How to Price Sewing Projects: Fabric, Time, Calculator

To price a sewing project you'll sell, cost the fabric by the yard for what the piece uses, with an allowance for cutting waste and pattern matching, add the interfacing, zipper, straps, label and thread, then the minutes to cut, sew, press and tag it, and price for the margin you want after selling fees. Fabric is the part people see; the minutes are the cost. In the example below, a lined zipper pouch costs $14.60 and sells for $30 made one at a time, or costs $11.27 and sells for $23 made in a batch; a lined tote is $67, an apron $55 and a pillow cover $37. If those prices are more than a market will pay, the fix is fewer minutes, not cheaper fabric. Below is what a piece costs, prices, batches, custom orders, and a free calculator.

The short version

• Cost the fabric by the yard for what the piece uses, plus 15% for cutting waste.
• Add interfacing, zipper or hardware, straps, label and thread.
• Time the cutting, sewing, pressing and tagging; it's most of the cost.
• Price = cost ÷ (1 − margin − fees), rounded up to a dollar.
• Cut and sew in batches; ten pouches take far less than ten times one.
• Price custom orders from the calculator, with the fabric choice and extra minutes in.
• TaroStack keeps fabric by the yard and notions counted, and every design costed. More below.

What a piece costs

Kanawha Stitch Co., a made-up sewing studio in Charleston, West Virginia, I use in these examples, sells pouches, totes, aprons and pillow covers at markets and online:

The waste allowance covers what's left between pattern pieces, matching a print across a seam, and the odd cut that goes wrong. Measure the yardage for your first few pieces of each design by marking the bolt before and after cutting. How to put your own time into a price is in how to price handmade items.

Prices

Each price is the cost divided by (1 − 0.45 − 0.06), rounded up to a dollar. If a market won't pay $67 for a tote, look at the 60 minutes: a simpler pattern, fewer pieces, or sewing a batch can bring it down further than any fabric discount, because the canvas and lining are only $10.35 of it. How cost-plus pricing works is in cost plus pricing example.

Batches

A pouch sewn on its own takes 30 minutes: cutting, interfacing, the zipper, the lining, turning, topstitching, pressing and tagging. Ten sewn together take about 20 minutes each, because the fabric is cut in layers, each step runs on all ten before the next, and the machine is threaded once per color. That takes the pouch from $14.60 to $11.27 and the price from $30 to $23, which is the line that sells at a market table. A shop that resells pouches needs room for its own margin; batch-sewn designs are the ones to offer wholesale, priced as in how to price handmade items for wholesale.

Custom orders

A custom order, in the customer's fabric or with a name embroidered or a size changed, costs more than the standard piece: extra minutes for the change, and fabric bought for one piece rather than by the bolt. Quote from the calculator with the real minutes and the customer's fabric at what you'll pay for it, add a minimum for small jobs, and take a deposit that covers the fabric.

Get the calculator

Download the sewing project pricing calculator. Type what the outer fabric and lining cost a yard and how much each piece uses, your cutting allowance, interfacing, zipper or hardware, straps, label and thread, the minutes to cut, sew, press and tag, your hourly rate, selling fees and the margin you want. It works out the fabric, the materials, your time, the cost of a piece, its price rounded up to a dollar, and what's left. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.

Where this stops working

Thirty fabrics by the yard, zippers in ten colors and lengths, webbing by the roll, four designs in three sizes, and custom orders with deposits. A sheet can't say whether there's enough of the canvas for the next batch of totes, which zippers to order, or which designs earn their minutes.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack keeps fabric by the yard and notions counted, and every design costed.

Fabric and notions in stock. Each fabric, zipper, webbing and label is an item, counted on a phone and kept at what you paid, and units convert: fabric bought by the bolt, used by the yard; webbing by the roll, used by the inch.

Designs as recipes. Each design is a recipe of its fabric, lining and notions, with scrap allowed for, so recording a batch takes them off stock at what you paid and gives the cost of each piece. Custom orders and shop orders are sales orders that show whether the fabric is on the shelf while you're still typing.

And what each design earns. The reorder list works in days of cover against each supplier's lead time, so the zippers you use most don't run out, and margins are reported by product and by customer.

Recipes, batches, sales orders and margins by product and customer are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.

Questions people also ask

How much should I charge for sewing projects?

Cost the fabric, notions and your minutes, then divide by one minus your margin and fees. In the example, a lined zipper pouch costing $14.60 sells for $30, or $23 sewn in a batch.

How do you price a handmade tote bag?

The same way: canvas and lining by the yard with a waste allowance, straps and interfacing, and the sewing time. In the example, a lined tote costing $32.50 sells for $67.

How much fabric do I need for a zipper pouch?

The example's 9-by-6-inch lined pouch uses about 0.15 yard of outer fabric and 0.15 yard of lining, plus 15% for cutting waste. Measure your own pattern once and write it down.

How do I make my sewing projects cheaper to sell?

Cut the minutes: simpler patterns, fewer pieces, and sewing in batches. In the example, batching takes a pouch from 30 minutes to 20 and its price from $30 to $23.