What Price For Handmade?

This is such a tricky question to answer for many makers, myself included. How do you fairly price your labours to reflect what they cost you to make - materials and time? One of the fundamental problems encountered is that unless your items are purchased by someone who also makes, then a good majority of your customers may have absolutely no idea what goes in to something that is 'hand made',


Here is a rough break down of what one of my 'hand made' items entails.  For this example I am going to use yarn I have hand dyed.

1) Preparation of yarn for dyeing - this includes winding, skeining and soaking the yarn.
2) Dyeing - including rinsing, washing and drying.
3) Choosing colours - getting the colour choices right often requires me to swatch the colours together to make sure that they work.
4) Choosing a design, then swatching again and finally  making a chart to use.
5) Knitting the mittens/hand warmers. Every single stitch in the picture below is knit by hand - I physically make each stitch. Each little 'V" you can see if you zoom in = 1 single stitch made by hand.

6) Finishing the mitten - sewing in any ends of yarn.
7) Hand washing and blocking the mitten.
8) Photographing the finished pair.
9) Uploading them to my Etsy.
10) Pimping my stuff wherever I can on social media or via my blog.
11) If I am lucky enough to make a sale - then I have the admin resulting from that including a nice long walk to the post office.


What isn't shown here is the time I spent working on the basic mitten and hand warmer patterns so I have generic 'go to'  patterns I can use for each new pair. I must have knit about 8 pieces before I got the right formula and I lost count of the swatches. Also my dye colours, I had to spend time experimenting and finding colours that work and that I can reproduce easily. I have spreadsheets for stock, dye recipes, patterns and charts that I also keep up to date. All these things are what I want to do, but that are also all part of what goes into the items I produce. I have had people say to me 'it's just knitting'. No it isn't. I have spent years and years learning to become a knitter and I am still learning. It is a skill I have honed with effort and frustration as well as joy. It is hours of practice and thought. It is my craft.

Add to all of the above the cost of materials - from yarn, to dye powder and from needles, to mailing bags. These all need to be taken into account as well.

And going back just to the actual knitting - I am a very quick knitter and producer but even allowing for that I cannot charge by the hour. Lets say that a pair of full mittens takes me two days on average to produce and I spend 12 hours in total on making them - I can't charge even minimum wage of £7.50 an hour  - because no-one will pay £90.00 for a pair of mittens.

We are so used to mass produced throw away items that are 'cheap as chips' that the value of hand crafted just gets seen for the price ticket and not the skill. A lot of people don't even think about the years people like me have spent learning and perfecting what we do. They don't see the hours and labour behind the finished item. They just see that they can get similar on the high street for £XX less than what I produce.

It comes down to finding a way to price that covers your costs (materials mainly) and gives you a little bit extra for your effort but it isn't even 1p per stitch, if it was I am still undercharging by about £20 a pair of full mittens. After all that agonising over what is fair you also have to then add on postage which isn't cheap either and Etsy then nags you if you actually try and charge what postage and packing really costs and suggests you swallow part of the costs to attract customers.

If you've stuck with me to here - thank you. This isn't a whinge up. I love what I am doing right now and it is my choice etc. What this is - is an offering of information and an invitation to start a conversation about how makers can find ways to do what they love whilst making enough to feed themselves.

It is also a request for others to start being open about how much time and effort goes into our processes because if we don't talk about that openly how are the people we want to attract as customers, who don't make stuff, ever going to understand what being a 'maker' entails and why we charge more for something they might get cheaper in Primark or wherever.

I think it is time for change. I think we need to promote that what we make is often ethically or ecologically resourced, and that when hand made items are purchased you are purchasing part of the makers life and time for an item that may be a one off, totally individual and unique, and that is made to last. With the proper care and love my mittens should last for years and years, giving warmth, comfort and wear to their owner. They won't just be for one season and then off to the tip or to the charity shop.

Finally, I don't want to limit this just to online selling but to include craft and seasonal events, things like makers fairs and other sales platforms. There are so many talented people who want to share what they produce with a larger market and get a fair price for their work, who don't want to get stung over huge commission percentages or to take a bigger loss. The news is telling us that the  high street is dead, and other selling options away from the traditional are the way forward which is great for the smaller trader, but it needs to allow for peoples skills and to be sold at a workable price. I would love to hear from other makers/crafters out there and about their experiences and ideas about pricing and promotion etc.

Feel free to comment here, or to reach out to me via any social media platform that I am on. I am Sparrow House Knits on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Let's help, share and support each other.