What is my hard work really worth?
Right — you are in a tough spot because no expectations were set at the start. It’s not really clear from your question whether her original offer of buying you a gift card to Michael’s for the yarn was intended by her to be full payment for the blanket. I really think you might be best off telling her the cost of the yarn (minus an estimation of whatever balls you didn’t use — she should pay for a whole ball if you only used half — them’s the lumps) and telling her the number of hours you spent working on the blanket. She will have to balance her embarassment over only paying you $2.00/hour for really lovely work against her actual financial situation; we have no idea whether she is doing great or in dire financial straights. But because some blankets can be had off of Etsy for $30-40, it seems poor form to me to try to float something like a $100 price at her for the first time at this late stage of the game. Now you know for next time. Be sure to take lots of pictures of your fin
I agree that you are in a terrible position of doing the work before negotiating a price. Whenever someone offers to “pay” me to knit something for them, I point to the item I’m working on, tell them how many hours of knitting it has taken me to get where I am, and then look them in the eye (this is the important part, you have to come across as confident in these matters) and say, “My time is worth $25 an hour.” Granted, I can crochet a baby blanket much much faster than I can knit one. But ten hours of crocheting is still ten hours of work. This has gotten me commissioned to make two Christmas Stockings, which are highly sentimental things, and replicas of family patterns. It keeps the “I want a special baby blanket for cheap” crowd off my back. IF she has any idea what you make at your job (or, maybe easier for her to grasp, what she makes at hers, you might suggest that as a jumping off point for price negotiations. Or you could suggest minimum wage. I am quite clear that the commi
Lord, this is why I will never sell my knitting no matter how many times people tell me I should. Next time, arrange this ahead of time. If I was your (noncrafter, I assume) client, I’d have a screaming cow if I found out you were charging me over a hundred dollars for a blanket and I found this out when it was too late for me to say, “No, sorry, that’s too expensive.” Yes, I know it’s Important To Charge For Labor, and Your Time Is Worth Money, At Least Minimum Wage, Which Means We Add A Hundred On Just For That Alone, but I highly doubt your noob client is expecting to be told she should pay you $200. Hell, I’m a crafter and I would be taken aback, and I do a lot of knitting. The general population has no idea how much money and time these things are gonna take. At this point, I think you’re gonna have to pick a price that’s below what the real business people here will tell you. If you start a business of your own doing this, I would do things differently (at the very least, set thi
This is a topic of much debate among crocheters and knitters, and probably other crafters – if you are a member of Ravelry, you will find a ton of discussion on this very subject. Handmade clothes and blankets often cost a lot more in terms of materials and labor than the price tag of a similar object in a department store. Even at NC minimum wage ($6.55/hr), your labor cost alone is $98.25. My knitter/crocheter friend and I whine about this very issue all the time, in fact – it’s common to have someone say “hey, I’ll pay you $25 if you make me this scarf” when the yarn alone costs $40. I’ve said, half-jokingly, that we should draft an order form involving an estimate of material/design/labor costs, and give it to anyone soliciting our needlework, and see if anyone bites after that. Searching for baby blankets or afghans on Etsy might give you an idea of the general going price for handcrafted blankets, though, again, there is a lot of debate on pr
Upon review, and looking at Etsy, I think maybe I still need some help. Really what I want to know is what you would feel comfortable paying for an item like this. Etsy prices range from $15 to $300 (granted most of the higher prices correspond to really, really artistic creations… but not all). Most crafters that I am in touch with seem to value their time pretty high… but consumers are used to underpaying I think. I want to be fair to myself and the purchaser; and I also like the idea of selling future projects. Thanks lungtaworld for the formula. I think that’s a good place to start.
