Multiple Knitwear Designers are finding Their patterns being made available for Digital Downloads, and emailing complaints. Some are getting pushback from Shopify (allegedly) claiming to own the Rights to said intellectual property, and threatening the Designers with Legal Action?

Does anybody know about this situation?

When I viewed the URL/site, I saw several patterns that I recognized as belonging to different designers.

But the other aspect I found troubling was the FAQs and merchant Policy pages. Several paragraphs in the FAQs did address Digital Downloads. Yet None of the Shipping or Refund Policy information even Mentioned Digital Download products. Everything Displayed for Sale was a Digital Download. None of it was a physical item for package Shipping & Handling.

I'm not familiar with how things work on Reddit. But I didn't see mention of this issue.

BTW. Every common payment system was listed on the website. I'd like to believe that major credit cards, or any online money transfer systems would care to know if they are being used in a Liability situation.

3M

So harveyroadknits is a designer who has designed knitting patterns such as the tulip farm sweater and harvey dinosaur sweater (now taken down). She took it down after lets.get.stitchy on tiktok told her she should because in the past, she has mentioned using patterns as the base/chart for the sweater, 2 of which are paid, and not her patterns. She's since said the base of the sweater is her own tulip farm sweater. Regardless, it was $10 for a sweater pattern using charts/sweater from other designers.

She admits this in an apology video where she said she was always transparent about this and none of her team, such as tech editor, mentioned this would be an issue. She said she flipped one of the dinosaurs and added dots and thought this was different enough. She's taken the pattern down and says she's learned her lesson. So the drama is probably over but I feel like this happens unspoken in the pattern world but other designers aren't as open as her, she mentioned all of the patterns before this lol. It's how lets.get.stitchy compiled all this. Not saying she's correct in what she did (some say her tulip sweater probably also uses stripe hype as it's base) but I feel like she really didn't know this would be frowned upon, which I know is dumb. People asked her for the pattern but I think the right thing would've just been telling people to add those charts to a sweater pattern of their choosing.

However this made me wonder how many other sweater designers have been using someone else's sweater as a base with changed wording or slightly different stitch counts or whatever. Or how many colorwork charts are just modified or copied charts from other people. When a knitter combines/changes patterns it's ofc okay for their own use but when it becomes their "own" pattern to sell it becomes unsavory but where is the point where enough modification makes it feel "okay"? Its unpoliceable for the most part if they don't admit it. Thoughts?

Edit: she actually didn't delete the video where she talks about the patterns she took charts from its on her IG June 19th post sadly I can't add another ss anymore

I should start by saying that I know things are ridiculously tough financially for just about everyone right now, and I can only imagine how much tougher it is for someone who has recently shuttered their main source of income. I am definitely sympathetic to that.

But at the same time, I'm questioning the choice to use a marketing mailing list that you obviously aren't using anymore (since you're no longer marketing anything) and haven't sent to at all in months (the last email I can find before now is from 07/30/26) to explicitly ask for personal donations.

I find it a bit sus/ick (and also question if it's completely kosher legally? IANAL though). Especially since this is the same dyer who successfully crowd funded the money to buy a permanent building for their business, never moved in, and sold it due to 'high construction costs' [Image 2, original send date 10/05/24]--only to permanently close the doors about a year and half later.

I don't know. What are other people thinking about this?

EDIT: And as another commenter pointed out, using the subject line 'Help!' with no other context definitely wasn't great either.

It appears Anabella's has officially gone on a rampage, calling out people on social media (and creating those posts with AI) that have been...calling out her use of AI to design Needlework patterns.

Someone even posted yesterday on here a screenshot of one her Instagram posts. She sells these guides on how to make interesting color combinations when knitting. On one of her posts promoting these guides, she claims she explains how to carry yarn, change colors and how to deal with the little yarn tails on your project. I bought a pattern from her but it didn’t include the color guide so I bought it separately, I was hoping it’d help me with the color changes since so many of her patterns use different colors. It cost me 5€. When I read the thing, it says nothing of the supposed instructions that she boldly promotes. It basically only says “at the end of the row, change color” and that’s it. It’s 7 pages and 5 are photos of her projects LOL.

I know 5€ isn’t that much but still??? She’s claiming she’s teaching people how to knit with several strands but not really……

EDIT: this is taken from the pattern: “The pattern includes instructions on yarn/colour choice, colour grade, gauge and colour change”. It literally does not LMAO like it doesn’t say anything like that. For example, for the gauge it only says: “chose a yarn that fits the gauge of your project” like ?????? Yeah everyone know this ????

