“I love your blankets, you should sell them!”
“Ah, I love that, can you make me one?”
...until I give them a price. A price that, in reality, is way less than it actually costs to make!
I hear this all the time. So, I wanted to take a moment to sit down and explain why handmade crochet goods cost what they do, and where that money actually goes.
The £10 High-Street Myth
As a society, we’ve grown so used to getting things cheaply and quickly. We can pop into a high-street shop, pick up a throw blanket for £10, take it home, and job done.
So why do I "charge so much" for mine? To show you, let’s take a look at the real breakdown behind my Autumn Cabin Blanket.
1. The Materials
- Yarn: £35
- The Pattern
- The Hook
That sounds straightforward enough, right? But buying yarn is only step one...
2. The Work & The Time
This blanket is made from 180 individual small squares.
To build it, I start by making 9 small squares and joining them together into a block. Then, those blocks are joined to other 9-square blocks until I have larger sections - doing this 4 more times over, plus crocheting the detailed sections between each panel!
I’m not complaining about the stitching- no, the real complaining starts when I have to weave in all the loose ends. Some squares have 2 ends, some have 4. That is hundreds of ends to sew in by hand. But it's okay, I get through it!
Let’s do the math on time:
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90 hours total crafting time (around 30 minutes per square plus joining, crocheting the boarder and weaving in the ends).
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UK Minimum Wage: £12.71 per hour.
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Labour total: 90 hours × £12.71 = £1,143.90 (Sorry, WHAT?! £1,143!)
3. The "Invisible" Extra Work
Then there's this website- yep, the exact one you’re reading this on! I have to pay to host and run it.
On top of that, there are all the other bits and pieces that take time:
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Taking photos: (Yes, I’m not a professional photographer, but I try my best!)
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Creating product listings & writing descriptions
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Designing social media posts and graphics
Honestly, all of this extra admin takes another 5 to 6 hours a week. Well... there goes my Saturday! At minimum wage, that’s another £63–£76 of work.
The Final Total: £1,230+
When you add up materials, 90+ hours of physical labour, and the time spent running the business, the true cost of this blanket comes out to at least £1,230.
When I sell a blanket for less than that, I am already heavily discounting my own time.
And it leaves me with one final question to think about: If you had 15+ years of experience in your job or field, would you be happy receiving minimum wage for your skill?