Image via Wikipedia If you've been sewing or knitting or quilting or crocheting for more than a week or so, you've heard the request – 'Hey, could you please make something for me?' Sometimes followed by the assurance, 'I'll pay you.'
We're not talking about gifting here, we're talking about folks who see you making something beautiful and think nothing of asking (sometimes demanding) that you do it for them – sometimes for free.
Friends, co-workers, family members all see that nifty new whatsamacallit you're wearing or showing off and want a piece of that action. After all, hand made items in the stores are so expensive.
And it's probably a good friend, or a close family member, or a co-worker you value (or worse, depend on) making the request.
If you're like me, the first couple of times you're asked, before you realize the scope of the request, you give it a whirl. A pair of socks for so and so. A hat for someone else. Maybe even a sweater if you're really gullible and the person pressured you a whole lot.
But the third, or the fifth, or the fiftieth time someone asked or begged or demanded that you make something for them, you realized that a creeping sense of irritation and anger had been crawling up the back of your neck and stabbing you behind your eyeballs.
So you sat down and did a little back of the envelope calculation. Yarn or fabric costs, notions costs, tool costs – all these you've been calculating all along, and when people have offered to pay you, you may even have been passing those costs on to them.
But I bet at first, without thinking about it, you completely forgot to calculate the cost of your time. Those hours and hours of cutting and piecing and sewing or knitting or crocheting, and even the time it took to shop for and buy the supplies.
Didn't even enter your head.
And for some people, you didn't begrudge a penny of it. That Rasta hat was a ton of fun to knit, it only took a couple of nights, and it kept you occupied through a couple of long waits in the doctor's office.
That pair of socks for your cousin who can never seem to find comfortable socks in her size and continues to tell you every time she sees you how much she loves them.
The 'pillowcase' dress for the daughter of that co-worker that listens when you really need to vent at work.
Nope. You didn't count the cost for those at all.
But I bet you really started counting the cost for the scarf you made for your friend or sister that ended up crumpled in the bottom of a drawer with the mumbled excuse that 'it doesn't go with this years' trends'
You're unstitching every stitch of the jacket you made for your child, who has left it on the bus three times in the last week.
That shoulder bag you made for your bestest friend ever? When you saw her last week and she mentioned she gave it to charity you had to bite your tongue hard – because it was for a noble cause, you tell yourself.
Your time is expensive. Your time is valuable. And when friends and family and acquaintances ask you over and over again for free or cheap handmade things (not gifts, but obligations of friendship and family), you begin to resent them.
That Rasta hat I mentioned? I allowed the recipient to pay for the yarn, but I had to gently explain to her that she needed to consider my time a gift, because there was no way she'd be able to afford the labor. At four hours per night for two nights, at a reasonable skilled labor rate of $15 per hour, she would have been looking at nearly $200 for yarn and labor.
And that's a small item. And in my day job, I'm a professional who gets paid considerably more than that.
The point isn't 'don't make things for other people', or even 'make sure you charge them enough'.
The point is, your crafting is your hobby, and your time is valuable. Choose your projects wisely. And gift where you want to gift, not where obligation and guilt point you.
- Never give a hand crafted item to someone out of pure obligation
- Gift freely and openly to anyone you truly want to gift to
- Remember that even if you tell the person, the person receiving the item likely has no real idea of how much work went into it.
- When you decide to charge for your time, charge a decent wage. This is skilled labor, in some cases highly skilled. Charge accordingly.
- Generally the lookie-loos who would kinda sorta like something homemade will run for the hills if you simply tell them how much your labor would cost.
- As an alternative to making something for someone, offer to teach them the basics so they can make their own, if you have time and inclination.
- Crafting is for your enjoyment. Ignore any and all of these rules if breaking them increases your enjoyment of your craft.
To Stay Connected and Spread the Merriment Please Like my Facebook Page or follow me at @odanu on Twitter.
Return to Am I the Only One Dancing? for more, or go Walking Upstream for political writing.
small print: While I often recommend things just because I like them (I'm nice that way) please assume for FTC purposes that any endorsement is compensated -- and have a truly beautiful, happy day!
0 comments:
Post a Comment