Thursday, 18 April 2013

My First Commission

I have been asked to make a quilt by a friend in my Reading Group.  Her granddaughter is expecting a baby (of the pink variety) in July, so this will be her first Great-grandchild.  She saw the baby quilt I made for my Great-great-niece and wanted something similar.  That quilt (see here)  was made from a Moda Scrap Bag and I still had half the strips left, so I thought I would use those.  I thought a simple Rail Fence would be a good way to use the strips effectively, and I worked out that if I combined the strips with an equal amount of Kona Snow I could make 30 blocks, each 6 1/2 inches square.  I laid them out on my living room floor and came up with this configuration.


I didn't like it.  It just didn't seem to flow.  No matter how often I changed the blocks round I couldn't build up any enthusiasm for it.  It lacked movement.  So I thought I'd leave it for a bit and come back to it with a fresh mind.  I got on with some hand quilting on Five Star (see last post) and caught up on a few blogs I read.  One blog I love to read is Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville's Quips & Snips.  She had been teaching a class in Pennsylvania using her Strip Twist free pattern and as soon as I saw her photos I realised that the block started off with a four strip Rail Fence block., which I already had.  It is then paired up with another block, cut in half diagonally and then sewn back together again.  There is a lot of movement in the pattern which is what I was looking for.  It didn't take too long to cut them up and sew them back together, and then came the fun part of deciding which block goes where.   This step took me a couple of days as I kept changing my mind, but it's all sewn together now and looks like this:


I'm going to machine quilt and bind this over the week-end, and then I have to decide how much to charge for it.  I've never made anything for sale before, so I don't really know where to start.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday over at. Crazy Mom Quilts.



Posted by at
Labels: , ,

12 comments:

  1. Kathleen 18 April 2013 at 22:33

    I def agree that the second version is much better - what a clever idea! As for the amount to charge, I add up the total costs of all the materials (remember quilting thread and binding fabric), add them up and times by 4 (for time spent). Gives a rough idea and you can see decide for yourself if that sounds reasonable. I'd be interested to see how others do it! Hope this helps! Lovely quilt too :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. joanold19 April 2013 at 10:12

      Thank you Kathleen. that seems a good way to go about pricing it up. It was only leftovers and I don't want to appear greedy, but a few extra pounds will help feed my quilting habit.

      Delete
  2. Gwen19 April 2013 at 15:35

    I've looked at that pattern on Bonnie Hunter's website and just love it! It looks great here!

    BTW, you commented on my blog (http://gwenbru.blogspot.com) and I don't know if you realize that you're a "no-reply" blogger. You might want to try and change that.

    ReplyDelete
  3. joanold19 April 2013 at 16:49

    Oh, thanks for that Gwen. Didn't realise. Not sure what to do but I'll investigate that.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lucy | Charm About You19 April 2013 at 17:06

    I love the way you changed the pattern, it is really striking now! I've never sold anything so I can't help there but here's a link so you can change your blogger profile so people can reply to you:
    http://mummyquilts.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/are-you-no-reply-blogger.html

    You also have your word verification turned on, which is annoying and can put people off commenting - you can turn that off in your comment settings!
    xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. joanold19 April 2013 at 17:43

      Thank you so much for this help. I've now turned off the word verification and ticked the e-mail box in my profile. I can't see my e-mail address being shown anywhere, but perhaps it only shows other people.

      Delete
  5. SuperMomNoCape19 April 2013 at 19:19

    Visiting from Finish It Up Friday at crazy mom quilts.

    Oh what a difference a few extra cuts and resewing can make to a basic block. The quilt looks great and I'm sure will be well received.

    ReplyDelete
  6. joanold19 April 2013 at 20:48

    Thank you. The colours really pop now that I've added a narrow green inner border!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Jean Burke19 April 2013 at 22:15

    Look on Etsy for quilts similar in size and degree of difficulty to yours - and see what they charge. It'll be a range - and maybe pick a price in the middle somewhere - that's what I do when I'm unsure of pricing.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. joanold19 April 2013 at 22:51

      That's a very good idea. Thank you, I will do that.

      Delete
  8. Unknown20 April 2013 at 05:56

    It turned out just lovely! I know they will love it. For pricing your quilt, consider your cost of batting, thread, fabric, design time, sewing, pressing, binding. There are some internet sites that quilters ask over $150 for a baby quilt. I can't remember the finished size I made, but it was about 36"X 48" and I asked for $75.

    ReplyDelete
  9. The Patchsmith9 May 2013 at 07:01

    I love this - I love how you changed the blocks and it adds another dimension. Well done on getting your first commission - I am sure they will treasure the finished product.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)