost in everything. I LOVE going to a quilt store to shop. I don’t do kits (think my hubby is getting one for Christmas though) cause they are expensive. I hunt for the pattern and fabrics to make up my own kits. I might spend more but my tops won’t look like everyone else’s either. I do calculate the cost per month, start up fee and postage. If I feel that I can handle the cost then I go for it. Added bonus is I make great friends with the shop owners cause I always buy more then I really need, i.e. I end up with a big stash of fabrics that I like. I do try and find ugly fabric for mystery quilts because they turn out so pretty but that has to be sale price. Seems like someone from my guild is always coming up with scrap patterns and I find I just have to join so my stash goes down a bit. Just my 2 cents.
I think there’s actually a deeper issuer here to do with material culture. The buy it now, throw it away tomorrow attitude that seems to pervade everything – and when you have that attitude you don’t want to pay what it’s really worth because it means you can’t ‘throw it away’ tomorrow – you actually have to value it. And let’s be brutally honest here – getting stuff for cheap doesn’t just put people in the US, the UK or Australia out of business: it keeps women in third world countries, where fabric is often produced, in dire poverty – we squeeze their livelihoods with every cheap product we demand, and unlike us, they don’t have the opportunity to find another job.
As quilters I think we need to ditch the idea that we have to hoard lorryloads of fabric for no reason; if we buy what we need, when we need it, surely paying a good, fair price wouldn’t be so painful to our pockets anyway? And $47 a month sounds bloody cheap when you consider the amount of people that $47 is meant to sustain.
I applaud your comments. This may have been the buy it pitch it age. That needs to change. What do we really believe in and what is important. Our people. I know there are many quilters who can’t afford any fabric. That is where we need to share in quilt guilds, as friends, as quilters. We in total have enough to buy local, share , care and make quilts.
I think there’s actually a deeper issuer here to do with material culture. The buy it now, throw it away tomorrow attitude that seems to pervade everything – and when you have that attitude you don’t want to pay what it’s really worth because it means you can’t ‘throw it away’ tomorrow – you actually have to value it. And let’s be brutally honest here – getting stuff for cheap doesn’t just put people in the US, the UK or Australia out of business: it keeps women in third world countries, where fabric is often produced, in dire poverty – we squeeze their livelihoods with every cheap product we demand, and unlike us, they don’t have the opportunity to find another job.
As quilters I think we need to ditch the idea that we have to hoard lorryloads of fabric for no reason; if we buy what we need, when we need it, surely paying a good, fair price wouldn’t be so painful to our pockets anyway? And $47 a month sounds bloody cheap when you consider the amount of people that $47 is meant to sustain.
i Understand your frustration as a shop owner. You are finding your market shrinking all the time. Sewing has become such a luxury that more and more people are being forced out of participating. Some of the patterns at $10 seem to be nothing more than an exercise in paper conservation with a cute picture on the front. I regret spending $10 on most of them when I see what little effort was put into them, minimum instruction and reduced images etc. Fabric $12. a yard this year next year $14? To make a simple pillow case is $18 fabric, matching thread $5, pattern $10 =$33.00. All that overseas cheap labor sure doesn’t make good quality quilt fabric affordable to most people. I love your wonderful fabric goods vs the stuff at Walmart or hobby lobby but I can’t afford to buy it as much as in the past. I want you to succeed because I love going to fabric stores but I love going to the grocery store also and they too are raising their prices.
I don’t own a shop, but I support the LQSs in my area, buying fabric at full price because I get the fabric I want and can actually match fabrics instead of looking at a computer screen. However, I buy online too when I want something not available locally.
When I started quilting and was building my stash, I focused on sale items or bought from the big box stores. Now I know better. I spend more to get what I want. I don’t want the local shops to go out of business. I love going in to see what is there and buy new fabric. I even buy patterns even though I really cannot understand them at all.
I cannot imagine taking out my phone to take a photo of instructions. How unbelievably rude! Read that comment and thought — you have to be kidding me — unfortunately, I am sure she was not.
