Altered State II - Thanks for Your Suggestions

Thanks everyone. I appreciate your thoughts and suggestions on my previous blog post. I was able to spend some time gathering information for my price list. Rosanne great suggestion on checking my local library for Mary Roehr's how to book on alterations. Saturday afternoon I took a trip to the Woodson Branch Library. Well they didn't have a copy of Roehr's book, but I found tons of books on crafting. Two on related subjects: "Do You Sew for Profit?" a guide for wholesale, retail, and consignment by Barbara Wright Sykes and "The Fashion Designer Survival Guide", an insider's look at starting and running your own fashion business by Mary Gehlar. Both of these are of great interest to me, but are a little off topic. More about that in another post.

This weekend I was able to get some of the alterations done, with one more to complete. Thank you. God! What I wanted to finish most was a price list for alterations. DONE. The price list represents the alterations that I've done in the past. I used information from web and local dry cleaners' price lists. There were a few website that had comprehensive information on Sewing as a Business similar to the text I mentioned above.

Here is my first draft of the Alteration Price List.

Hems
Pants unlined $10
Pants lined $15
Cuffed pants unlined $12
Cuffed pants lined $18
Skirt straight unlined $12
Skirt straight lined $24
Skirt flared to full unlined $18
Skirt flared to full lined $24
Sleeves unlined $12 Sleeves lined $18
Jacket sleeves w/vent $24
Jeans $15
Fitting Adjustments
Straps (camisole) $12
Sides taken in or tapered unlined $10 - $16
Sides taken in or tapered lined $24 - $36
Waist taken in unlined $18
Waist taken in lined $18 - $36
Tapered pants through hem unlined $14
Tapered pants through hem lined $24
Repairs and other adjustments*
Replace elastic $6 - $12
Replace zipper skirts $12
Replace zipper dress $12 - $24
Replace zipper pants $12
Reattach zipper $6 - $12
Add hook and eyes, snaps $2 set
Add machine buttonhole $2 ea.
Replace/add button $1 ea.
Shoulder pads inserted $12 - $24
Shoulder pad removed $9 - $18

Prom and evening dresses – depends on style, fabric, etc. Alterations for special occasion garments will be based on $20.00 per hour. Minimum alteration charge $16.00per appointment.

Important Note: The above prices are estimates of general services to be rendered. Special requests can increase the cost of the alterations due to an increase in labor.

Thank you for your patronage.
Cennetta

*Required notions are provided.

This time around I really didn't follow any specific guidelines offered in the information. I kinda combination bites and pieces to come up with something to test on returning and potential clients. My goal is to keep alterations down to a minimum.

For those of you who may be faced with the same challenge, here are some websites that might be helpful:

MSU Cares
CraftLink Resource Centre
Marcia's Makings New Construction and Alteration Pricing

Altered State

In recent months I decided not to do garment sewing for other people. I really wanted to sew for myself and DD at leisure. For the most part, I have been able to refer and defer people to other sewists or another time. Let me tell you,..., it has been a challenge. I hate to say NO.

This month I received several requests for "pain in the #&!" alterations. I loathe some alterations because they are so time consuming. So this got me to thinking again about a price list for alterations. First a little background. Typically, I do alterations for family, friends and a few referrals by family/friends. It is hard to name a price for that reason (family/friends). So what ends up happening, I do it for free. Not good. Back to the price list. So I've been researching prices for the various alterations that I'm asked to do. One of the things that I'll work on this weekend is a price list for alterations. Two people are expecting to pick up their garments by Monday and I want them to be able to take my "new price list" with them. It's a plan.

Happy Sewing!
C