I was talking last night about the whole economics of making items for sale. I had just finished a small pile of square using the Lion Brand “Rainforest” Tweed Stripes. Each one doesn’t take very long at all, maybe 15 mins including sewing in the tails. But then I compared the much bigger and complicated flower squares which take closer to an hour.
Excluding materials, if I got paid my normal working rate of around $27 an hour, nothing would ever be affordable. But let’s say minimum wage around 8 dollars. Finishing a cocoon sweater completely probably takes me 6 hours. 48 dollars just in labor. The going price on Etsy is actually lower than that, around 40 dollars. Then if you add in the yarn, you’d probably be making 4 dollars an hour. The materials for a thick queen sized blanket is close to 100. No one is going to pay the 500 that would price that item fairly. Curious, isn’t it?
All that being said, this isn’t my day job. I hook when training people at work, at the dentist waiting room, at the kids long sports events or watching tv. It’s more like a hobby that might turn a slight bit of money. Not too bad.
Is it even worth it?
October 20, 2017
Hooking Blog
No Comments
Amy
I was talking last night about the whole economics of making items for sale. I had just finished a small pile of square using the Lion Brand “Rainforest” Tweed Stripes. Each one doesn’t take very long at all, maybe 15 mins including sewing in the tails. But then I compared the much bigger and complicated flower squares which take closer to an hour.
Excluding materials, if I got paid my normal working rate of around $27 an hour, nothing would ever be affordable. But let’s say minimum wage around 8 dollars. Finishing a cocoon sweater completely probably takes me 6 hours. 48 dollars just in labor. The going price on Etsy is actually lower than that, around 40 dollars. Then if you add in the yarn, you’d probably be making 4 dollars an hour. The materials for a thick queen sized blanket is close to 100. No one is going to pay the 500 that would price that item fairly. Curious, isn’t it?
All that being said, this isn’t my day job. I hook when training people at work, at the dentist waiting room, at the kids long sports events or watching tv. It’s more like a hobby that might turn a slight bit of money. Not too bad.