subject: Quilting And Craft Bazaars [print this page] I attended a local craft bazaar this weekendI attended a local craft bazaar this weekend. Much like the ones in California that Ive attended, this one was also full of beautiful quilts, exquisite embroidery and lots of new tools and supplies. It was a fun day, but I left with no purchases for several reasons. First, I make my own. Second, new quilting supplies here in Crete are old news everywhere else. Still, I was happy to see that I will be able to replenish some of my supplies locally instead of relying on the internet and mail.
I spent a lot of my time discussing quilting, slowly in both broken English and Greek, with the few artists who create them. Patchwork is only a small part
of making quilts here; instead embroidery quilting is the name of the game! Beautiful, since it is my main love right now as well. At one point, the booth.
I was visiting became quite crowded when it was learned that a real American quilter was there! I felt like a celebrity as I discussed pressing seams and precision rotary cutting.
The main joy of my visit was seeing a couple of honest-to-goodness embroidery machines! I havent seen any but mine in the three years weve been in Greece, not even in shops! This, of course, led to discussions on machine embroidery quilt designs and making quilts with this newer technique.
One thing that was completely the same in California and Greece was that customers were not happy about the prices the artists were asking for their artistry. The customers in both locales always seem to feel that the items should be less expensive because they are home-made, forgetting that hand-crafted items are generally always of much better quality than store-bought items.
Sophia, the quilter I had been visiting with, asked me how I price the items I sell. I told her that the very least I will sell a double-bed quilt for is $350, plus the cost of materials. She was as amazed at my prices as her customers were with hers. I explained that the minimum wage in my state is $8 per hour. A double quilt takes about 40 hours to create. So, the minimum wage to make it is $320. I charge $30 for the maintenance of my machines and equipment, electricity and other overhead. Anything less would be giving the quilt away for free.
Quilting supplies and fabrics add to the cost. And, if quilt embroidery is a part of the finished quilt, the purchase of the machine embroidery designs has to be figured in. When it is all tallied, the price of a hand-made, top quality quilt is high enough to make most people choke!
Sophia translated this to the customers that were standing around. A couple of them continued to scowl at the prices, but quite a few had looks of dawning understanding on their faces! It seems this is how they actually price a lot of the things they do from baking traditional pastries to their own sewing projects. They just hadnt thought about it in those terms! Sophia herself said that she was selling her items at a loss, especially when she considered the price of her machine and its upkeep!
Im sure that all the vendors I spend my day with were disappointed that I didnt purchase anything, but I do believe I managed to make a couple of new friends! Sophia and I are meeting for coffee in a couple of days. Im going to show her my stash of quilt embroidery designs and in return, shes going to take me to a couple of secret fabric shops that are hard to find; places that sell actual quilting supplies and fabric!
Thats another thing that California and Greek quilters have in common; the ability to meet as strangers and walk away as friends! Bravo!
