I think that everyone charges for the job, but it is determined by the
cost of the labor, so you have to figure out first how much you want to
make per hour and then try to come up with a good estimate of the time.
If 33% sounds like you are getting a good return for your labor,
that's great. It doesn't sound like enough to me, since the labor is
usually a lot more costly than the materials, but that depends
obviously on your materials. I have a website where I make and sell
gothic and belly dance costumes and clothing. I can buy the fabric in
bulk at wholesale prices so I might pay $5-20 on materials but charge
$50-100 for the garment. On the other hand, if I'm making custom
clothing and/or costumes and have to buy expensive brocades, velvets,
etc., then I may have to spend $50-100 on materials, although it would
seem that the labor for such a garment would also be time consuming. I
try to make $20 per hour across the board, but after doing this for
awhile, I still tend to underestimate. My problem if that for most of
my career, I have been making theatrical costumes in professional
costume shops, so I never had to keep track of how long it took to make
something, plus one is always working on a bunch of things at the same
time. It's only recently that I have started to do sewing out of my
home.
Sylrog
On Jul 22, 2006, at 7:57 AM, Catalina Elvira Osorio Lopez de Xerez
wrote:
I charge by the job. If I acquire the materials myself, I can usually
get a better discount than the person who wants the costume.
Since for a long time I always underestimated the amount of time
involved, I finally decided to go with a percentage system. I add 33%
to material cost for a normal job. If they want something in less than
a month I add another 15% expedite fee.
But your customer must consider the complexity of the costume you are
making. For instance, I once sewed 1240 pearls on a man's doublet.
For wedding dresses, a lot of designers add 65-75% to their costs just
because the more complex dresses take a lot of detailed hand work. One
of the wedding dresses I made had to have German lace hand sewn to the
edge of a cathedral length train and aprox 300 pearls sewn on the
bodice. So I can certainly see the point.
Catalina
nunca sin mi vino
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