Honestly and truly, I think this is an oversimplified view of “retail prices”. As consumers, we’ve been trained our whole lives that “retail” is simply the over-inflated price to cover the cost of sales, coupons, and other add-ons. I absolutely hate it. Every time I walk into JoAnn or other modeled store and I can’t buy what I want because I don’t have the right coupon I get pissed. Every time I stand behind a lady with a bag full of secret 25% off coupons paying way less than I, I have to leave what I’m buying. Not because I have a problem paying full retail, but because I have a problem not getting fair and square pricing and I don’t believe full retail is fair. I could not have been happier when JCPenney introduced the fair and square pricing with no coupons, 6am sales, and other crap. Then it failed miserably. People hated it, were pissed, and generally quit going to the store. They suffered big time sales losses fired the guy that came up with it and went back to the old world way of overpricing, then coupon-ing.
Sewing machines are honestly the “used car” sales item of the world. They never advertise prices, always discount from MSRP, have “show pricing”, “sale pricing”, and “secret back door pricing”. One shop here will give 20% in your birthday month. When I wanted a machine in October, they refused to discount it. Wait 6 months or buy somewhere else. Stupid. The manufacturers manufacturers scare retailers so much, you can’t even call shops for price comparison shopping. Know what that means for me? My LQS can’t sell me a machine. I’ve reverted to a “web available only” policy for machine shopping. Hate it for my LQS, but I can’t support manufacturers that create distrust among myself and my local business friends.
My overly long-winded set of examples is just to make the point – I can’t image the average US consumer accepting retail, not questioning pricing, or always assuming nefarious intentions without big change from the big boxes and manufacturers.
(Note, To be clear, I dont think the price or the product is a problem. If I like it, I’ll buy it at full price. If I dont find value in pre-cut pieces or the patterns, or the fabric, or whatever has the perceived high price, I just don’t buy it. The maker can charge whatever they want.)
Oh – nice site upgrade. Looks like DIVI. Cool right?? I have a few sites that use it. So much easier than all the hand coding. 🙂
I know it seems like retail is an over inflated price but I am willing to tell you what I pay for fabric as a shop owner. Normally, once I pay for shipping to get it to me, fabric costs me close to $6 per yard (that is regular quilting cotton). Even at full retail of $10.50 to $11 per yard I am making at the most $5 per yard. I have to have staff in my shop 2 people per day (I haven’t taken a wage in 4 years by the way) and where I am minimum wage is $10 per hour. That is $140 per day if I am open for only 7 hrs (not including all of the insurance I have to pay for them etc). The shop costs $86 per day for rent and utilities. Then I have my costs for my website, newsletter, alarm, phone, credit card processing, shipping which can sometimes be over $300 a day (I give discounted shipping for which I pay full price)…. and a host of other things. Let’s just count what I said so far though. Just rent/utilites and payroll. I have to sell 45 yards of fabric a day to break even. That is at full price… when most people go through the sale fabric first of course (as we all do)…. Anyway… you can see that there isn’t a huge profit in those so called “Inflated retail prices”.
PS. I know that you were talking about the coupon discount people and not specifically about retail prices being too high. But I did want people to know that retail prices in this instance are not really high enough. So this wasn’t a rant about you. 🙂
I hear you, loud and clear. I didn’t mean to insinuate that your prices were made up and unfair. I was really talking about how retailers (on a whole, big boxes to boutiques), have trained consumers that full retail is a starting point by using sales, coupons, overruns, closeouts, clearance, etc. I’ve heard conversations where people basically said, if you’re paying retail, you’re an idiot. There are stores, warehouses, internet sites, and shopping groups that devote their life and brand to “not paying retail”.
Then you have stuff like this:
http://www.joann.com/sulky-super-solvy-roll-7-7-8inw-x-9yds/4673935.html#q=super+sulky&start=3
vs. Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Sulky-Super-Solvy-Soluble-Stabilizer/dp/B00023KJ42/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415587492&sr=8-1&keywords=sulky+super+solvy
Interesting right? Both roughly 40% off. One is on sale all the time, one is on sale all of the time with coupons. Both are still far lower than retail. Why can’t both stores just charge $15. All the time. No games, no bullshit.
