Hi there,
I’m looking to make/sell crochet patterns, starting with my Starfish and jellyfish designs. I’ve already had some interest from crocheters wanting to test the patterns for me, but I’m a bit hesitant to just hand my patterns out in fear they will just be resold.
For those of you who have gone down this route, can you give me advice of the best way to go about this please. Should I sell the pattern at a discounted price for the testers just so I can show evidence that the pattern was by me? Or is there a way to like watermark the pattern? I’m worried if I don’t have my patterns tested before selling them, there might be mistakes I’ve missed.
And to add, how do digital items work through folksy? Once purchased does the seller manually send the files to the email of the customer?
I appreciate any advice on this subject!
Kind Regards,
Gemma
~
1 Like
Can’t help with the pattern testing bit but for digital files on Folksy yes once purchased the seller emails the file to the customer’s email address.
1 Like
I think most designers have a group of testers they use all the time and the pattern is given for free. I purchased a pattern recently and noticed a mistake that the designer and her testers had missed. I messaged the designer and she apologised and said I could choose another of her patterns for free. I declined her kind offer as it wasn’t my intention to try and get a freebie from her, I mealy wanted to let her know.
All patterns I have purchased from independent designers have been watermarked.
As for digital items on folksy, you would have to manually email the patterns to your customers.
1 Like
Yeah I have seen crocheters on Instagram call for free testers, then would require anyone interested to tag/comment/share the call out post first. I was considering a watermark but I’m not too sure how well this would work because it’s just text? I’ll attach a piece of my pattern as an example. In terms of charging for the testing I thought maybe something as little as a few pence/a pound just to show on record they purchased the pattern from me. But then again I don’t want to put anyone off, and the people interested in testing are a crochet group who meet up regularly for coffee locally for me.
I might just be paranoid about all this, but thought it was best to ask the forum because I’m so new to this.
Can’t help with the testing element of your query but you definitely should put your branding on the pattern and a small bit of info maybe at the bottom saying something like “Pattern not for resale” and also state whether the resulting item they make with the pattern is ‘for personal use only and not for resale’. I know some patterns say they don’t mind if people go on to sell the items they make as long as they don’t sell the pattern, but whatever you feel comfortable with is what you should go for, just make sure to mention it on every pattern.
Hope this helps.
1 Like
Hi Gemma. With patterns like these you ony need a couple of testers. One beginner and one intermediate woud be my reccomendation. You only need lots of testers if your pattern is complex or something like clothing with lots of sizes. You can find pattern testing groups on facebook or do you know a couple of crocheters who you trust that could test for you? The good pattern testing groups are good at weeding out the ‘non serious’ testers. In terms of watermarking, you can do that if it gives you peace of mind but it wont stop those who are determined as they’ll just copy your pattern word for word and publish it as their own anyway. ( I had a case just before christmas where this happened). You do need to state quite clearly somewhere on your pattern what your copyright terms are and if you allow crafters to sell their finished makes from your pattern ( you can ask people not to sell finished items but many will anyway and some credit is better than none). There are people who sell templates for crochet patterns (Pam from Crochtepreneur is one but I’m sure there are others) which may help you in terms of the right wording for copyright. Hope this helps
1 Like
