How much to charge a friend for basic sewing lessons?

[ivoryh1632]

Hey so a friend just e-mailed me telling me he's going to be working sewing uphostry and covers for boats, but he doesn't really know how to do much of anything on a sewing machine and he wants to take lessons from me. Now why and how he got a job doing something he doesn't know how to do is beyond me. I told him I've never done upholstry before and I've never used a heavy duty upholstry sewing machine before. But he said that he just wants me to teach him the basics like how to "set up the machine" (I'm hoping he just means thread it and put in the bobbin, because I don't know what else there is to do as far as set up) and teach him the different stitches and some basic stuff. He didn't mention it but I'm assuming he'd also need to learn how to make/use piping since its upholstry.

So he wants to know how much I want for this. He's a friend so I don't want to completely rip him off, but he's not a good friend so I'm not going to do it for free.

Any suggestions?

[jungrrl]

Your machine will likely not be terribly similar to what he's using.  I would assume if he told them he's never done any sewing that they will be training him fully.  And if he didn't tell them that, it will probably become painfully obvious very quickly.

However, if you want to charge him for sewing lessons maybe just consider charging him the hourly rate of whatever you make at your job.

[ivoryh1632]

Thanks.

Yeah I tried to explain to him that my machine isn't going to be like the one he's using and I might not even know how to use the one he's going to use. But I don't think he understood that. I talked to him again about it and from what I can understand his friend owns the company and just said "hey, get a sewing machine and I'll give you a job" so the whole thing seems a little off because I guess now he's buying a sewing machine and doesn't even know what he's looking for. Which is why I was so nervous about helping him with all this in the first place. I may just end up telling him I can't help him.

But thank's for the input!

[CraftyChef]

This sounds like a disaster waiting to happen, but not necessarily to you. Get paid up front, and you should be fine.

[ivoryh1632]

Thanks. I'll definatley keep that in mind. But I still haven't heard back from him if he's figured out what exactly he's doing or has a machine or anything so right now looks like it might not even happen. But I told him upfront I have no experience with what he's doing so like you said the disaster's not gonna be on me 

[Shelin20]

When I got my job I told them I was basically a four year old with a sewing machine and they started me at $12 an hour so I mean I hope that gives you a point of reference to help

[ivoryh1632]

Thanks that definately helps. Ther person that was asking me when I started this thread still never got back to me but I've had other people asking me for lessons so that's a good starting point for me.

[TwistMySister]

First off the business owner should have an industrial and your friend should be trained on that. If he wants some starter info from you then teaching him how to thread a machine, fill a bobbin and the basic parts of the machine and tension should be all he needs to know, oh, and piping i guess! That would give him a great head start.

Im thinking of doing lessons too, to a small group of 3 or even one-on-one and Ive basically said its a weekly thing, every friday, $15 a session per person for about 2 hours each week. Its not much for me, but I enjoy it and want to share my knowledge of sewing and fabrics, meet new people and just have fun because I like to teach people things you know?  So i'd like to keep it cheap for them, more of a community thing than a money making thing i suppose? I havnt started it yet but would like to, as Im just seeing numbers and I have been a little busy! 

[ivoryh1632]

Funny you say that about the industrial machine, I tried to explain that to him about a million times but he never seemed to understand. But it apears that he never took the job anyway.

Though now I have another friend who wants me to trade sewing lessons for guitar lessons. So now I have the problem of getting him to understand that its going to take more than 2 lessons to learn to sew a dress (he's a cross-dresser) and that you can't easliy alter a pattern meant for a little girl to fit a 200 lb man  I have a feeling all that's gonna change though once we start the actual lessons.

But your small group lessons sound fun, let me know how it turns out if you ever find the time to actually do it, we all know how that goes

[TwistMySister]

Haha wow a lesson for a lesson, awesome idea! Yeah it will take alot more than 1 lesson for a beginner sew-er.  ...But also i guess same goes for guitar lessons right!! Im a dud on the guitar. Hope it turns out well!!!

[Oralabora]

I would charge by the hour. If it is not a close friend I wouldn't feel bad charging $8 to $10 an hour. Tell him you will teach him for so many hours and ask for the money upfront. Keep it simple. It sounds like fun to me. I would do it ^_^