It's Spring! Time for the assholes to bloom.

[Kanalah]

Wishful, you can hand sew a patch over the holey part(s). No machine required. I've done several antique quilt repair jobs. Best part is that you can sit on the couch, watch a movie and sew.

XCashier, I have started a series of purple elephant quilts. I raffle them to raise money for the Alzheimer's association.

[WishfulSpirit]

Thanks! I do actually have a sewing machine, I've done some fixes on the quilt already doing that, but it needs several patches and some edging.

[redsox33413]

Aren't our jails overcrowded enough?

Back on topic.

RE: the guy who called you a scamming ethnic epithet--I don't know if I should admire the chutzpah (hah!) or pity the stupidity that goes into demanding a 90% discount on a handmade quilt.

Yes, they are indeed. I firmly believe there needs to be a reboot of the penal system, but they won't listen to a lowly minion like me that handles such paperwork for a living (all other discussion I will take to fratch-land). It makes me want to have a drink with Jester, then go home and wrap myself up in one of Kanalah's quilts! (That I would pay full price for, not haggle over handmade!).

[KuariKaydrith]

I knit and it is unbelievable how people think you will make something for them for free. I do make baby blankets as gifts, but I have had people say "Oh can you make me one of those?". Sure you want hat/gloves/shawl/cowl/blanket? Let's go pick out the yarn you want and I charge between $20-$50 for the actual work. Oh the whine flows! "I have to buy the yarn???? Don't you just have some laying around?? You want paid for the work? How much work can it be?" That is when I inform them that I will gladly teach them to knit so they can whip out an 8 color cowl in, say oh..10 minutes (2 weeks) or a pair of cabled fingerless gloves (at least a weekend if I have no other plans). And of course, they want crap yarn from Wally World..sorry, my fingers will not touch that crap nor their cheap metal needles.

Been there, done that, but with crocheting instead of knitting. I do know how to knit but it's really hard on my wrists so I tend to crochet a lot more. And I do most of it at work between calls or chats. This leads to people assuming that because I'm doing it while getting paid to sit on my ass at work that I should not charge them if I make them something. Um, how about no? I still have to buy the yarn and I'd like to at least recoup that cost back. And if it's something bigger like a sweater or blanket I will take that project home to work on as well so that I can join the pieces on a flat surface and block everything out correctly.

I'm not completely against crap yarn but if it's some no-name mystery content yarn I will not purchase it to 'keep costs down' or if it's supplied I will warn the person that I cannot guarantee the quality of the work due to the quality of the yarn. I tell most people that if I will not buy it for my personal projects that I would never recommend it to other people either. Except perhaps if they are just learning how to crochet/knit and don't want to fork over a bundle of money right out of the gate, especially if they decide that they don't like doing crochet or knitting anyway.

[Kanalah]

My mom crochets and sells it for cheap. She used to work at a call center and she'd crochet during calls to stay sane. She quit her job to take care of Gma with Alzheimer's and now she has to live (somewhat) on what she earns from crocheting baby sweaters. She still doesn't charge what they're worth. *sigh*

[AyreBiskits]

i used to cross-stitch but i gave that up when i discovered computer games (WoW, EQ2). i loved creating pictures with string. my mom paints fantastic pictures but i just couldn't get my pictures to even look decent. but my cross-stitch pictures were awesome. i usually gave mine as gifts to family and friends, i never sold them to anyone. i only have 3 of my own pictures on my walls but i still liked to cross-stitch. so my local framing shop would let me know if anyone had pictures they needed to fix, mostly because they needed it for a wedding gift and they just gave up on it. i know i was doing the work for far less than i should have charged but there is no way someone would pay even minimum wage for the hours i spent fixing their goofs.

but now i make jewelry, and omg, i expected the same "cheap" customers but when you have a table that you paid money to set up with your work to sell and have people ask if you have anything free to give away is so not amusing.

[FenigDurak]

Kanalah, you are worth every penny you charge. I still nap regularly on my pillow covers and get compliments on them constantly.

Edit: goddamn you autocorrect

[Seshat]

Ditto on loving Kanalah's work. I have a lap quilt she made for me.


Re repairing the old quilt: if you can manage it, consider using the old one as a wall decoration, and making (slowly, probably) a new quilt with a similar pattern; with new fabric.

Sadly, the old fabric will only become more and more threadbare as it's used. It's not something anyone can help: it's caused by the friction of the threads moving against each other (and against bits of dirt, even such microscopic bits of dirt as the salt from dried sweat).

The Smithsonian institute has a page about preserving beloved old textiles.

[BlaqueKatt]

I wish I had one of my grandmother's quilts, made during the depression, they were filled with old winter draperies, 4-6 panels per quilt.

[Aragarthiel]

I've never been very good at arts and crafts, which makes me sad because I have a bunch of my daughter's onesies I'm saving up to make a quilt out of. I'll probably have my mom do it, she's good at sewing and things, but she's a bit of a procrastinator.

[Kanalah]

I've made quilts out of clothes before. >.>

Each of my kids has a box that they put favorite clothes in and when they turn 18/move out/ college they will have a quilt of all their favorite shirts from when they were growing up.

[Crossbow]

Kanalah, your work is fantastic and worth every penny you charge. Someday I will commission you for a quilt.


Only once have I ever given an artist/crafter grief for their prices, and that was because I sincerely thought they were asking too LITTLE. I'm sorry, a hand-knitted baby blanket for $8? Are you kidding?

The knitter laughed and said she's retired and knits all day, pretty much without thinking about it. She sells the blankets not so much for the money, but to keep from being smothered by them!

[Kanalah]

Some good news. Looks like the racist guy was kicked off Etsy.

[Sarlon]

I've got a bunch of old shirts from ones I've out grown, or they've gotten so holy the church is considering taking them from me.

Last time this happened I was going to boarding school and mom and I made a quilt out of them.....a simple 9 panel quilt, with batting in between, and colorful fabric behind. It included scraps from an old blanket that mom would take to my sister's ball games and spread under the trees somewhere so i could play somewhere quietly.

sadly that quilt long since died from over use

Now I want to do it again and am even willing to do alot of the work myself, but i don't have a sewing machine to stitch it, or the skill to quilt it

[Seshat]

There's only one way to acquire the skill. And basic sewing machines aren't THAT expensive - you don't need a fancy thousand-plus-dollar "quilting" machine to get started with.

Your initial quilts will mostly be straight lines; so get some old wrapping paper that's stripes and crosses and diagonals (or new paper, if you have no old stuff), and without any thread in the machine, practice hitting the lines precisely. Practice hitting the intersections precisely, as well.

Then make practice quilts with stripey fabrics. Inexpensive, but not the horribly cheap stuff that will distort. Gingham patterns on simple cottons can be good.

Your next stage is to draw on your fabrics with chalk or disappearing ink and follow those lines. Some people quilt their whole lives with chalk or disappearing ink lines on their quilts.

After that, you'd have to ask Kanalah what to do next. But at that point, you should be fine to make yourself quilts for your personal use!