How to buy a quilt?
fr8train99
good quilt, I heard him talking about buying a quilt for his bed a
while back.
I have a $300 budget. I really am clueless in this, I don't even know
what a quilt looks like. How do I choose a good quilt? What am I
supposed to be looking for? I mean, what's the difference between a
quilt and some comforter I see at Target?
Thanks to anyone who can help. Meanwhile, I'll go back to google to
get some more info :)
georg
For about $300, you can buy the materials that make a good full-sized
quilt, from a quilt shop. This will not touch labor costs. You may be
able to spend less by getting fabric on sale or with coupons, or other
finds like ebay or estate sales.
What you buy as a quilt at Target or Wally-world is made by really cheap
labor. It's usualy machine constructed and occassionally hand-quilted at
about 2-3 stitches per inch. It will fall apart with regular use within
5 years or less. I have seen these on sale for as cheap as $20 for a twin.
A nice comforter at Target will often last longer than those quilts
because they aren't pieced. You'll notice they are sometimes more
expensive too- but less than your budgeted price.
To make a quilt, one must pick a pattern, figure out fabric needs,
measure and cut all fabric, stitch in the pattern-dictated manner, layer
with batting and backing, do the actual quilting, then trim and bind
off. Just cutting all of the fabric can take me as much 48 hours of work
depending on the complexity of the pattern. The southwestern quilt I am
making for a friend did take about that long to finish the cutting. I
expect it to take about that long to get all of the sewing done. And
probably about the same for the quilting. For just that time alone, if I
was paid minimum wage for my time, it would cost $864 for labor. And
that's doing the thing entirely on machine as quickly as I can. Also, at
my last job, I was paid $15 an hour- and I shouldn't make less just
because this is something I am doing for the love of the work. That's
how much my time *should* be worth. So I ought to expect $6480 for my
labor. And no one should be willing to pay that for a bedwarmer. For
something more complex and done by hand entirely, the costs would be
astronomical. A Dear Jane by hand for instance probably should be sold
for roughly $1,000,000. http://www.dearjane.com
I don't quilt for money and I don't give my quilts to people who won't
appreciate the labor involved. And I won't work on a deadline if I can
avoid it because it won't be as enjoyable. With your friend having a
birthday soon, I assume you need this quilt very soon. A well-made quilt
will last for generations. My mom has my grandmother's crazy quilt, that
she was given as a young girl.
All that aside, you may be able to pick up a quilt on ebay for your
budget. But don't expect anyone here to volunteer to make one for you.
-georg
WhansaMi
>
>> A friend of mine is having a birthday. I'm planning to give him a
>> good quilt, I heard him talking about buying a quilt for his bed a
>> while back.
>>
>> I have a $300 budget. I really am clueless in this, I don't even know
>> what a quilt looks like. How do I choose a good quilt? What am I
>> supposed to be looking for?
Where do you live? If you live near an Amish or Mennonite community, you can
sometimes buy a well-made (smallish) quilt for about $300.
Good luck.
Sheila
WhansaMi
>Where do you live? If you live near an Amish or Mennonite community, you can
>sometimes buy a well-made (smallish) quilt for about $300.
>
>Good luck.
>
>Sheila
Piggybacking: Here is a site of a place in PA. You might find something you
like here. Check out the small quilts.
http://www.amishcountrylanes.com/IEversion.shtml?index
Again, good luck.
Sheila
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Polly Esther
smell the quilt. Very often, the stores' quilts will have an odor that is
powerful and permanent. Also, you will want to feel it. A coarse, rough
quilt might be okay for "just looks" but they would be miserable for a cat
nap. You don't want to annoy the cat. Or hairy-legged lout. Polly
Julia Altshuler
area. It's possible that someone in the guild would be delighted to
sell a machine made quilt for that price. If there's no guild, check
the yellow pages for fabric stores. The owner of the local quilt store
may be able to steer you in the direction of a quilter who has an extra
to sell.
There are whole books written on quiltmaking and what makes a good
quilt. I won't try to sum up everything. I will zero in on one little-
known piece of advice. The non-quilter sees "hand quilted" on the
package material or advertising and thinks "golly, that must be better
than machine made." Wrong! Hand quilted too often means giant uneven
stitches used on badly woven, badly dyed, badly cut and badly sewn cheap
fabrics. Yes, they're hand quilted, but so what? When you're an
expert, you can look for even, small quilt stitches with good fabrics
and good workmanship throughout. Until then, you're far better off with
quality machine quilting done on a sewing machine. That can be short or
long arm.
--Lia
caldw...@webtv.net
all hand pieced and hand quilted....just gorgeous...and sold it for
$2,200. I felt it was worth MUCH more! Nancycog in MD
Kate Dicey
Add another zero to your budget, then talk to the local quilt store...
--
Kate XXXXXX
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.diceyhome.free-online.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!
Julia Altshuler
> For about $300, you can buy the materials that make a good full-sized
> quilt, from a quilt shop. This will not touch labor costs.
I'm doing the math and not getting the same results.
For a while I was interested in making charm quilts. I collected 5"
charms by cutting a 5" strip from each fabric in my stash. I'd save one
for myself and trade the others. In reality, I'd spend money on postage
when trading and bought considerably more fabric than ended up in a
quilt, but let me do the math as though I were in business producing
charm quilts for market. If that were the case, there would be no
leftovers and no postage costs. I couldn't charge the customer for waste.
For a queensize quilt, I'd use 324 5" charms. That's 18 x 18 charms to
produce an 80" x 80" quilt before the borders. The 5" charms become
4.5" finished size. 324 5" charm squares can be cut from 6 yards of
fabric. At $8/yard, that's $48, but good quality fabric can be bought
on sale for $4/yard. Let's say $6/yard. The charms would come to $36.