Honestly, even though I’m not articulating it well, I’m totally on your side. I’d love to see a world where business are able to earn business by being awesome and treating their customers well rather than volume discounts or the craziest pricing schemes.
In this particular instance, the price for the kit seems like a fair price to me, even before you broke it down. As a matter of fact, I’ve purchased a few of these types of kits for my kid who loves them. It is worth the cost of the labor to keep her checked into these types of projects. I hope it works and gets people thinking about a what they are buying and how they are contributing rather than what the “best” price is.
Thank you Maddie! You nailed it! People don’t understand the risk, costs & hard work that goes into any small business!
I am a longarm quilter, and I know a lot of people would not pay to have their projects quilted. They think that the price is too much (wish I could explain the expenses to them like you did above). Part of the problem, I think, is that quilting is NOT an inexpensive hobby. Quilting has evolved from women saving every scrap of fabric and buttons they could get their hands on from clothing, using other old blankets as batting, and hand quilting. I remember my grandmother having a quilt made of old clothing. I also got a jar full of buttons that were cut off of all their clothing after it was worn out. Hand quilting is free, but most people don’t do that anymore. And what good are a bunch of unfinished quilt tops that are stored away but not quilted? I guess at least they get pleasure in making them and thinking of what they might do with them if they were finished.
Unfortunately, as other people have commented, our economy is a real problem. For many people (me included) their income has stayed the same or gone down over the years, and the price of everything keeps going up.
I love to support my local quilt shops. Nice article. I just hope some of those complainers take the time to read it.
So happy to see this post – I completely agree!
I sympathize with everything you say. But I don’t think it will get through to many people. I think you might be missing a couple of big changes in our consumer/business society that are at the root of this attitude.
The first is online buying. Amazon is a big, big, big source of this…remember last Christmas when they actually suggested shopping a store for price, then ordering from Amazon? This has already driven hundreds of small bookstores and the once-giant Borders chain out of business. “Why should I pay at all?” started with Napster. People who kids then really couldn’t understand why it was illegal to download artists’ work without paying at all.
Second, in the last 1 5-20 years actual wages have gone down , unless you are at the very top of earnings. This makes people feel squeezed and they get used to feeling they must buy only at discount or on sale.
I’ve had versions of these conversations for years. I don’t see the attitude going away. Probably the only improvement will be when/if there’s a shift to fuller employment and better pay. Till then, everyone is going to try to get things as cheap as possible. I am not saying you are wrong in anything, but the few of us who actually think about this and avoid Amazon and other businesses that threaten small shops aren’t enough to make a difference.
Cheryl in San Antonio
Oops – sorry – must not have closed that bold tag –didn’t mean to bold more than one word!
thank you, Maddie, for being brave enough to keep these conversations going. They are so very important. As a shop owner trying to stay afloat in these very trying times, it is wonderful to hear your voice. Maybe we should break down the costs of a single bolt of fabric. I think people would be amazed.
We are the ones who teach you to sew and quilt. We help with fabric choices. Help to choose the needles and notions. Provide a supportive community center to hang out. Often, we host guild meetings for free. And employ people who need jobs. But it is hard work, folks. And the margins are slim. That is why so many shops have shuttered their doors.
Let’s all step back, take a deep breath and play nice in the sandbox.
sad but true. This mentality seems to be a problem in many areas of business, even outside of retail, it seems like people will do anything these days to get what they consider to be the lowest price. Our family business deals with it all the time. Contractors that we work with lie, cheat, manipulate, and downright steal… Just to get the price that they want. We can’t sustain business(s) operating in this way, and in the long run everyone suffers.
Glad you wrote and posted this. There is so much for all of us to think about here. And this doesn’t just apply to the quilting/sewing industry. We need to think about our local economies and try to shop in the local, small businesses. Maybe we don’t need to buy so much crap. Maybe we can get by on a few high quality items. Our economy is doomed if we don’t all participate.
