A few months ago, someone alerted me on Ravelry that a crochet pattern of mine was being sold on Etsy. Just so you know, I DO NOT have an Etsy store and my patterns are currently not being sold on Etsy.
I followed the link and discovered that my Forky amigurumi crochet pattern was being sold on an Etsy store along with some other stolen patterns made by other crochet artists.
I was enraged when I found out. Someone has stolen my crochet pattern and is making a profit off my work. Not only that, but this crochet pattern is actually available on my blog for free.
I immediately tried reporting it to Etsy.
I understand that Etsy does not act on these things immediately, but I went back to check about a week later and the listing was still there.
Feeling defeated, I then went on a crochet Facebook group to seek help to see what I could do next to help take this stolen crochet pattern down from this Etsy store.
Members of the Facebook group asked me to share the Etsy shop link so they can help me and I have to say what happened next was quite incredible.
I saw the whole community come together to help a small-time crochet designer like myself by reporting the stolen crochet pattern to Etsy.
Maybe it was because of all the requests in such a short period, but Etsy took down the pattern within hours of me sharing this link on the Facebook group.
Some people asked whether it was really my pattern that the guy was selling. I wasn't about to buy the pattern to find out, but the photo that they used on Etsy was definitely mine and I think that was enough for me to report it.
Now, I understand that I do not own Forky, and I never said that I did. However, I do own the intellectual property of my written pattern.
Many of my patterns are inspired by pop culture and Disney. This is also the reason why the patterns for these trademarked and licensed characters are NOT FOR SALE. So please don't get me into trouble.
There is a reason that those patterns are not available in PDF. If you are looking for ad-free print-friendly versions of my patterns, I do have a small number of them made available in my Ravelry store.
If there's a pattern that you would like a PDF version of but I don't have available, just message me. Making PDFs is often not a priority of mine, but if I see that there is interest, I will get on it ASAP.
If you love my patterns and designs, there are a few simple ways you can support me as a crochet designer.
How to Support Me:
- Browse my free patterns on my blog. I earn a little bit of revenue from advertisements on the blog. This revenue helps with the costs of running this blog and yarn/craft supplies.
- Purchase my PDF patterns from my Ravelry shop. I understand that advertisements on the blog can be distracting at times, and as I mentioned earlier, I do have a small number of patterns that I have made into ad-free PDFs.
- Help other makers find me:
- Share my patterns with other makers by LINKING to them with a direct link to the pattern on my blog.
- Follow me on social media (Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest). Like, comment, re-pin, save, and share my posts by linking back to my blog.
- When you share my images, please repost them with my watermark intact and credit me as the original designer by tagging me on social media (@onceuponacheerio) and also a link to my blog.
- When you share your creations made from my pattern or designs, please credit me as the original designer.
Please do NOT:
- Remove my watermark and/or put your watermark over my images.
- Share my pattern (in part or full) on social media, on a website, or with someone else.
- Translate my pattern into a different language and share it without my permission on any platform.
- Make a video tutorial of my pattern without my permission and not credit me as the original designer.
In conclusion, please do not try to profit off free crochet patterns (mine or anyone else's).
Crochet artists work hard to develop these patterns, and it's simply wrong for someone else to profit from our hard work.
In fact, it really discourages us from continuing to make patterns and give them to the world for free. So think about it that way and don't ruin it for everybody.
If you are buying a crochet pattern, make sure you are buying it from the original designer.
To my wonderful maker community, thank you for having my back and supporting me by visiting my blog and making things from my pattern. You guys are what keep me going and give me the motivation to continue making new content and new patterns.
Remember to like Once Upon a Cheerio on Facebook. I'd also love it if you followed @onceuponacheerio on Instagram if you don't already!
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