Comments on: Knitted Felt Hat Class this Weekend in Canaan, NH

By: Carrie Cahill Mulligan

Carrie Cahill Mulligan — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 21:55:49 +0000

Pricing (especially on hand-work) is such a tricky issue! There is always the fear that if you actually charge for the hours involved, it’d be too expensive! But giving away your time for free doesn’t help anyone, least of all the other artists trying to make a living by charging a fair price… People won’t ever appreciate the time and effort to make something handmade if they can get it for less than it’s worth.

My hats take me between 7-9 hours just for the knitting, then another hour to felt, and another hour to hand-line with ribbon… so 9-11 hours, before any freehand embroidery is added…

The more hats I make, the more I realize that my hands won’t be able to do this forever. Getting a fair price for my limited edition work is more important now than ever for me.

By: Susan

Susan — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 07:59:41 +0000

I think I’m underselling myself. I basically cover my material costs and add what I think is reasonable and affordable price that people would buy. Many people don’t appreciate the time and effort it takes to make something handmade and unique these days. Although at this stage I use merino/ commercial wool when on special.

Also, how long does it take you to knit one hat?

By: Carrie Cahill Mulligan

Carrie Cahill Mulligan — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 00:13:12 +0000

Hello Susan,

Thanks so much for visiting my site & leaving a comment! I appreciate the feedback, especially from another felter. I hope you didn’t experience much damage from YASI?

Ah, pricing! Always so difficult… Currently, my prices are based on ($5/hour labor + materials) x 2 (to allow for 50% mark up in galleries and retail stores). It’s not much of an hourly wage, but my hats still end up in the “luxury” price range, due to the many hours each takes to complete.

If I were bolder, I’d give myself a bit of a raise… I haven’t raised my prices in several years.

What about you? How do you work out your prices?

By: susan sandeman

susan sandeman — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 10:54:32 +0000

Hi Carrie,

I live in Australia, Queensland and do both the pure wet felting as well as knitted felt. You can probably see my website although at the moment I have a lot of glass work I do also. We lives in a place called Townsville where we just had a cyclone YASI come through.

I just want to say I love your hats and make my own too. They are popular even in our warm weather, although alot of people buy my hats for gifts to family and friends who live in colder regions.

I would love to come to your class to see and fell your hats. Mine are similar although I do like the cloche style and they are popular here.

How did you work out the pricing as I have trouble in this area?

Keep up the lovely work and I enjoy visiting your site.

Happy Knitting,

Sue