Crochet Math: How Do You Set Your Price

When I first started doing commissions for my crochet works, I struggled so much with pricing the items. I had no idea how to set the price for projects. I am lucky to have friends that have been crocheting a long time and have made it their livelihood, I just ask them how much they price their items. My pricing would go a little bit lower than theirs. I thought I was being respectful to them by doing that. In my head, I thought pricing my projects lower is reasonable because i was just new and that I shouldn't put myself beside those amazing crocheters. It turns out it hurts all crocheters when we price our projects wrongly.

Crochet projects can be very expensive. This is because crochet projects are hand crafted. For every crochet item that you see out in the market, a lot of things go into that one single piece of art. So how do we set the price for the projects we make on commission? Crocheting is just my hobby but there are a few things I picked up along the way when it comes to pricing my projects.

Set your per hour rate.

Crochet projects takes a while to finish. Now, this amount depends on how fast or slow you work, the quality of your output, and the amount of effort you needed to exert for the project (pattern making, working on black yarn, rush projects, etc). Depending on your skill as a crocheter, do not undervalue your work. Based on the output you create and the amount of practice you've had, do not overprice your per hour. You have to use your gut and your honest self assessment when setting your per hour rate.

If you can finish a realistic rose crochet in under an hour, then that means that you have acquired that skill after lots of trials and errors, and experience. If you need to work on a single tulip stem for more than an hour, then it's only fair that your pricing should be a little lower than the veterans' price list. Not too low though because whether you believe it or not, you have enough crocheting skills that a client found your work and thought to themself "Hey, your work is beautiful, I'm going to pay you to make one for me."

Quantify the Materials

Another reason why crochet projects are expensive is because they come with high quality materials. Each project requires a different yarn type. It took me a long time to actually know the difference between polyester, polycotton, acrylic, milk cotton, and so much more. Furthermore, there's the yarn weight, color, and the number of threads/ply on the yarn. There are yarns that are more expensive than others and there are those that are easier to work with.

For example I made a crochet tulip for a client. I would calculate my materials cost as follows:
For the yarn: I would use my weighing scale to see how much yarns was used for each tulip bulb
For the fiber fill: still using my handy crafting scale, measure exactly how much grams of fill will be used for the flower
For the leaf: Weigh how much green yarn were used for the leaf
For the wires: I used 2 kinds of wire - the 2mm floral wire for the flower, and the thin ones for the leaves. These are sold by set so divide the price of the set by the number of floral wire in each set to determine how much I spent for the wires.
Floral tape: I just pen these on extra cost, along with the electricity I use for the hot glue gun and glue stick.

Just add the total of that cost and you got your cost of materials. As a general rule, I include the shipping cost for these materials. I also indicate the undiscounted price. This gives me more flexibility when the client asks for discounts or freebies.

You'd think that's all that a crochet project needs. A yarn and a crochet hook, that's all. But there are projects that require other materials like keyrings for keychains, safety eyes for amigurumis, floral wire, floral tape, flower wrap, ribbons, fiber fills, and so much more. I did not expect that I'll find myself needing a toolbox for all the small trinkets I use for my crochet projects.

Check the Market Price

It is important that the price you set for your projects is aligned with the crochet community's price range. There are no industry standard pricing per se for crochet products but you'd want the price you set to be not too far below the commonly agreed price by crocheters. For example, crochet tulips are normally priced at Php100 - Php150 depending on the crocheter's skills. I still see crocheters that sell these at Php65 pesos each but that has so much negative effects not just for the crocheter setting this price, but also to other crocheters.

I can think of a couple of reasons why some crocheters set their price lower than the commonly agreed price amongst the crochet community. For novice crocheters, it is possible that they are not yet as confident with their skills which is why they underprice their projects. It could also be just an introductory price for a new crochet business owner. These are acceptable reasons but as they progress with their crochet business, it would cause burnout to them as they will surely receive more orders since their work was set as cheapest in the market. Yes, there'll be more projects for them but more projects mean more effort, which might sacrifice the quality of their work.

Know Your Worth as a Crocheter

I've read a lot of rants from my fellow crocheters from the different groups I joined in. There was even a group chat created by some of my friends solely dedicated to asking "How much do I price this item?" or "Is it reasonable to charge xx amount for this project?" As a rule both in life and in crocheting, do not undervalue your self worth. When you make a crochet project (or any other project for that matter), you put your heart and soul and exert a lot of effort in making sure you produce the best output. You spend time not just in making the project but in learning and searching for the best kind of stitch, yarn, hook, and so much more.

When you are pricing your project, you should also consider the years you spent in bettering your skill. Take into consideration not just the amount of time you spent working on it but also the time you spent studying, practicing, and perfecting your work. Besides, monetary gain is such a great motivator for every artist that pushes them to improve their craft even more.

If you are still unsure of how much to price your crochet project, it would be helpful if you have a mentor whom you can always ask questions from. I am so lucky I have my crochet buddy @jonalyn2020 who helps me and encourages me in my crochet endeavors. Thank you so much sis!

_{*All images above are mine.}