During the three years that I've written a blog, I've really come to love the crafting community. There are so many wonderfully creative people out there with so many ideas and skills, and they all seem to be the nicest, most friendly and warm people I've ever met. I've made friends all over the world through my blog and have had some terrific conversations with other sewers and crafters about all sorts of topics. I've even had the pleasure of meeting some of my on-line friends in person!
One of the topics that frequently surfaces in the blogging world (and in the general crafting world as well) is one of copyright and fair use. The creator of a design or a pattern invests a great deal of thought and energy (and sometimes money) into his or her work. Some designers attempt to control their work by imposing stringent "do not"s and "cannot"s around it. Others essentially let go of their work and any control over it.
It seemed to me that there must be a middle path here--a way to allow others to use a design as a starting point or an inspiration and to take it in their own direction while still maintaining ownership of the original idea and being able to financially support the continued production of new ideas.
Essentially, it boils down to this: as the holder of the copyright for my patterns, I need to maintain control over those patterns and how they are used to be able to continue to create more work. But I also want to permit individual sewers to make and sell garments based on my patterns, and I want to enable people who don't sew to purchase garments based on the patterns (because I certainly can't sew all those clothes myself!). So I wanted a way in which I could protect my copyright and the investment I've made in this company while allowing sewers to use my work to make garments that they can sell.
It look a long time, but we've come up with a solution that we're launching today, and we hope you'll like it! We're calling it the Boutique Sewer Program.
The idea is simple. Through the program individual sewers can purchase licenses to make and sell garments from Oliver + S patterns. Each license comes with a label that must be sewn into the finished garment before it is offered for sale. The presence of the label indicates that the garment has been created from an Oliver + S pattern and is being sold with the permission of the design's copyright holder.
By purchasing a license, the sewer agrees to abide the terms of the program, which you can read
here (be sure to read the
FAQ and
Terms pages). Sewers may purchase more than one license at a time and can make more than one garment for sale, but each item must be unique and handmade (in other words, not made in a factory or in large quantities).
The cost for one license is $6.00, and the license can be purchased only via our website (so that we're able to keep track of all the licenses that are sold). You, in exchange, can market the garment as being made from an Oliver + S pattern. And as the program grows (which we hope it will), we plan to add additional features. We'll be highlighting some of our favorite licensed items on the blog and in our newsletters, and eventually we would like to add some additional functionality to Boutique Sewer Program section of the Oliver + S website.
So if you've been wanting to make and sell something based on one of our patterns, please try it out. The licenses are available for purchase starting today. Shipping is included in the cost of the license, and we can't wait to hear what you think of the program!
Labels: boutique, patterns, sewing
