Buy Handmade Quilts Extra Quality
When purchasing a handmade quilt, your customers pay for all materials used and pay you for your design time and labor from start to finish. A lot of time and effort goes into creating a quilt, which should reflect in the price you put on your work.
buy handmade quilts
If you are not comfortable with or do not have the time to finish a quilt yourself, there are hundreds of longarm quilters who have an entire business based on quilting (finishing) quilts for others.
Hi Miriam, thank you for the pricing guideline. Just so happens that a person wants to purchase one of my quilts that won 1st place and Best of Show. I now have a fair idea of what to price it at. A little nervous as I have never sold a quilt before. We shall see how this turns out.
Cottons, batiste and old wools as well as rare selections of silks are all fabrics we are likely using at this time. Some of our most intricate designs are in the small quilted patterns used as wall art. We also have beautiful pieces to throw over a favorite chair. Unique pieces of art when displayed on a wall make the whole room come alive. Take a peek at a few selections of small quilts and wall hangings on our website or stop in our shop to peruse the wealth of colors and patterns.
Bettina Havig: Only wash a quilt if it is cotton and then only if absolutely necessary. A gentle bath in a tub can do wonders but also can do damage. Make all repairs before washing. Use a gentle detergent (no soap) and dry flat, if possible, making sure that the weight of the quilt is supported. Because lifting a wet quilt puts huge stress on the fibers, lift it with a sheet or fiberglass screen under it. Squeeze out the water as you would a fine sweater; do not wring it. Never dry-clean a cotton quilt. Most silk/wool crazy quilts cannot tolerate the dry-cleaning process either.
Visual Appeal: Buy quilts that speak to you, that appeal to you on emotional and visual levels. Are the color combinations interesting? Does the quilt make a statement? If displayed on a wall or bed, does the quilt grab your attention?
Bettina Havig: Many good resources are available. Clues in the Calico by Barbara Brackman (EPM Publications; 1989; out of print, but used copies are available through online sellers) is one of the best. So many aspects determine a quilt's age that it takes experience to make a determination. One clue is fabric. Looking at good photos of dated quilts can be a great way to build up some dependable knowledge. The style and size are also important. Extremely large quilts are often older than one might suspect. Quilting motifs can help, but regionalisms can fool you. Just because a quilt shows wear doesn't mean it's an antique. Remember that a quilt is only as old as the newest fabric in it.
Bettina Havig: If you are collecting quilts for possible resale, use may affect the value. If you are using and enjoying family quilts and are careful to be kind to them, then using them seems to fulfill their basic purpose. To protect them, keep pets off, do not wash them frequently, and avoid long exposure to direct sunlight or artificial light. Store them at a living temperature and environment-not in a hot attic or damp basement. (If you don't want to live in the environment, neither does your quilt.) Do not store a quilt in plastic. Textiles need to breathe so clean sheets or pillowcases work well.
Hang quilts so they are evenly supported across the top edge (a rod or dowel in a sleeve works well). If folded and displayed on a chair, shelf, or bed, take the same precautions. Rotate the quilts you have on display several times a year.
Be sure the fabric is not in direct contact with unpainted wood or paper when in storage. Both wood and paper have acids that eat into fabrics over time. Plastic bags do not let your quilts breathe. An old pillowcase or well-worn sheets are excellent for protecting your quilts.
When stored, quilts should be refolded occasionally in different ways to prevent the fabric from breaking along the fold lines. Wash them only when visually soiled; they do not need to be washed when only displayed carefully and/or stored.
Bettina Havig: The condition of the blocks may be the best answer. There is often a reason why tops or blocks never became quilts. Handling old tops and blocks can make matters worse. My personal preference is to leave both tops and blocks as you found them, as a collection. A really special block might deserve archival framing. If the assorted blocks are square and well-pieced, it's fun to make a sampler quilt. The fun comes in designing a setting that can include all of the various block sizes. This way you can use the blocks and preserve them at the same time.
