Quilt pricing calculator

Calculator

The numbers in the form are placeholders to show how it works. Replace every one with your own.

How the math works

The last line catches a lot of people out. A shop that takes 30% takes it from the price on the tag, so adding 30% to your price isn't enough: $1,042.80 plus 30% is $1,355.64, and 30% of that is $406.69, leaving you $948.95. Dividing by 0.70 instead gives a tag price that leaves you the full $1,042.80.

Filling in each line honestly

Materials

Count everything that goes into the quilt at what it would cost to replace today, including fabric from your stash. Backing and batting are often the most expensive single items on a large quilt. Include the binding fabric and the thread. StitchTested's fabric guide helps you total the yardage, and the thread calculator estimates the thread.

Hours

Time yourself on the next quilt, from choosing fabric to the last binding stitch. Include cutting and pressing, basting and the label. Hours are the easiest line to underestimate, and a low guess here drags the whole price down with it.

Hourly rate

This is your decision. Your area's minimum wage is one floor; what you earn at your day job is another. Either way, the calculator keeps the labor line separate so you can see what each hour is worth in the final price.

Longarm

If you send it out, use the quilter's invoice. The longarm cost calculator estimates it from your quilter's rate per square inch before you go.

Overhead and profit

Overhead is the cost of being in business at all: needles, rotary blades, machine servicing, electricity, a share of your tools and selling fees. A percentage of the subtotal is a simple way to spread it. Profit is what's left after every cost, including paying yourself the hourly rate; it's what lets you buy a new machine or survive a slow month.

Checking the result

The calculator shows the price per square inch when you enter the size. That number is useful for comparing your own quilts with one another: a simple throw and a detailed one of the same size should come out at very different rates per square inch, and if they don't, the hours are probably off.

It also shows what the selling price leaves you for each hour of work after materials, longarm and other costs, before overhead. If that's lower than the hourly rate you entered, the profit percentage is too low to cover overhead.

What the worksheet can't tell you is whether anyone will pay the price. Compare it with similar quilts sold where you plan to sell, and decide whether to change the design, the size, the market or the hours. A price below cost is a gift, which is fine when that's the plan.

Common mistakes

• Pricing from materials alone (two or three times the fabric cost, for example). It ignores the hours, which are usually the biggest line.
• Leaving out stash fabric because it was already paid for.
• Adding the commission instead of dividing by it.
• Forgetting selling costs: market booth fees, online platform fees, shipping.

Related pages

For a commissioned memory quilt, the T-shirt quilt calculator gives the yardage to price. A quilt sold with a care card does better on arrival: see how to wash a quilt, and sew in a label with your name.

You might also like

• Longarm quilting cost calculatorSquare inches and quilting cost at your quilter's rate, with the minimum charge and any add-ons.
• Setting triangle calculator for on-point quiltsSide and corner triangle cuts, counts and finished size for blocks set on point.
• Template resize calculatorThe printer percentage to enlarge or reduce a template or paper piecing pattern, plus a printable table.
• Half-square triangle calculatorCut sizes for half-square triangles, hourglass units and flying geese, by method.