Dressmaking | Imamother

miami85

Wed, Feb 21 2024, 10:46 am

I'm making my sister a gown for her daughter's wedding. I'm not a professional, but I have a good idea of what I'm doing, but this the first time I've made something--as grand as this--for someone else. I'm almost done and I'm trying to cheshbon what she owes me. Obviously for the fabric and notions. The question is, is there any room to cheshbon the time that I spent? I think she's still coming out ahead based on what she quoted me that the gown places that she tried on. Or should I be nice and consider it a gift (they are a klei kodesh family with a large family and this is their 5th wedding B"H)

scruffy

Wed, Feb 21 2024, 10:50 am

miami85 wrote:

Of course there is. Even if you're not charging it as skilled labor (which it definitely is), but just time you spent that you could have done something else. This took you a lot more time and effort than most favors do.

If you can afford it, obviously it's nice to just consider it a gift, but I think it's very reasonable to charge a reduced rate.

happy7

Wed, Feb 21 2024, 11:38 am

Did you arrange before that you were going to charge her?
If not, protect the peace and charge her ONLY for materials.
Your time is precious and you cannot charge her for what your time actually costs. Making a dress is hours and hours of work. People who aren’t on the sewing world have no idea how time consuming it is.
Your sister has no idea how much time you are putting in.
She might give you a TY gift at the end.
But, if you don’t want to be resentful, you have to have told her that you were going to charge her. She can’t be expected to pay now for something she wasn’t expecting to pay for.

I have a daughter who is a dressmaker. She doesn’t charge her sisters for her time. She is happy to help them, but every once in a while, I see her resentment, and I tell them they cannot expect her to work for free and they have to arrange a plan of payment BEFORE she works on their things.

Yes, even if you charge her, she may come out ahead of what other gown places would charge her, but she didn’t go there because she couldn’t (or didn’t want to) pay those prices.
If she thinks she is getting a gown for $250 (cost of materials etc) and now you add $250 (which in no way covers your hours unless you charge $10-15 an hour…) then the gown is now $500 and she may have made a different decision if she had known before.
If you ask her for $150 for your time, you won’t feel like it’s enough anyway.

You might want to not charge her for the materials and then the gown is yours and you can try to sell it when she is done.

Anonymiss 1

Wed, Feb 21 2024, 12:21 pm

It depends what the initial arrangement was. Unless it was crystal clear from the outset, I don’t believe you can/should charge any more than cost.
(Also, because you’re not an expert, the time it took you to make was likely significantly longer than that of a professional, and she shouldn’t have to cover that.)
Honestly, if it wasn’t abundantly clear that she would be paying, that shouldn’t be sprung on her.

zaq

Wed, Feb 21 2024, 1:05 pm

happy7 wrote:

Did you arrange before that you were going to charge her?
If not, protect the peace and charge her ONLY for materials.

This. If you expected to be paid, you should have made this clear at the outset. You're not wrong for wanting to be paid for your considerable labor, and you certainly shouldn't be out the money you spent on materials, but since you didn't clarify at the beginning that you expect to be paid, your sister assumes that your labor is a gift of love. It's not fair to change your terms after agreeing to do the work.

If your sister can't come up with the means to pay you, advise her that your labor is to be your wedding gift to the young couple.

Oh, wait, I thought you were making the bridal gown, but I see you're making your sister's MOB/MOG gown. Then it can't be a wedding gift for the couple. In that case, I think you're stuck. Next time, set your terms and conditions before you so much as pick up a pin.

miami85

Wed, Feb 21 2024, 3:37 pm

I guess my question is when calculating cost of materials like I don't know how much thread I used or other materials that I bought for the dress that I didn't use up. Do I charge her for the whole thing?
Or like the pattern?

We're on good terms, we didn't come up with a firm agreement, but I think if I included a simple mark-up on the dress for labor she'll be ok with it. She told me she was looking at gowns at rentals/gemachs that were in the $500 range+ alterations, and right now the materials are running me less than $200. So if I were to say $200 even would that be "fair"?

She knows I'm doing her a huge favor and of course I'm not a professional, this is more of a hobby

singleagain

Wed, Feb 21 2024, 3:40 pm

miami85 wrote:

I think you can charge 200. Let's say just to include the miscellaney and a little bit for your time, especially though. Realizing that when you calculate out 200 minus materials divided by hours, you're probably paying yourself pennies on the hour.

Elfrida

Wed, Feb 21 2024, 3:51 pm

miami85 wrote:

You wouldn't have bought the thread if you weren't making this dress. Since you don't do it professionally, it's mot clear when you'll use up the rest of that thread. So I would say you are justified in considering the full amount that you spent as a dress related expense, and charging her for it. Like a lawyer will charge per hour or part thereof. They don't break it down to minutes.