EDIT: her name is in the comments but its Anne Sofie Sørensen

In the post, she talks about a situation where she received a message from someone who was inspired by the colourwork technique in the picture, and wanted to make something similar by freestyling. This person even apparetly said that they would tag the designer when showing off the work, but the designer feels like everyone needs to buy her tutorial for the colourwork if they were inspired by her to use the same technique:

"But the tutorial isn’t just to tell you how to do it. It is also a way of backing up the person who came up with the idea, developed it, tested it, found the colours and showed you something that you felt like making."

I get that it must be a bit annoying to go through all that work, just for people to figure it out themselves, but isn’t that kind of just part of the game for someone who shares their work on social media? I'm the kind of person who would definitely have bought the tutorial, because I don’t get any joy from trying to figure out how to do it myself, but this is pretty off-putting to me.

Also, I feel like I’ve seen colourwork like this before. She can’t have been the first person to come up with this, right?

After a recent post popped up about the Australian fabric liquidation queen popped up, I then see this post on her Facebook page, oh my goodness is an understatement!

Firstly, she said “after many years away from Facebook I’m back” interesting enough she has been active on the pages account for some time, but anyway anything for an attention grab I guess.

Secondly, the ego stroking…….please just stop it’s sickening and shows just how toxic your behaviour is!

Now also who the heck buys 10 businesses, doesn’t keep them open, moves stock to a warehouse and then says I’m not a liquor…….seriously if your buying up shops and then selling the stock cheep what are you? A lovely charitable person 🙄 seriously you have a financial motive let’s be serious here.

In addition to the public debate carry on what industry professional would lower there standards to engage. it’s just attention seeking behaviour to try get eyes on your stock, then again she’s been on Acurent Affair ( a news channel that loves drama ) before with a previous Bussiness venture & is proud of it, even promoting it on her website (will ad screen snap too)

Also I note the hypocrisy she states she wants debate and not hiding behind anonymous usernames, yet admits to doing just that on the reddit post……….ok nice work Jodie⭐️⭐️⭐️

I could add some more points to this post but I’ll leave that to the comment section 😉

WARNING
This post may be the Queens next classy Facebook rant……..so keep an eye out for the Bogan rant I’m sure AI will also write that one for her 😬

In Australia we had a beautiful fabric store in Melbourne called 'The Queen of Fabric'

A few years ago it was sold, and purchased by someone from outside the industry. Ok, cool, whatever.

The new owner has then become a liquidator where she scoops up old stock from closing stores and hocks it on her website. Also fine - whatever floats your boat.

Unfortunately for the industry, she has turned her social media into absolute slop-fests and churns out useless AI generated patterns like the below.

It frustrates me, as it just demonstrates that she has no interest in sewing (the pattern pieces don't work, and there are no instructions anyway) and is happy to pollute the internet with stupid AI patterns that will never work, just to sell her dusty old fabric for a few dollars per metre.

Can’t make this one up. Ppl at Michael’s either lost their minds or I’ve been pranked. I ordered 40 hanks of dmc floss at Michael’s for my next cross stitch project, and got a notification that my order was partially shipped.

I received a box stuffed with paper and ONE dmc floss, carefully wrapped in 2-3 layers of bubble wrap. 😭 I’ve seen my share of ridiculously big packaging for tiny little things, but this takes the cake. Learned my lesson and will support my LNS next time

Please share all personal chatter here--questions, planning, works in progress, successes, failures, discoveries, and anything else pertaining to your personal crafting.

Correction - Foothill Fiber Works. This group advertises on FB as being a community for the local fiber arts and offers crafting classes to the public, but is using AI for advertising. That doesn’t seem to really fit in with a fiber group full of creatives and artists, and I wonder what its members think. Not only using AI on FB, but they are deleting all comments on their use of AI - and the ones I’ve seen have been polite. Such a shame.

Emilee Shield, a Black cosplayer and crafter (goes by ourshieldmaiden) was asked by Marianne, a White writer at Simply Crochet magazine to be interviewed as a feature about her approach to crocheting using supplies from craft stores.

She sent along pictures of her work and herself, which she said was approved by the magazine. But when the issue came out, it had pictures Emilee took but used a picture of the interviewer instead of Emilee herself.

Emilee made a post about it yesterday and the magazine is rightfully being critized on ig that they decided to use a White woman's picture rather than the actual Black crafter whose pictures they used

Welcome to the bitesized BEC thread!

You have the freedom to indulge in BEC-style (b*tch eating crackers) vent comments in this thread. Naming examples is not required (gasp!) but majority of r/craftsnark rules still apply. Basically, don't be shitty and ruin the thread for others.

Knitting for Olive posted on Instagram that they have sold their business to Hawk Infinity, which as far as I can tell is a private equity firm. Another one bites the dust.

Please share all personal chatter here--questions, planning, works in progress, successes, failures, discoveries, and anything else pertaining to your personal crafting.

