As many know, although I've been much too obsessed with food lately, I am also a seamstress. I sew and make for sale Diapers, Mainly Fattycakes, From the Fatty cake pattern, and crochet Diaper soakers from the patterns by Crazy Hat Lady, Momma cloth from La Fluer Rouge, and I am also a Platinum Diddo Daddy seamstress. I have gained permission from and in two of the cases paid for rights to sew from and sell items from these wonderful ladies creations, and to use their pattern names in my sales.
I also belong to a wonderful group of talented ladies call the Diaper Sewing Diva's. We are a group 2,000+ strong who gather online to support each other in our sewing, and homelife endeavours.
If you have ever bothered to read the policies page off my personal website, which deals with all three of my business endeavours. (Hairstyling, amway IBO and Sewing with Crazy At Home) I have a small blurb on there about ethics in the WAHM world. There is a very fine line in this issue, as some of the goings on are not illegal. Just not right. Unethical and immoral by mosts standards. And also not going to gain you any respect in the WAHM world. Truthfully, several of these practices (sewing and selling from a pattern you don't have permission to whether you use the trademark name or not, trying to trademark something that everyone does anyways ETC.) will get you a big black mark in WAHM circles and will stop everyone from selling to you.
Another issue that creeps up time and time again is theft and reselling of an actually pattern as your very own. This act is completely illegal. It has unfortunately as recently as this past week happened yet again.
A bit of background first.
The woman who created the fabulous diapering board where we all gather is also the creator of the Fattycakes pattern and several other patterns for home sewing use. She spends hours of her time creating these patterns and then sells them to help support her family. Like all of us in the WAH world this takes time away from our families and home just like any other job. We all do it to help bring in an income to give towards our monthly family budgets, however big or small that amount. This was made all that more important for the family when her husband a Military man was diagnosed with cancer and when an auction was began to raise money to help them with medical bills, they in turn donated a portion of the money back to help other families facing unseen and unimaginable circumstances. This just goes to show you how stand up of a family this is.
Recently a sewing blogger (etsy store is MomOfAMarine) purchased the passport wallet pattern From Birdiful Stitches. The next day this very same blogger, started blogging about the beginnings of a passport wallet pattern that she was creating. and then shortly after released a pattern for sale, that is by most regards the exact same as the pattern that was purchased from Birdiful Stitches. To help prove or disprove her concerns, the woman who owns Birdiful Stitches in turn, purchased the pattern that this other blogger released. It is, right from the dimensions of pattern pieces, all the way down to the strikingly similar "Thank You for your purchase" E-Mail, the same pattern. when confronted with this evidence, the woman denied the copy cat, then turned around and wrote on her blog how she was the one being victimized. Really Lady? give your head a shake.
This woman not only stole hours of someone else's work, But is also stealing from her every time someone purchases this pattern, those hours all over again. she is also proving how unethical she is and acting in an illegal manner. It makes you wonder how many of the rest of her patterns and items have been acquired in such a way. I have yet to visit this blog and Etsy site. And refuse to do so to not encourage the behavior. I will admit that I have taken my opinion of this from several people that I see as stand up, honest, and full of integrity and that is good enough for me. I certainly do not want to increase her hits by any means. I do realize that by posting the store name I may be encouraging visits to her site, but I am also hoping, by doing so I will help to out this activity and make you think twice before visiting this site and making a purchase, should you happen to come across it in your online shopping travels.
No comments:
Post a Comment