Why We Pay for Patterns

When a Bay Area Yarn Crawl shop offers a pattern for “free” it means that they have purchased the pattern from the designer, and are giving it to the customer as a gift. No BAYCrawl shop will ever violate a designer’s copyright, and we encourage you, as a customer, to respect this law as well. If you love a pattern, and want to give it to a friend, please buy a second copy.

Professional designers write patterns as their job. It is work, and they deserve to be paid for their labor. Professionally written, tech-edited, and user-tested patterns are often higher quality, with fewer errors, and easier to follow than a pattern that hasn’t undergone such a rigorous process.

Many crafters don’t know all the steps required to release a pattern. Here’s a brief overview, explaining many of the steps and expenses associated with writing a pattern.

- Education
: Professional designers come to each design with a wealth of knowledge built up over years of studying their craft. Some have formal degrees in fashion or textile design, and/or continuing education in subjects such as pattern drafting and garment construction. 


- Swatching and designing
: This is the “fun” part, that most people think of as designing. A designer might begin with inspiration found in a ball of yarn, or a prompt provided by a publication. They will take that idea, and work through all the countless design details, to a polished finished object.

- Doing the math
: All patterns require some amount of math. In a garment, the finished design needs to be scaled to fit all bodies appropriately. With accessories, the stitch pattern needs to work, mathematically and visually, as the shape of the object changes.

- Typing it up / graphic layout
: The design has to be translated into a clear and consistent written pattern. Some designers hire graphic designers to help them with this step.

- Tech editing: 
Many designers will hire a tech editor to ensure their pattern goes out with as few errors as possible. A tech editor will check every stitch count and every piece of punctuation throughout the entire pattern. It is painstaking work, and its own skill set.

- User testing
: Meanwhile! Designers will offer an early draft of their pattern to a pool of crafters who will make the object, checking the pattern for clarity and errors. We don’t all think the same way, but a pattern should be written in a way that most crafters can understand. Even if an instruction is technically correct, if it’s not clear to a majority of crafters, it will need to be rewritten.

- Modeling and photography: 
Patterns need pictures, both to inspire crafters to make the item, but also to show small design details and construction instructions. Many designers will hire both a model and photographer. Videos that clarify pattern details are increasingly common and time consuming for the designer, but extremely helpful!

- Printing and/or publishing: 
Once the pattern is complete, it needs to be sold! Some designers have professionally printed paper copies made, which (of course) costs money. But even digital-only patterns incur cost of sales. Uploading patterns into Ravelry and other pattern sales platforms is very time consuming, and every platform takes a cut of each pattern sold. Unless you buy it directly from the designer, in which case they are only paying...

- Payment processing: 
All payment methods have fees, except cash. Credit cards, PayPal, Venmo, etc, all charge businesses transaction fees.

- Taxes!