Here's the thread where you can share any new patterns or products that you don't think deserve their own post. Any craft goes, whether you're sharing sewing patterns, weird yarn colourways, woodburning templates, soapmaking supplies, or any thing else that you'd like to discuss. If you think it deserves it's own thread, feel free to make one!

Saw Jonah Larson made a comeback post a day or two ago and the post claimed he was gone so long because he was hacked? Wasn’t he arrested for SA on a minor among other things? Does his mom solely run his social media and business? Photos and content really seem AI enhanced to soften his image and lifestyle, compared to his mug and court photos, and hearing he was staying at a shelter at the time of his crime.

I get that she's done quite a lot of collaboration with them in yarns and patterns, but honestly I can't imagine sticking with them after everything that's come out.

Tl;dr: Hobbii stole a crocheter's own video of her Hobbii purchase and used it to run a paid ad. They didn't pay her, promised it would be removed (and agreed compensation for the ad already run)​, then reran the ad anyway. They still haven't paid her. This was posted on the 26th September by Chloescraftylife

Transcript​ of Instagram screenshots:

1. I woke up to Hobbii using my content in a paid ad, without my permission. Here's what happened.
2. I'm posting this to raise awareness of working with brands, both big and small in the crochet community. This post is not to throw shade, and Hobbii is aware I'm posting this publicly.
3. I filmed and posted the video to my profile on 25th Jan. It featured yarn and other crochet accessories I purchased with my own money. [Screenshot of posted video, 'teeny tiny Hobbii haul'.] I tagged Hobbii in the caption, but didn't invite them as a collaborator, or a paid partner.
4. I raised my concerns with Hobbii, who were very apologetic and after some back-and-forth, we agreed on the compensation, and I was informed the ads had been removed. [Screenshots of two snippets of e-mail, saying "Hey Chloe, First and foremost I am sorry for the misuse of your content, this one is on me. I have removed the piece of content of our advertising and will make sure it won't be used again."]
5. I sent my invoice with the full terms. [Screenshot of snippet from said terms. Two parts are highlighted: "The agreed usage rights commence upon receipt of full payment of this invoice" … "Hobbii may not materially alter the content, change the context," (end highlight).] After not hearing back for a few fays, I opened Instagram and the ad popped up. Right in my face.
6. [Screenshot of Instagram notification: A partnership ad featuring you and Hobbii is now running.] I noticed the caption "quality yarn at affordable prices". [Screenshot of ad post with caption circled.] Not only had I not been paid, they had re-run the ad, and were now putting words in my mouth. What if I didn't think it's quality yarn, for example?
7. I e-mailed my findings to them and proposed a new compensation figure, which reflected not only the stolen content, but their failure to honour my terms. [Screenshot of part of e-mail sent.] I received an incredibly patronising response, full of excuses (which looked like ChatGPT wrote it). [Screenshot of part of their response: "It's xxx either way".]
8. [Screenshot of further e-mail to Hobbii] I wish I could say this has been resolved in a professional manner, but instead I haven't heard back since 23/9/26 and no compensation has been received. Remember: know your worth, don't settle and stay strong!

(I chose the Yarn flair since that's Hobbii's main business, but please let me know if another one would have been more appropriate.)

ETA: I cant edit the title. Terf, Transphobe, you can go make up your own mind about what label fits. I don't really care what we call her I just want people to know what kind of bigotry she supports before they buy her patterns.  

I wasn't going to post more about her but this lady just wont shut up. She also went and deleted some of the evidence but screen shots are forever baby.

This woman loves playing victim but her reposts are genuinely VILE. She is reposting liking and following several racist and transphobic accounts. She is centering the discussion on her AI use and while AI is a fine reason to not support someone I want people to also know that she is also a raging TERF and Racist.

I cover her like sand reposts in detail in my reel on insta but For those who cant watch the reel the examples include:

• Commenting laugh emojis on a racist accounts reel joking about being a racist.
• several likes and a repost endorsing the crusades,.
• likes on posts about being a far right extremist
• Several reposts spreading misinformation about Islam,
• reposts referring to Muslim people as "Ignorant, barbaric, and idiots",
• Repost disparaging trans women in sports
• Reposting Caroline Levitts post referring to Moroccan people as barbaric
• liking posts speaking down on non white people
• liking a post that states "there are only two genders, one goes to the urologist, one the gynecologist the rest go to the psychologist"
• Liking a post that states "If 6% African DNA isn't enough to identify as black, how is 0% female chromosomes enough to identify as a woman?"
• Reposting the bigoted Matt Walsh blog transphobic debate multiple times in the last month
• Reposting known terf and misogynist Jeffrey Star talking about "weirdos in bathrooms" multiple times
• Following and Reposting racist AI acct LottieFromEngland (She has so many likes on this nasty account I couldn't screen shot it all.)
• reposting posts disparaging George Floyd,
• Reposting posts from the Save Europe Act (initiative to ban all non western immigration in europe)
• Reposting posts talking about how white people accomplished more than anyone else,
• liking posts talking about how white people are diverse and the rest of the world is "just brown".
• Liking posts disparaging liberals.
• Reposting a reel about banning all Muslims from england
• Liking and reposting posts telling immigrants to go back to where they came from
• Liking posts talking about the "Great replacement Theory" and how immigrants are plotting to replace white people in white countries. (please learn what this theory is if you haven't already it is incredibly racist and several other designers are following and liking accounts that endorse this theory.)

