I've finished two of my three aprons which made me grumpy over the old orders issue yet again. It's entirely my fault: I charged £10 for the larger one and £7.50 for the smaller. After taking into account the cost
of fabric and thread (machine applique eats thread!), I'm valuing my
time as being worth around £2 an hour (that's $4 to my American friends).
Will I ever learn my lesson and either say no or ask for a reasonable sum?
Or am I doomed to sit at my machine cursing and snarling like a fiery ball of pure resentment once a year?!
Your satin stitching is perfect Sarah! I'm not as good at it as I used to be in that I no longer use the matching colour thread if it is going on a cream or white background because it costs too much and I've made the satin stitches wider apart. You need to buy such good quality thread for satin stitching too - whenever I have used cheap thread it has snapped and snagged and I've snarled - a LOT!
I know what you mean about remaking the same things over and over - I used to keep getting orders for the same patchwork blanket with a seaside theme until I had to say no in the end because I had just had enough!
Good luck with finishing off the orders. Lucy x
Posted by: Lucy Locket-Pocket | December 12, 2007 at 06:02 PM
Oh God I can totally relate to this. I find myself agreeing to doing things for nothing and then getting wound up over finishing it when I'd rather be doing something more fun and inspired instead. Our time with kids is so precious too that you need to enjoy what you do. Can I just say you could have charged way more for those personalised designs - they are totally fabulous!!
Posted by: Ruthanne | December 12, 2007 at 07:34 PM
I totally hear you! Pricing is the absolute hardest part in my opinion.
That being said, these are so cute and you have done a great job!
Good luck with the rest, try not to snarl too much, I think it creates wrinkles :)
Posted by: Betsy | December 12, 2007 at 10:20 PM
Sarah, those aprons are just adorable. Sorry you're not making much on them -- think of them as your charity work LOL! And your mitten garland is just too cute!
Posted by: Thimbleanna | December 12, 2007 at 10:42 PM
oh my. I'm so with you on this one too. I don't know if it's because we're so unsure of ourselves and our skills or it's because people assume that handmade stuff ought to be cheaper than store bought one. I don't know.
But those aprons are so worth more than that!!! They're gorgeous!!
Posted by: monica | December 17, 2007 at 08:21 AM