So well said! Thank you!
I blame Walmart. When I first started quilting, my own husband asked me why when I could buy a blanket cheaper. Our whole society, me included, has gotten spoiled by the dirt cheap goods offered on the backs of children in other countries. If we had to give that up, and only have available to us products made by Americans making a living wage, it would cripple us as a society. I obviously can’t buy as much as I would like in the way of quilting supplies, but I have accepted the standard retail price of quality quilting products and work with that.
I recently moved to an area with several nice shops, from a rural area with the nearest shop about 90 miles away. There are two stores near me which I try to support, one which I call my “happy place.” The owners are very nice, and they carry bright, modern fabrics. But I also buy online when prices are deeply discounted on items I want. I do my best to support the local quilt economy because I want these shops to succeed.
Preach it, Sister!
I work at a small sewing machine dealership. The elderly owner has lower prices compared to comparable shops which are nearly 2 hours drive away and is the only place for even further away that will work on the junky machines sold in the big box stores or on machines bought online for which there is no local dealer and people still gripe about prices. Though to be fair many appreciate his skill and our customer service.
Sadly, the shop may not be profitable enough to remain open once the current owner retires and then where will folks get their machines serviced and repaired? Had one lady come in today whose machine (not one we sold her) was improperly threaded and she had messed up a bunch of settings in the process of trying to fix it herself. After 20 minutes of me working on it, she pretty much tried to step out the door with just a “thank you” as payment. When we told her the charge was $5 (!) she said she had to go get her purse— clearly, she had thought we work for free.
Trend-spotting guru Faith Popcorn calls one trend that applies to the quilting industry “Affordable Luxury”. I think that with many people there’s a huge disconnect between those two words! While quilting has its roots in those frugal housewives of earlier times, it now has about as much relationship with frugality as the Martha Stewart magazine does on the average domestic life. Both paint a certain picture of what many want life to be, but the reality isn’t quite so simple.
Thank you. There area so many people who undervalue creative work, be it the designer’s work or the quilter’s.
When people ask me to make them a quilt they nearly faint when I quote cost because they can buy one at the big box store for $xx,so why am I charging $xxx or $xxxx. They do not realize the cost of materials, or consider the cost of my time.
I think this mentality evolved over the last 15-20 years when manufacturing moved to China. The appeal for US companies of cheap Chinese labor to offset high US labor costs was very alluring. This is the consequence.
One of my guild members posted about this on Right Sides Together like a month ago. She wrote about people selling fabric for way under retail price and how it was really harmful to shop owners. Glad to see this is becoming a big talking point all over the industry.
well put! How sad that people expect a considerable amount of work to be done for them but expect to pay next to nothing.
Let’s face it. People want to pay Walmart prices everywhere they go. We live in a throw away society now. Pay low prices for cheap, crappy goods and replace it in a short amount of time. Don’t get me started. If I had a choice in this small town on an island, I wouldn’t even go there. I have started to see a movement back to made in America for higher but still reasonable prices lately. Not really available where I live unfortunately. I would rather shop on line for good quality, well made merchandise that lasts. Our Walmart took out the fabric dept. to expand electronics. It is, after all, the only place in town to by tvs besides the CG base. There has been a big impact on local mom and pop businesses here since big W opened 14 years ago. Local businesses have tried to improve in other ways: improved customer service, extra discount for seniors, etc.
I support you 100%. I am one of the people who had a positive comment on the shops post. I have ordered several kits and items from this same shop. I also signed up for the pillow BOM. I thought it was reasonable. The customer service is fabulous and well worth the price. I did work in a shop and understand everything that goes into creating kits. I wish if they were going to be mean and/or negative they would just keep their comments to themselves.
You go Girl! My husband and I are small business owners in the truck accessory business…talk about want something for nothing! Geez!!! We get people who buy online and then want us to install it. So we hit them hard on labor! Why not? You bought it, if it doesn’t fit, parts are missing, etc. you still have to pay for our labor! And being a quilter, I don’t mind paying a good price that saves me time and energy because I work all day and am raising three grandchildren. Most likely the people bitching are the ones with the most money!!!!!