I used a 5" border all the way around to make the finished quilt 90" x
90" which is queensize. That's another yard for the border. We've got
$42 in fabric for the top.
I get 90" Warm and Natural batting at Joann's on sale for $4.50/yard.
I'll need 2.5 yards, but that's cutting it close so let's say 3 yards
for a total of $13.50.
For the back, 7 yards at $6/yard again. Actually, I'd definitely spend
$4/yard for the back, but I'll round up. $42 for the back. I could
probably get the binding from the extra inches I allowed for the back
when basting it, but I'll say a yard for the double bias binding. $6 again.
I get good quality cotton thread on the big cones for $10. I'm only
getting $113.50 for the materials for a queensize quilt.
I also need space in my house, electricity for ironing, equipment such
as rotary cutter, mat, sewing machine.
With my level of experience and expertise, I could probably cut, sew,
baste, machine quilt and bind that charm quilt in 2 weeks. I've made 6
of them so far. The first took longer. After that, I know what I'm doing.
The materials and labor for a quilt don't have to come to that much.
But here's the part that the general public doesn't understand: No one
wants to work like that! I have no desire to turn my house into a
sweatshop and myself into a minimum wage worker. I'm not going to churn
out quilts for sale that take no creativity, no joy, no fun. I'm a
careful shopper, but I do buy fabric at full price as well as on sale.
I don't keep track of how much I spent for each fabric. Yech. Instead,
I buy what appeals, stay within budget, give it away when I feel like
it, accept gifts when I feel like it, quilt when I feel like it (which
is often, but there are exceptions), don't work towards deadlines,
sometimes spend days deciding on my next step as far as color or
pattern, say no to relatives who think they deserve quilts, etc. When
you take THAT into account, the price of a finished quilt goes up and up.
And that's why I say the original poster might find a $300 quilt from
someone in a local guild or local quilt store. I have charm quilts in
my closet I'd consider selling for that price. (Do NOT contact me. I'm
not selling through this list.) I've been willing to sell them through
a museum store for $500 for me and 25% markup for the museum. They
haven't sold at that price which is why I'd consider going as low as $300.
--Lia
fr8train99
Isn't there a website with pictures showing me what a good quilt is
and a bad one? The stiches per inch? Bad dye versus good dye?
nbhilyard
them to show you what good work looks like.
If this is a good friend--which I suppose since you're willing to spend $300
for a birthday gift--you could give him a gift certificate for a quilt. You
can both go to the quilt shop and choose fabric. The quilt shop folks
should be able to connect you with a local person who'd be willing to make
the quilt for you. (If it costs more than $300, the overage could be your
Christmas present to him.)
Nann
in Winthrop Harbor, Illinois
"fr8train99" <fr8tr...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:ae3e884f.04062...@posting.google.com...
Julia Altshuler
>
> Isn't there a website with pictures showing me what a good quilt is
> and a bad one? The stiches per inch? Bad dye versus good dye?
I can't think of a website, but perhaps a beginning quilting book would
do the trick. The book would be geared towards teaching you to make a
quilt which you wouldn't want, but it would also address such issues as
buying good fabric, using a quarter inch seam allowance, not chopping
off points, choosing a batting, how to quilt, how to get the quilt to
lie flat, etc. There would be pictures along the lines of "like this"
and "not like this." I'll recommend going to the library and having a
look at quilt books.
Perhaps now is the time to warn you. Now you say you're only shopping
for a quilt and trying to recognize quality, but it is starting to sound
like you could be interested in taking this up for yourself. Resistance
is futile.
--Lia
georg
> georg wrote:
>
>> For about $300, you can buy the materials that make a good full-sized
>> quilt, from a quilt shop. This will not touch labor costs.
>
>
>
> I'm doing the math and not getting the same results.
>
I based my figure on the queen-size Southwestern quilt I am making. 6
yards dark, 4 yards light, 4 yards medium plus pattern = 128. Batting
plus the on sale 7 yards backing = 185. Total for materials = $313. +
thread, add another $10.
I did say the materials could be had for cheaper. But you can expect to
pay that much just for the fabric and batting.
-georg
Sudrlg
fr8tr...@yahoo.com (fr8train99) writes:
>
>Isn't there a website with pictures showing me what a good quilt is
>and a bad one? The stiches per inch? Bad dye versus good dye?
>
hi frt train
try www.amishcountrylanes.com
someone else mentioned it earlier. there is a section that does explain this -
called 'judging a quilt'
i don't recall them discussing fabric or dye - but they do talk about
workmanship.
explore their website - you will get a lot of information there - including
pictures and closeups of quilting.
deena - in philly
Julia Altshuler
It sounds like such a simple question, but it is really a little like
asking for a single webpage that can teach you everything you need to
know about buying a car: gas mileage, safety ratings, crash tests,
resale value. Just go to the webpage, learn what makes a good car
versus what makes a bad one, then pick up a good one at the dealership.
Except that anyone who has actually bought a car knows it is
considerably more complicated than that. There are whole books written
on just one aspect of car buying.
With cars, at least there are a limited number of manufacturers, and
there are yearly consumer reports and government reports. With quilts,
it gets more complicated than that. For one example, the old fashioned
rule was that you shouldn't be able to see applique stitches; the
smaller and the more they melted in, the better. But I imagine everyone
here has seen an exception to that rule that she rather liked, maybe
applique done in contrasting thread or raw edge applique. I know I
didn't like the way it looked at first, and now I do.
A better example is dye. Is a fabric supposed to be a solid even color
with no mottled spots, no places where the dye is applied more heavily
than others, no places where it looks faded? That's the standard for
some solids, but quilters have been known to go out of their way to
handdye fabrics precisely so we could get a streaky, uneven, slightly
faded look. Then we pay double the price for that fabric.
--Lia