Also depends on cost of materials, I'd think. Good quality fabrics, beads, trims could get really expensive, really fast. I strongly suspect that the outfit is more along the lines of a couture-level costume, rather than a cheesy, cotton-broadcloth Elizabethan equivalent of a prom dress from Hellmart.....<g> If the person who made that 2K outfit were giving him/herself a base wage of, say, $25/hour, which is probably pretty low for highly skilled custom sewing (I'm basing this purely on what my old employer from a couple of decades ago used as a base to figure costs for the custom sewing jobs I did), that would only be about 80 hours of labor for the entire outfit, assuming that the raw materials' costs were NOT included in the 2K. I've spent that much time just on beading some things, never mind the 100s of hours one can devote to embroidering something. I'll have something like 15 or 16 hundred hours into the embroidered stripes on my Venetian camicia by the time I'm done. --Sue in Montana, enjoying her rare, Labor Day vacation ;o)
----- Original Message ----- From: "MaggiRos" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Historical Costume" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, September 04, 2006 11:37 AM Subject: RE: [h-cost] Hourly Wages > Clients in my experience want to know in advance how > much they'll be paying, so I set a per-hour rate in my > head but quote a flat amount depending on the garment > and level of ornamentation--with adjustments for > anticipated aggravation, of course. :-) That way I > don't have to keep careful watch on the clock, or > remember that I work more slowly as the day goes on. > > Not that I do this for a living, but that's the method > I developed when I was sewing for other people. Now > it's just a recommendation. > > $2,000 seems quite high, but jewelling and any > handwork does take a lot of time. (That's why I > learned to sew, in the end.) I guess it depends on > what your market will bear. > > MaggiRos > > --- "Sharon at Collierfam.com" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > > A friend of mine had an Elizabethan court dress and > > hat made, with removable > > sleeves and separate underskirt. It was beaded and > > had a good amount of > > trim. Quite lovely. I believe she paid about > > $2,000.00 US. _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
