I am having a sheer curtain laundered then cut in half (width) and sewn, I am being charged $12 for cleaning, and $10 for cut and sew. The curtain is 5' wide, 3' tall over a 3' wide x2' tall window. I would like to open the curtain in the middle vs the end. For $10 she,is cutting 3' of material, and sewing 6' of material, 2 sides of 3' each.

I had to deliver the curtain.

Thank you for the info.

If she is insisting on you sitting there and doing it by hand while it hangs on the rod, I would charge an hourly rate. That is ludicrous.

I agree that hemming curtains on the rod is ridiculous. Without washing they could be full of dust or dirty. Hemming by hand is a tedious way to hem curtains. Hand hemmed heavy drapes look good but I don't think hand hemmed shear curtains would look as good as machine hemmed ones.

Frankly if it were me I'd demand they be taken down and washed before I'd touch them and if she didn't comply I'd forgo the few dollars and tell her to look for someone else. I think she'd have a hard time finding someone to do it her way,

How wide are the panels?

No way would I commit to being in someone's home and doing that. I would be able to tell a friend that, and I certainly wouldn't agree to be held in a stranger's home. This sounds creepy, frankly, and if you go, make sure someone knows where you are. I would ask the reason it was being done this way...off hand, I can't think of a good reason.

This may be a customer who feels the need to tell the seamstress how to do the job. If she knows more than you do, she can do them herself.

I had to do this once for a piece of scenery. It was tedious, and there was no position in which I was comfortable. And it had to be re-done.

On one seamstress forum I was on, one member routinely made house calls for customers. She did the fittings there, and delivered the goods back to them. Her minimum charge for her service was $100.

Charge for your travel time, to go there and come home. If you had an appliance repaired, the repairman will charge from the moment he walks out his shop door to the moment he walks back in. My hourly rate (if i did this, and I wouldn't) for this would be $70 an hour, with a minimum of one hour. My man-friend would be going with me, and I'd tell the customer that.

Thank you. I totally get the "stranger's home" thing. it's actually a neighbor 2 blocks away so that isn't really the issue. I think the problem is that the sheer is not on a rod, but rather connected to an installed cornice, so removing it is a problem. She hasn't told me the width yet, which I asked for a while ago, so maybe she's lost interest.

Otherwise, I like the 'by the hour' plus a 'house-call' charge. That seems about right.

I appreciate the input.