Do what you like
Do what you like!
When I first listed my Sevilla Rock yardage on Etsy, I was convinced I’d be making lots of cushions, bags, purses, etc etc, to sell, so I marked the item as *For personal use only. Items made from this are not for resale* or something like that.
Well, e.v. of IsGood sent me a link to an article that set me straight on that one, and after some heavy tweeting about it with Michelle and Jan, I came to see the error of my ways, and so now it’s a free for all! I’ve lifted my (rather puny and ineffective) restrictions, and you can make and sell aaaanything you like with it, like a little dress, or a handbag…
Or even a pair of zooty-toot pants, I suppose.
But if I could just draw the line somewhere, would you mind holding off on the upholstery-weight underpants? It’s not good for me, or for you. Trust me.
Happy weekend, all. If the weather holds up, I’ll be selling at the Neighbourgoods Market.
Francesca
you know i’ve always wondered about that. that’s good info. i thought you were quite right putting that restriction on your fabric as you wouldn’t want someone else selling skinnylaminx cushions on etsy but when i think about it, it doesn’t really make sense.
i guess you just have to trust that people won’t start setting up shops just full of your stuff – cushions, bags etc on etsy. that would be pushing it. it’s all such a fine line.
i do love that little dress up top. you should start making those before someone else does!
Francesca
p.s. completely unrelated – i thought you might like this. done without a loom! so beautiful.
http://at-swim-two-birds.blogspot.com/2009/05/small-weavings.html
siblingmine
love the underpants. tee hee. imagine!
Janne
Hahaha. The underpants just threw me. I bet someone will make them now.
Dee Beale
Would be happy to make anything from your lovely fabric, but as I’m so rubbish at sewing there’s not much chance of that.
Cicada Studio
What’s your stance on hair scrunchies?
Pattern and Perspective
I’m off work today, just because I didn’t want to be in such a depressing place. I haven’t made anything yet out of the fabric, but I still don’t want to give it up:) Great idea, though.
Hair scrunchies, what a great idea from Michelle. The undies — how funny.
I was thinking a curtain for the kitchen, but what else? Hmmm…thinking…thinking
Rhymes With Magic
I want the underpants. Really. hee hee
orange you lucky!
ha ha:) upholstery undies….
the only plus would be that they would last a really long time:)
(but who would want them to:)
Heather Moore
Hair scrunchies? Ok sure. Whatever. This is all about letting goooooo….
daisy janie : scoutie girl
just getting caught up on my bloggie reading – almost spit out my coffee laughing, when i saw the undies!!! and we weren’t allowed to say that word either (tooties instead). mon dieux!
Shelley Noble
VERY CLEVER OF YOU, HEATHER!! I’m so proud you got it! YES!!!! being USED is the idea!!! Hooray! Another artist wakes up to the NEW MEDIA Way! w00t!
ShiriMe!
hi heather,
i had wondered about the copyright part too as i had seen that article before. and i regularly shop from folks who sell their fabric (who let others sell stuff they make) but then who also sell patterns (who won’t let others sell stuff they made from it), but i’ve never bothered about pointing that one out. i think people usually figure it out one way or another or someone braver will step up to the plate.
but, honestly, anyone who loves your work and your designs would never intentionally try to upstage you. and let’s face it, fabrics of your caliber are so expensive today compared to the store bought variety that i highly doubt any one would be able to buy huge quantities and sell it too. the money they’ve spent on the fabrics plus the time they’ve spent to make an item for sale = too expensive to be purchased by the average (etsy) buyer. if anything, the product would probably only feature some of your fabric mixed with something less expensive. in the end, it’d probably be more cost-effective to nag you into making something we want and then purchasing directly from you!
your fans are loyal to you. i wouldn’t worry too much about being out-competed. and there isn’t much profit to be had for someone to make the exact same items you make and try to sell it for the same price. less profit on their end. in my humble opinion.
anyhow… with that said, i hope other textile and pattern designers get with the game. and once i get a stable job that does not included child-minding for a few measley dollars, i will so totally buy up yards and yards of your fabric! i have an old made-in-china chair that i’ve had since i can remember and now, being more grown up, could use a reupholstering change! your fabrics could easily jazz it up from it’s current shameful state. 🙂
take care and thanks for sharing!