I am a quilter and own a flower shop . we have had potential customers buy flowers at the grocery store and bring them into our store wanting us to arrange them. Clearly people do not value skill, education, and talent. We charge them the same for the arrangement as if the flowers were from our cooler and make them sign off a line that says “I do not hold this shop responsible if my flowers wilt too quickly”. They look dumbfounded when I say that is how we will do it if they want their own flowers. I think this is where politics come in. Capitalism, Business isn’t taught at all and really hasn’t been in 20 years in schools. My nieces and nephew never had a “shopping” day, where they were given play money and a budget, and never were taught how to count money. I don’t know about everyone else here, but I was taught those things in gradeschool. We have a systemic problem in our country. How do we fix it?
Words from a designer: http://boingboing.net/2014/11/04/molly-crabapples-rules-for-c.html.
Well thought out info, Maddie. Thanks for addressing the topic. Another part of this…how about how people want all their patterns for “free”…and the designers who feed into their desire? Makes for an even tougher climate.
MADDIE……It is not your job to make their hobby affordable!
Hugs…..
As a quilt shop owner that has decided to put this very project kit in my company’s offerings for 2015 – THANK YOU! Your post is spot-on. We make and sell lots of kits, but we sell a good bit of stand-alone patterns for those who wish to do their own thing.
I have decided that you can be lazy (OMG, with this kit I don’t have to spend any of my valuable time selecting fabrics, figuring yardage or making any other kinds of decisions, and I know exactly what the resulting project will look like) or cheap (OMG, who in their right minds would pay a 25% premium to have everything carefully selected and packaged for them when you can do it all yourself much cheaper by spending all your time trolling for sales).
You can’t be both. Those who want to be both live in a delusional world.
Why would you not realize the cost of everything included in the kit and the costs of putting a kit together? I cut kits for a small local quilt shop a few yrs. ago and it is work! $47 a month for a project is not horrid, yes it is expensive but where else do you get so much fun for $47 a month? I shop sales and I love sales but get real—-the shops have to make money to stay in business. BTW, I do not have a lot of extra money to throw around, I am very selective what I buy. I will buy patterns and pick and choose my own fabrics but if it is a complete kit and I like the kit– I will or would pay $47 a month. I have been sewing and quilting for eons it seems and prices go up along with everything else. The last kit I purchased was 4-5yrs. ago and it was $39 a month for 8months—–I love the quilt and I could not have purchased everything included in the monthly kit for $35. Roxie
Maddie…. Thank you so much for the article… I have been designing jacket patterns and vending at the wholesale and retail shows for 18 years. The Houston show was my last show. I can’t continue this business with promoters gouging us with unreasonable booth fees and consumers wanting everything at a discount. I’m so sad that my livelihood has to end… But as a single woman, I have to make enough money to live.
Before this, I had a quilt shop and had to close it as well. What the consumers don’t understand is… the first half of the bolt sold goes to paying off the bolt. The second half goes to paying all the bills with a tiny amount left for us…that is, if the second half of the bolt ever sells… Ladies…think of your local quilt shop… How many 1/2 bolts are on the shelf? This is the reason why your shops close… This is the reason your show vendors are quitting…
The few young people that are quilting and sewing are sharing their patterns with each other for free on Pinterest… I’ve even had people open the patterns and take pictures of the instructions with their phones… When I stop them they say… But I don’t want to buy this pattern when I can do it myself… Great…but I will no longer be at the shows for your to see my wonderful samples, patterns, and fabrics because you don’t need us anymore…
We are taken advantage of all around…and all we want to do is help you be creative… I hope those like Maddie can get through to this industry before we all end up like me… Out of a job…
hmmm… maybe the people who were criticizing the kit price haven’t been in the workforce lately? Maybe they don’t go shopping and just have no idea of what things cost and how much people get paid. It’s a long shot, but I’m trying to understand WHY these people wouldn’t be supportive. I think getting a pre-designed kit with all the fabric for $47 is a STEAL. It usually takes me about 2-4 hours to plan out a pattern – to me (a graphic designer), that’s $80 -$160 of savings (in time spent) when someone else does that work for me. It seems obvious to me that the criticizers do not value their own time.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is a well-thought out, honest perspective that brings a whole new element to the debate. As consumers, we cannot expect everyone – designers, store owners etc – to be paid fairly if we don’t appreciate the costs involved in getting the fabric to us. We are all responsible for this revolution and consumers have to step up and take responsibility rather than bitching about how unfair it all is.
