Knitting for $$$

#1

Is it okay to sell “commissioned” items? For example, someone sees a felted bag you made and wants one. Is it okay to make one and sell it for the amount of the yarn + time? The pattern I have used states “for personal use only”. What if you modify a pattern? Is that now your pattern? Several ladies at church want felted bags/totes now that they have seen mine and I want to do the right thing. Also, a good friend of mine owns a nice, high end gift shop and has offered to let me place some of my bags in her shop.

#2

I too struggle with this. I think if you do a search on “copywright” on this site , you’ll get lots of hits about the subject.

My take on it would be this…

to make something one time for a friend, and charge them for the materials and your time (altho you won’t get full compensation), is OK???

But, to take those same bags, for personal use only, and sell them in a store, wouldn’t be OK.

but…bottom line, essentially they are the same.

good luck…but do a search, I am SURE that this topic has been discussed before. :slight_smile:

you could also email/write the author of the pattern, and ask how she feels about it.

#3

yep…it’s been discussed here quite a bit. There is an article at knitty too…difficult to come up with an answer. If you want to be REALLY safe, contact the copyright holder and ask. If you get written permission to use it for your stated purposes then you are a.o.k.

#4

You might want to pick up the latest copy of Vogue Knitting. They have a pretty comprehensive article on copyrights and such.

#5

I see no problem with making it for a friend if they are simply paying for the pattern and the materials. However, if they pay you for the time it took to make the item then you are “profiting” from it and that would be a no-no. (And technically, I suppopse, they need to actually purchase the pattern, not just use the one you purchased). My understanding is also that minor changes to the pattern do not release you from the copyright obligation. I could be wrong, though. It’s best to err on the side of caution and simply contact the designer.