Peesoop
Hello from uncharacteristically sunny London. Been interested to read all this – I’m a regular reader (this is actually set to be my homepage *blush* so I’m not just dipping in to get free advice, honest!), but I’m not generally a contributor.
Does anyone have any advice on the use of (scanned) fabrics in greeting cards? I recently had the dilemma of whether I could legally (and morally) use an image of some fabric I’d scanned as the idea is to make a profit from the cards… some day.. maybe… sigh…
Any advice would be welcome. I have googled it and it’s as clear as mud so far.
Thanking you!
ShiriMe!
hi peesoop,
cute id name!
you didn’t leave a way to contact you and i really don’t want to start any sort of potentially controversial “conversation” on heather’s blog, but here goes…
i’m not an expert on copyright, but as i understand it, the image is what’s copyrightable to the maker (company or individual). the fabric as a product is not copyrightable, which is why heather had to ‘let go’ and let us use it for profit. however, heather created the images so they belong to her. think of it this way, picasso sells you his painting. he cannot control whether you resell it, give it, or keep it. much like the fabric. but if you were to scan the painting and profit from those images, you’d probably land yourself a lawsuit. i’m guessing that’s the same idea with scanned images of fabrics. nonetheless you might wish to contact the person who maintains the copyright website heather linked to get some better advice. seems like this person knows their way around copyright laws.
it’s hard because laws of any kind, not just copyright, has not yet kept up with technology.
hope that helps.
shirley
ShiriMe!
ps. forgot to mention. the weird thing about all of these laws is that it is probably okay for you to make greeting cards with the fabrics themselves, but it is not okay to use the copied image of the fabrics. slippery slope from what’s okay to not okay, if you ask me. but it’s necessary for the protection of the artist.
alrighty. gonna go back to watching and not contributing. 🙂
Peesoop
Shirely – thanks for the advice! Yes, the whole area seems to be perilously vague… I’m only really looking at vintage fabrics (1930s/40s) so I’m probably leading you up a blind alley a bit as I suspect the designers are long gone and the designs are out of copyright, but you never know.. so I’m currently playing it safe and using nice, generic spots and stripes and checks!? It’s an interesting area though.
I’m a bit new to the whole blogging thing – well, the participative side of it; is there a way of allowing people to contact me directly without publishing an email address? I’m in the process of getting my own website and blog up and running (ha!) but until then, I’m a bit clueless… and I can’t promise this will improve… Thanks! (And thanks Heather for letting me use and abuse your blog space!)
Heather Moore
Wow, thanks for the great conversation, ShiriMe and Peesoop. Brilliant stuff, and enlightening for me too.
Peesoop, I’m also a bit clueless about how to go about being contactable via the comments. Maybe ShiriMe will be back with more useful advice – sorry to be so useless.
Looking forward to you starting blogging and showing those notebooks of yours!
pilarcat (pavinee)
Hello,
I just come from Masha’s suggestion(http://mashadutoit.wordpress.com/). I love your pattern work, simple but charming.
I like your illustration too. I think I have to find some spare time to read your stuff here:-)
Peesoop
‘Looking forward to you starting blogging and showing those notebooks of yours!’
– thanks! I’ve been very inspired by your blog and get so many ideas and links from it every day so if it ever does get up and running.. er, I mean, *when* it gets up and running – it’ll be all your fault, in the nicest possible way!
Feel Good Stuff
I think you should get someone to make up a clothing range for you. I think a skirt or pair of pants would be FANTASTIC. I will buy!