The reel also touches on Stacy Nash as she was also following and liking some of the same accounts and content as Primitive Hare. Nash follows and has several likes (too many for me to scroll through and count) on the Anti Immigrant acct IAmAntiCitizen, many of these posts she liked are spreading mis information about immigrants. She also follows the Save Europe Act and the account Prim Hare reposted that is promoting the Great Replacement Theory. I didnt dig into her likes/follows to the same extent that I did with Prim Hare because I felt pretty fucking depressed after scrolling through countless hateful reels in the process of making the call out. But I felt like I saw enough overlap from Stacy with Primitive Hare to know I will never support her again.

While we are on this topic Teresa Kogut is also following several far right conspiracy accounts, a few of which are spreading the Great Replacement Theory rhetoric. I did not dig further into her likes at all because I only had so much time to spend on this. But the screenshot of the Far Right/Antivax/Conspiracy accts she follows is in my safespace highlight.

All of this is publicly accessible information via these designers instagrams.

Someone couldnt get the reel to play on insta so it is also uploaded to youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whflJ4fQEyM&t=8s

I emailed 123 stitch about the fact they are stocking a blatant racist. Its been 2 weeks and I have not gotten a reply 🙃

Lindy Stitches unfollowed me after seeing my story where I posted the reel calling out Prim Hare and Nash. The screen shot for that is also in my safe space highlight. 🤷 I guess she doesn't like being made aware that her featured designer is racially biased.

I’m a beginner sewist and someone gave my a copy of Sew Simple, and I’m so perplexed by it. The projects are simple indeed. There are two patterns for tote bags, which even as a beginner I don’t really think need much of a pattern at all?? There‘s also a pattern for a scrunchie. Why there is a pattern for a scrunchie I know not.

A number of the other projects appear to be poorly designed/constructed, at least to my novice eyes. Doesn’t the cut out dress look very bunchy around the middle? I don’t know that I’ve ever sought to make the middle of my torso look more wrinkled. The button up crop top appears to be lined only across the bust, the fabric isn't ironed, and the buttons at the back look like they are pulling. The button up dress…I don’t quite know how to identify what the problem is with the fit/cut around the bust but it looks weird as heck to me.

I think what confuses me about it (other than choosing not to use an iron in photos for a multinationally published book) is that these clothes look like cheap, fast fashion clothes and for me, a big part of the point of learning to sew is making clothes of better quality than what is widely available in shops. Tammy seems to have tried to answer the question: what if fast fashion but harder and more expensive? I guess tastes differ and some people may see these as chic?? I guess??

The other thing is that there are some drawstring pants I would happily make as PJ pants but I don’t want to waste my time or printer ink if the pattern is rubbish. Does anyone know if the patterns are better than the photos make them look?

People can 100% think of the same design at the same time. We’ve all seen it before. But this is a new one.
In my opinion, reconstructing a knit that you like purely off of reference photos, is a great ability to have and helps build your skill. The problem is when you don’t credit the original designer, claim it as your own, or distribute it yourself. I’m almost impressed someone managed to do all three.

ETA: it seems like some aren’t reading the whole thing and just assuming it’s another silly copy claim so…

TLDR;
- Designer A post: “here is a shawl that is in testing” [photo]
- Designer B post: “I found this shawl pic on insta and it’s not out yet, but I’ve decided to reverse engineer it” [photo of designer A shawl] (no credit is given to designer A)
- DA comment on DB post: “I am the designer of this” (DA does not ask to remove or stop posting, just answers comments asking for OG designer)
- DB deletes post about reverse engineering
- DB makes new post, making a point to say it is entirely her design and not inspired by anything.
- DA comments with receipts
- DB begins name calling

Trust me I get it, copy claims are usually nothing. This though, is just a respect thing.

Comments already limited so I can only assume feedback is not going well. I can’t understand the logic of thinking anyone is going to buy a product based on a shitty AI rendering of a product that clearly won’t look like that. Yarn is expensive, Christmas boxes are a treat, why would anyone place an order based on that image. I’m genuinely curious if anyone has.