While the internet is a wonderful thing, it certainly has opened up a massive mentality of getting everything for less, and in many cases free.
PS: This is not just limited to the United States, I am in Australia and it is rampant here too.
THANK YOU. Brilliant article. So sad it needs to be written. Sadder if won’t reach those who really need to read it.
Less “than” not “that.”
If I were to assemble everything to make these pillow covers, I guarantee I would end up spending more. It’s like all those magazine teasers that you can make this or that thing for “less than $20.” Does it ever end up costing less that $50? I think not.
Oh well. I agree with you on this. I would like to hear from the poor bitches who were forced to buy the kit at gunpoint.
Laurie… I’m a shopowner who makes kits. I don’t know of any owners who get distributor pricing on patterns… wholesale, if we’re lucky is 50% of retail, and may or may not include shipping.
You are correct in that most shops purchase patterns at wholesale prices. When they are going to laser cut the fabric for the patterns, they often ask for distributor pricing to help offset that price? I only mentioned it because the article states the patterns are bought at retail. I don’t know of any shop that pays retail for patterns, so it shouldn’t be figured in as such if you want to be accurate. I am sure it was an oversight.
I don’t see what you are missing here. All the calculations were at retail price. The whole point is to explain how much it would cost the consumer to purchase each element thus giving the retail value of the kit
I am a retired quilt shop owner and I have gotten ‘below wholesale prices’ on patterns when I have ordered at least 100 patterns at one time. Just confirming that it happens.
Just for clarification, from my experience in having my patterns kitted by companies or stores, most of them only pay distributor or wholesale prices for the patterns. Most distributor pricing is 60-65% off of retail.
Laurie, I have never encountered an opportunity to buy at distributor pricing ( as a retail store I buy at wholesale), but even if I did there would be no reason for me as a retail establishment not to sell at the MSRP since if I sell for less than that I am therefore undercutting others in the business and that is never my goal. I laid out the amounts in retail dollars since I started with postage which I don’t get a break on but I could as well have done all the calculations at wholesale and added time, and then doubled the price and the price would have been even higher. Really the whole thing is not any different than those who think we should quilt for less than a living wage or the problems that come about when those who are just doing it for “kicks” and hobby drastically undercut those who are trying to make a living from their machines. There are no easy answers.
i don’t know when i have been this misunderstood….but i will try to clarify one more time…i never meant you should charge less than msrp….not sure how you came to that….anyway, as a designer i have been asked many times by bigger quilt shops as well as fabric companies to sell at distributor rates when they are actually kitting the patterns….maybe you should ask, it never hurts…i have done it more than a few times….works for everyone as long as there is quantity…i know other pattern designers have been asked as well….
As to why i commented and brought this up at all was because you were making a point of calculating out the costs to the shop owners to make a point of why a kit costs as much as it did…i totally agree with the whole premise of what you are trying to convey….however, you misspoke when you started calculating the cost when you said the starting out cost was 10.00 for a retail pattern…it should have been less because no shop buys at retail and then sells at retail…at least no successful shop. That is the ONLY thing I was trying to convey….
No worries Laurie and no hard feelings AT ALL on my part. I get what you are saying about the patterns and I could have worded that better for sure. On my part I was listing all retail costs involved in creating the kits, of course the patterns were bought at wholesale since a fair profit it the goal. 🙂
Thank you, Maddie! I see so much greed anymore and people wanting stuff for nothing. I suspect the economy in the past 5+ years has something to do with it, but it still makes me sad.