I love your idea of letting whatever fabric you find at the store influence your next project. I would like to buy a quilt that is made this way. Maybe I could pick out the fabric or have someone randomly pick it for me. -queen-quilts
The QuiltBroker has been your first choice for buying traditional patchwork and contemporary quilts made by individual and independent American quilters since 1997. Quilts are made to be used, enjoyed, and handed down from one generation to the next!
We sell one-of-a-kind', hand and machine made quilts, designed and created by American quilt makers. Some of our quilters are artisans, quilt designers or teach quilting; others are professional quilters and many are also grandmothers and great-grandmothers.
Our accomplished quilt makers are in keeping with the finest traditions of American quilting since the first English and Dutch settlers arrived from Europe. The earliest quilts of the colonists were an integral part of their everyday lives, providing warm covers for beds, and hung over the windows to keep out the cold. Early American Quilts were primarily utilitarian; today they are both utilitarian and creative works of art to be used and enjoyed for their beauty.
The American quilting tradition of making utilitarian bed and nap quilts continues. Our mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, and other previous generations have enjoyed quilting throughout American history. The ART of Quilt Making is an exercise in patience and a labor of love resulting in a useful, enduring, thing of beauty and work of art.
Buying a quilt from The QuiltBroker.com is a very personal and rewarding experience. Our quilts are works by fine artisan quilt makers, quilt designers, professional machine quilters, and accomplished seamstress, who specialize in quilt making. Many of our quilts are unique original designs. Several of our quilters design quilts professionally and also teach quilting. Quilting is more than a hobby - it's a passion, made with love, with untold hours invested in making each quilt. It takes great patience and perseverance to finish a quilt.
QuiltBroker.com quilts are typically one-of-a-kind and some of our baby and children's quilts also include a small "tooth fairy" or "critter" pillow, matching the quilt, much to the delight of a child who receives that fun quilt as a gift. American made quilts are typically washable, unlike many of the imported quilts which require dry cleaning. We also have information about how to care for your fine quilts, plus information on how to store quilts.
What is the best size for a quilt? Well, that depends on how you plan to use it, and the size of you bed if using it as a throw or coverlet. Some quilts can be used either lengthwise or width-wise; other quilts cannot. It depends upon the design of the quilt. Quilt sizes can be flexible because they are not just blankets. Quilts are decorative pieces of art that can also serve the very practical purpose as bed coverings.
If it is a sofa quilt, or lap-throw quilt, the size is less important. Throw quilts for beds (sometimes folded at the foot of the bed as a decorative accent piece, or used for naps) can vary in size to suit your needs.
If the quilt is to be used as a coverlet, it needs a drop (from top edge of the bed to cover the mattress by a few inches) on the two sides, plus the foot of the bed, if there is no foot board. Quilts do not need to tuck-in at the foot of the bed, and coverlets do not cover the pillows. Pillows sit on top of the quilt. Use pillow shams or solid color pillow cases for pillows on top of the quilt, to compliment the colors in the quilt. Coverlet size quilts are often used with solid color dust ruffles, which can be purchased commercially, to cover the box springs and bed frame.
We do ship quilts to Hawaii, Alaska, Canada, Mexico, and overseas, but additional shipping charges will apply, for which you will be billed separately and additionally. Payment of all foreign duty and taxes are the responsibility of the recipient, and if quilt is a 'gift' to be sent overseas, the buyer will need to contact the recipient, in advance, to alert them that a package will be arriving via Customs, in countries where applicable.
Our fair trade Kantha quilts blend contemporary design with traditional techniques. Featuring bold geometric patterns, each cotton quilted throw is handmade using layers of buttery-soft organic cotton or vintage saris.
The quilts created by Pennsylvania Amish women are some of the most sought-after bed coverings. AmishView Inn & Suites welcomes visitors from around the globe who travel to Lancaster County hoping to learn more about the Amish and to shop for these treasured works of handstitched art.
Some members of the quilting group have volunteered to make the quilts for the raffle. Kathy Gilpin, a member of the group and a Winter Texan who visits Port Aransas each year, has delivered the quilts to Port Aransas.
I sell both handmade and the supplies to make things handmade. Pricing supplies is certainly easier in some ways than pricing handmade but in this post I will be talking about pricing handmade quilts. This was a topic request that came in on my reader survey. 041b061a72