Blog About Crafts

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems way too many people are building websites based around “vintage” patterns without regard to copyrights and other niceties.

Too many crafters are simply assuming that the original copyright holder did not renew their copyright. Patterns published in the 1940s and 50s are not necessarily out of copyright. It all depends upon whether or not the original copyright holder filed for an extension.

Posting a disclaimer like, “As far as I know this pattern is out of copyright but if you know differently please let me know.” at least shows the website owner has considered the pattern may still be protected. Problem is that disclaimer offers zip, zero, nada protection for the site owner or anyone else who might wish to sell items made from that pattern. Having a disclaimer is not a free pass for copyright infringement. Site owners can still be forced to remove the infringing content or even be sued by the true copyright holder.

A recent submitter to Crafty Tips seems to have employed a hybrid approach where they are placing usage restrictions on patterns that are either fully in the public domain or might have been renewed. Normally I would have happily added their site as it does have a nice selection of different patterns. The whole maybe it’s still in copyright issue didn’t bug me as much as the strange attempt to restrict usage. Some of the vintage patterns are identified as “free for personal use” while others are identified as being free for both personal and commercial use.

Granted, had the site owner used her own picture or made a number of rewrites to a pattern truly in the public domain, they could claim some level of copyright on the work. The pictures look like they were originally published with the pattern and there is no indication that the site owner made any changes to the original pattern.

When I post vintage patterns on The Crafty Tipster like the vintage sweater shown in this article, I always give credit to the original designer (if known) and the original publication information. Technically, if a vintage pattern is truly in the public domain, such attribution is not required. I do it to both honor the original designer as well as to ensure that anyone outside of the US has the information needed to ensure that the pattern is also in the public domain in their own country or any country they may sell the finished item in.

Only if I include a picture of an item I made or if I have made a number of changes to the pattern itself, am I creating something new that I can copyright - even then I provide the original designer’s info. The collection of patterns as a whole can be copyrighted but an individual pattern that has not been changed remains in the public domain.

The vintage pattern site, for now, is lingering in my submission queue. Part of me wonders if I am simply being too picky. The pattern designer in me doesn’t like the attempt at adding usage restrictions to something the site owner does not own.

What are your thoughts? Do you care if someone posts a public domain, vintage pattern and claims some level of ownership? Do you think the original designer should always be credited regardless of copyright status?

I’ve been visiting more blogs in the past few weeks than I think I did all of last year. I don’t know if this is someone’s misguided “good idea” or some sort of coding mistake but how could anyone think it’s a good idea to not include a link at the bottom of their blog to “previous posts”?

I mean really, do they think it’s a good idea not to encourage their blog visitors to stick around? Do they somehow think older posts have less value? I really don’t get it.

It also seems the blogs ascribing to this design do not offer post categories either. The only navigation is a list of months and the number of posts made in each month. But, there’s the rub. Go to one of the months that has a decent amount of posts and there’s still only access to the newest 2-3 posts.

Why? Why would any blog owner use a template that does this? Is there some strategy I’m just not seeing? All I’m seeing is a blog owner who is being really foolish and failing to recognize the value of their previous posts. All I’m seeing is a blog owner practically shouting at their visitors, “Go Away! You’re not welcome here!”

Hi All,

As you may or may not know, along with all of the other things I am trying to juggle right now, I have a free pattern and project website/blog called The Crafty Tipster. It has a variety of free craft, crochet, embroidery and vintage knitting projects and patterns. Unfortunately, it’s been quite some time since I’ve added anything new to it.


If anyone’s interested, I just posted this really stylin’ vintage sweater pattern.

This pattern, like so many from the time does not include much information about swatching or sizing but there is a small clue in one of the instructions - it mentions casting on 119 stitches which will make up the 24 inch-wide back of the sweater.

It does require multiple size knitting needles but otherwise to this non-knitter it looks fairly straightforward to make.

If anyone does give it a go, please post your comments so that others may have your insight into how hard or easy this Vintage Sweater Coat Pattern is to make. Also, I would love to include a picture of you or the lucky someone you make this sweater for.

This article is a bit old, but you can learn more about becoming a Crafty Tipster and how your participation in the site can garner free advertising for your crafting-related website.

A recommended video from one of my Twitter friends has a bit of age on it but is definitely timeless in it’s message and has got me to thinking about my own journey to find who I am and how creativity influences what I do. Speaking at a TED (Technology, Entertainment & Design) Conference in 2006, Sir Ken Robinson laments on how modern educational systems are virtually destroying our children’s creative talents.

In a time where children are being taught more about what to think instead of how to think, it would seem his comment, “We don’t grow into creativity. We grow out of it or rather we get educated out of it.” is even more profound.

I enjoy what I do. It’s sort of funny that to get where I am now I went through several turbulent times where I found having to reinvent myself was required just to remain employed. The very skills that my clients value are many of the areas where my former employers were frustrated with me. Just asking the question, “Why do we do it that way?” often led to looks of dismay and even suggestions that I mind my own business. Asking a client that same question can often lead to whole new avenues of possibilities. Should one day I find myself hiring my own employees that will be one of the things I hang on the wall, “Ask questions and if you have a better idea, please share it!”

