[TheForge] Blacksmiths and UtiliKilts

[Ries Niemi]

On Saturday, June 11, 2005, at 10:16 AM, Jerry Frost wrote:

> Oh, so now you're saying I'm not the only guy here with a sewing 
> machine?
>
> So much for being unique!
>

One sewing machine?
I got five- well I have to share em, but they are mine to use- a juki 
walking foot industrial, a couple of old metal Bernina's from the 70's, 
a great old portable Elna mini sewing machine, a Serger, and a CNC 6 
needle embroidery machine- oops, thats 6.
Sure would love to get one of the hand operated leather sewing machines 
that another blacksmith, Joe Rollings sells- go to "leather sewing 
machines" on this page.

http://www.thingswestern.com/homepage.html

To me, a sewing machine is just another tool. And I am, by nature, a 
tooluser.
But having sewn my share of clothes from scratch and patterns, I have 
to say I dont think a Utilikilt is overpriced at $125, which is what I 
paid for mine.
First off, there is a lot of yardage of material in there.
But more importantly, they are made in the USA- which means the people 
who sewed them were actually paid a few bucks, instead of a few cents. 
I cant complain on the one hand about how Walmart sucks, and jobs being 
outsourced to china is terrible, and then, on the other hand expect 
everything I buy to be priced as if it was made by prison labor in the 
far east.
I have run a business in the US, and I know what it costs to pay rent, 
utilities, insurance, taxes, buy materials, machines, pay salaries, and 
still try to take a little home myself, and I dont see how you could 
sew something that complex, and make any profit at all, for much less 
money.

Like anything else, there is a big difference between what materials 
would cost you, assuming your labor is free, to make one of something, 
vs. what it costs to run a business and make something repeatedly and 
market it. Kind of like the $100 Uri Hofi hammer- which some people 
think is the ripoff of the lifetime, and others think is a reasonable 
price.

ries