Your thoughts, if you please

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Your thoughts, if you please - 1/26/2006 11:35:12 AM

softandshy

Posts: 211
Joined: 5/10/2005
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Good afternoon everyone.

I will be moving across the country in a few months to join the Mistress now that she is settled. For the security factor, I would like to have a "portable", preferably home-based job before I leave. Transcription is an option I am trained in but very new at (and rather nervous about making a living with); however, we were brainstorming other ideas as well. As it happens I sew and quilt well. The Mistress has business management skills and is interested in helping with this. She suggested specialty quilts and mentioned that there is a very large and active BDSM community in her area.

This led to the idea of selling smaller quilted pieces, wallhangings and such, about 2' or 3' in size, based on snapshots of relevant items/scenes examined in detail. Shibari holds great appeal for me personally, and an example of a quilt might be a pair of hands (in shades of grey, like a black and white photo) intricately restrained with silky royal blue rope (real rope if I can figure out how to integrate it well enough). I could play up the lighting and the features of the hands so that everything was well defined. Or I could create larger pieces based on photographs provided by clients so that each quilt was completely unique to the purchaser.

So here are my questions: How well do you think lifestyle quilts would sell (based on your own preferences and also on your familiarity with the greater community)? What would you like to see represented if you were interested? What do you think you might reasonably spend if you opted to purchase such an item?

Thank you for taking the time to consider this and respond.

shy

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RE: Your thoughts, if you please - 1/26/2006 11:50:21 AM

FangsNfeet

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quote:

So here are my questions: How well do you think lifestyle quilts would sell (based on your own preferences and also on your familiarity with the greater community)? What would you like to see represented if you were interested? What do you think you might reasonably spend if you opted to purchase such an item?

Why have quilts just for the lifestyle? Make some for everybody. As to what you can charge, you want to add up your material cost, add $10/hour, and then multiply the total by 1.25.

That should get you started.

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RE: Your thoughts, if you please - 1/26/2006 12:21:13 PM

softandshy

Posts: 211
Joined: 5/10/2005
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Thank you FangsNfeet,

I do actually do various kinds of quilts. Variety is good for everyone. Currently I'm working on a pop art representation of a Golden retriever, just a bust repeated several times in vivid colors, for a local auction. I also design and sew vests for service animals. However, in specializing I was hoping to find a new and therefore more open market for myself. To make a living at this, I'm going to need to do something unique, I think.

Your formula for charges is not a bad place to start. I will have to see. Hmmm.

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RE: Your thoughts, if you please - 1/26/2006 12:27:27 PM

JohnWarren

Posts: 1931
Joined: 3/18/2005
From: Delray Beach, FL
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From 1992 to 2003, I ran a web based business selling books, videotapes and toys to the BDSM community. I state that so you can realize I'm speaking from experience.

If you think you are going to be able to survive on any sort of business aimed at the BDSM community in your locality, I'd urge you to think again.

There really aren't all that many of us. I had a mailing list of forty to fifty thousand addresses accumulated over a decade and covering the US and several foreign countries.

When you narrow it further by offering something like handmade quilts, I'd be surprised if you made expenses. Just how long would it take to make such a quilt? Assuming you would want to make only $20000 a year and would want to work about an average work week, you'd have to get a minimum of $10 an hour and that doesn't include your time and expenses in marketing the quilts let alone the material that goes into it.

Libby's done some quilting and I know it's a slow process. Twenty hours gives you a two hundred dollar item and you'd need to sell a hundred of them. Make it three hundred to recover some of your costs and I'd wonder if the market would be as large as ten or twenty items per year.

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RE: Your thoughts, if you please - 1/26/2006 3:40:58 PM

champagnewishes

Posts: 493
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From: Hollywood, CA
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My Mom is a quilter...I don't think I am quite ready to ask her for this particular themed quilt quite yet. For a while, she was making mosaic type picture quilts....they were probably 3' x 4' in size. I would absolutely love to have a black and white bondage scene to hang. Priced at $100 I wouldn't think twice about getting a couple. However, I know the work involved and know that it would have to be priced more like $300+. This then puts it in the "can I really afford this right now?" category.

I don't want to dampen your enthusiasm because I think you have a great idea going here. As a small business owner for 15+ years, I would have to agree with John though. I don't see how in reality, you would be able to make a living out of it. Of course I am of the attitude "prove us wrong"....lol....and i hope you do! Good luck.

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RE: Your thoughts, if you please - 1/26/2006 5:33:31 PM

mnottertail

Posts: 1886
Joined: 11/3/2004
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I am with John on this one, it is not unheard of or freaky to have a boutique aspect (boutique would work, right?) but the consitiuency is not there, homeade quilts are a bomb........there you have a business but not gonna cut a fat hog in the ass...........I think other posters have it right, a quilting shop, perhaps quickies to sell (meaning cheapies) and the hand tied all encompassing ones as the theme......sign every one, then when you die, perhaps your great-great-great-grandchilderen are worth a couple bucks.......you just gotta eat........

In caucus,
Ron

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RE: Your thoughts, if you please - 1/26/2006 5:36:16 PM

MHOO314

Posts: 1850
Joined: 9/26/2004
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quote:

ORIGINAL: mnottertail

I am with John on this one, it is not unheard of or freaky to have a boutique aspect (boutique would work, right?) but the consitiuency is not there, homeade quilts are a bomb........there you have a business but not gonna cut a fat hog in the ass...........I think other posters have it right, a quilting shop, perhaps quickies to sell (meaning cheapies) and the hand tied all encompassing ones as the theme......sign every one, then when you die, perhaps your great-great-great-grandchilderen are worth a couple bucks.......you just gotta eat........

In caucus,
Ron

Hellooooooo its called EBAY---heck you can even sell you blood stained quilting needles there--

< Message edited by MHOO314 -- 1/26/2006 5:37:07 PM >

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RE: Your thoughts, if you please - 1/29/2006 7:34:38 AM

softandshy

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Sorry I haven't responded sooner. I wasn't able to get to a computer for the past few days.

Thank you for your opinions. The honesty is much appreciated (the votes of confidence are as well). Perhaps I could do some more generalized sewing for a quick/steady income and keep the quilts as a sideline (and yes, a regular storefront/craft booth is an option). I don't want to give up on the idea of lifestyle quilts though because I do still think it's viable, even if it is as a sideline. I will have to consider it further, see what happens if I produce a few samples (calculate time and expense more closely too).

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