I left college knowing my degree did not mean I knew it all but that I had a strong foundation which could be built upon once in a professional environment. Looking back, my major was chosen for the sole strategic purpose of getting a good job. Even my minor was chosen to pursue that end. That I liked working on computers and writing/communicating just made my choices more of a obvious choice. The music that I had always loved was relegated to an elective and later dropped as there seemed a systemic segregation between those in the arts and those taking academic subjects. Music is now a private passion rather than a vocation but it is a major aspect of who I am.

The irony is that all of these years later I find I was more attuned to what I liked doing than I realized.

Sure, it was a rush to be the one to swoop in and save the day by getting the computer system back online after a catastrophic failure. In an abstract way, it was like fixing a giant jigsaw puzzle that had been dumped off a table - most of the pieces were still in place but it was finding out which ones were missing that was the real challenge. But, then again, teaching someone how to use that same system gave me a much more long-lasting satisfaction.

As the computing systems I was an “expert” in became obsolete, I found myself having to come up with a whole new skill set and morph into someone else. As I learned how to run newer computing systems, I continued to feel like I was somehow in the wrong place. At the time, I think I blamed my internal conflict on the broken foot that left me on crutches for almost a year.

Perhaps, I didn’t recognize it for what it was, but looking back, I can almost be thankful for the series of layoffs that brought me to where I am today. (Not thankful for the broken foot that still causes untold problems but it appears to have had its own role to play in me finding my place.)

During one of those periods of unemployment I suffered through in the 90’s, I found the need to reinvent myself yet again. I reviewed what I liked on the various jobs I had held. I liked the creative bits! I liked the writing, I liked learning and I liked the teaching. And, I even liked when I had to “sell” projects and often the very job I held. I also liked the more creative programming work of building something new from nothing.

In a bit of serendipity, the same weekend I realized I was a writer hidden underneath my BA and MS in computing and decided to reinvent myself as a technical writer, a local company advertised for one.

While undergoing my own personal discovery, I landed a job where my bosses weren’t entirely sure what a “technical writer” did either. They admitted that someone in the “know” told them they needed one. How exciting that turned out to be!

The job turned into an amalgam of mostly self-assigned responsibilities. In learning how the new enterprise computing system worked, I learned more about the toy business and business in general than I could have ever hoped for. I got to create, I got to teach and I found myself becoming the one person who was finally succeeding in bringing everyone in the company together and building an excitement for a project that had only previously led to division.

Sadly for everyone, it was too late to save a once vibrant company. Thankfully for me, it was the beginning of the realization that way back in college I was on the trail of the perfect combination of professional activities to make a satisfying career for myself.

For me, my passion is the blending of the most creative aspects of computing and the construction of meaningful writing often used to sell something. Kinda ironic, that it was while working for a toy company that I would find where I belonged. Perhaps being surrounded by toys helped to remind me where my true creativity and joy lies.

Those periods of frantic job searches and abject fear of yet another layoff were all preparing me for who I am today. As I work with clients, there’s more than a bit of truth to my claim that I have either worked for or with a company like theirs or their target customers. It is so very exciting to rediscover with my clients the passion that led them to what they do and often renew that passion. “Why do you do it that way?” is but one of the many questions I ask that lead to new marketing ideas and on more than one occasion more product offerings for my clients.

Building websites and developing a sales message is so much more than what is book learned - it’s about finding the bravery to be creative and try something new. It’s about blending practical expertise with my imagination. It’s what I do! It’s who I am! And I love it!

I’ll end this bit of self-indulged, self-reflection with another quotation from Sir Ken Robinson, “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.” Perhaps in my case it could be changed a bit to “If you’re not prepared to honestly evaluate and perhaps even reinvent yourself, you might never discover your greatest talents.”

How did you find what you were meant to do? Or are you still looking for it?

BTW, I recommend watching the video. Sir Robinson will make you laugh, he’ll make you think and perhaps he might inspire you.

Crafters I know on Twitter have quickly come together to launch a silent auction to help the devastated residents of Haiti. Early yesterday morning, the Tweets were flying as one crafter took the lead on this project and is now hosting the auction on her website - Indie Fixx.

The Indie Fixx Haiti Relief Fundraiser will offer several handmade items on the auction block each day. Bidding is done through blog comments with the high bidder taking home the terrific handmade item and making a donation to the Red Cross International Response Fund.

Jen Wallace, the organizer of the auction and owner of Indie Fixx has also generously offered to pay all of the Paypal fees associated with the auction to allow 100% of the monies raised to go to the effort to help Haiti.

You can visit the auction here - Indie Fixx Haiti Relief Fundraiser.

Be sure to check back daily as items will be on the block for only a day and new items will be added daily.

The wonderful logo for the auction was donated by Khristian A. Howell. Kristian is a surface designer, graphic designer and photographer.