Outrageous Prices For Handmade Stuff!

[Bunnylady53]

I’m all for people setting up businesses & making stuff to sell but some of the pricing is crazy! Just seen some Ferrero Rocher “trees” for £24! You can get the amount of chocolates needed for around £6 I would say. Anyone else seen silly prices?

Badbilly, OMG, 10 minutes to shorten trousers! If that's all the time it took to do that then I'd start doing it myself!. Probably take me an hour. No way would I only be charging you only £10, you have a serious bargain there. That's going to have me chuckling all day LOL!!

I used to make handmade cards but when you get - for the umpteenth time - 'but I can get one for 50p in my local shop you tend to think 'what's the point?' I have a HUGE amount of costly equipment and even blanks aren't cheap, so I gave up and now use my skills on scrapbooking, which is for me. I did contemplate offering personalised scrapbooks, for 18th birthdays etc, but I know no one would be willing to spend the amount of money I would charge, even to cover costs...

“OMG, 10 minutes to shorten trousers! If that's all the time it took to do that then I'd start doing it myself!. Probably take me an hour. No way would I only be charging you only £10, you have a serious bargain there. That's going to have me chuckling all day LOL!!”

She did an “emergency” one once for me, when I needed them urgently. I was there less than 15 mins, and that included her pinning them up for me. She is very good.

Previous to going to this lady I used to go to an Asian gent who had a clothes shop- he did them while you waited and never took longer than 10 mins. Sadly he died about 2 years ago. He charged about the same.

However, the part of the country I live in has a long tradition of needlework, and maybe from working in busy factories they are faster than normal- I don’t know, all I know is both of them were/ are excellent, and very fast !

Genuine question, how much would anyone pay for hand knitted baby jumpers, hats and booties? I make them for family and close friends and people are always telling me I should sell them. To be fair, the wool involved is minimal but the time and skill is not. Thanks.

I crochet, mainly all sizes of blankets from baby right up to double/alongside .
For double ,it would be at least 30/40 hours which in the grand scheme of things is roughly a week's wages. Would you pay a week's salary for a blanket ? ( not including the yarn ) Tbh I do it as a hobby and have a fair few at home . Sometimes I donate them to charity shops where I've seen them priced up at £8 - £10 which doesn't even cover the cost of the yarn.

Genuine question, how much would anyone pay for hand knitted baby jumpers, hats and booties? in all honesty I wouldn't have bought them for my dc as babies, whether they were handmade or mass produced in a factory, because I didn't feel they were practical items of clothing (my dc sicked up a lot though so their clothes needed regular washing and woolly things are a pain to wash).

I'd have bought handmade stuffed knitted toys though and paid a fiver or so for a small one.

You can knit things that aren't wool, though, right? Acrylic washes and dries very fast - certainly faster than your average babygro.

But still, sorry, I wouldn't pay much for hand-knitted baby items. Babies outgrow things so fast. My DP knits and so DD had some knitted items, but basically, knitting by hand is not sensible for a baby who will grow out of the item within a week or two.

Whether you’re being unreasonable here I don’t know, I haven’t seen them. However, in my years of working as a designer / maker I’ve seen a constant race to the bottom price wise, almost every craft has someone selling for the cost of materials alone, so if they’re over priced they won’t last long.

Also people have a tendency to look at beautiful handmade items and think they could make it themselves when in reality they don’t have the skills or the quality control.

I remember someone once sending me a photo of some stunning three colour stranded wrist warmers saying they wanted something similar. Then they sent me a link to a Facebook marketplace listing for basic stockinette stitch versions in the cheapest acrylic yarn known to man saying they only wanted to pay this much.

I said well, if you can get that person to make them for you for that price then go ahead. She said “yes, but your stuff is much nicer”.

🤦‍♀️

I did buy handmade knitted cardigans and hats when my dc were babies and then jumpers and cardigans until they were about five. I love them.

I'd have bought handmade stuffed knitted toys though and paid a fiver or so for a small one.

My point exactly. How long do you think it takes to knit and stuff even a small toy?

You can knit things that aren't wool, though, right? Acrylic washes and dries very fast - certainly faster than your average babygro.
Acrylic yarn is squeaky and awful and not something you’d want to put on a baby

To that PP, superwash merino wool is your best bet for baby stuff and there are a few brands with affordable merino yarns. Unfortunately knitting for money is a loser unless you’re making something very high end and unique, or you’re lightning fast.

Oh, well, we did want to put it on a baby, actually.

My DP spend hours knitting a cardigan for her, and it was one of the first thing she wore.

But, you know, thanks for letting us know you have much higher standards, eh?

My point exactly. How long do you think it takes to knit and stuff even a small toy? I recently made some knitted stuffed toys for my dc (a cat, a penguin each, a mouse and something else that I've forgotten) and they took a few hours each. Knowing that, I'd still probably only pay a fiver or so for them.

I’m a bit of a sucker for handmade items and little independent shops. I’ve found a gorgeous little shop in Hackney that sells handmade baby clothes, they are three times what I would pay in mothercare/Zara etc. but they are so beautiful and the lady that makes them is so lovely it makes you want to buy them.

@YesQueen £2 for a cupcake is a bargain. I picked up some cupcakes near me a few weeks ago and they were £4.95 each!

A fiver for a few hours work and the wool? That's a loss.

I don't charge for my items, no-one would pay the true value. Instead if someone asks really nicely I'll make something for them if they buy the materials and accept it'll be made to my own deadlines. And close friends/family only.

I'd definitely buy a cake from Bertrand, no way I'd be fiddled by any Ferrero Rocher rubbish

But, you know, thanks for letting us know you have much higher standards, eh?

I only said that because a friend’s baby was gifted loads of hand knitted cardigans from a family member, all made from acrylic, and had such an awful skin reaction that she couldn’t wear any of it. She looked like she had chemical burns. I looked it up and found it was quite common so I haven’t used acrylic for anything for babies since, and when I was selling knitted items I definitely wouldn’t. This is especially true when knitting something like baby hats as they use such little yarn it’s hardly any more expensive to use natural fibres.

A fiver for a few hours work and the wool? That's a loss. and that's why I wouldn't ever try to sell them. Very few people would be willing to pay enough to even cover the basic costs of materials.

I do photography as a hobby and the club I'm a member of are having an exhibition in a few weeks. We're selling our prints for £30. It sounds like a lot of profit when I paid £1.19 for each photo to be printed and then £4 for each mount, but I spent money travelling to each location and then quite a lot of time taking and editing the photos.