While I was at the quilt shop a lady commented on how beautiful my Sophia was. I was flattered and said "Thank you". Then she asked if she could take a picture of her. I was a bit taken aback -- all sorts of sinister thoughts flooded my brain, I mean we have all seen the horror stories of child pornography, certainly this woman wasn't taking a picture of Sophia to cut and paste her head on another body. . . Noting my hesitation she turned to her friend and said "I won't take a picture, it seems to be making her mother nervous." Then her friend quite loudly pronounced: "That's okay, I don't need a picture, I can sketch it out right here."
It was not a picture of lovely Sophia they wanted, it was the overalls.
It turns out the woman who wanted to take the picture has a daughter who paints designs on children's overalls and sells them. She has a whole boutique business dedicated to originally-designed children's clothing. If her mother gave her a picture of my appliqued overalls, and she painted my design on her overalls, would that make the design hers? Or mine? Hmmmmm. The way my parents raised me (thanks mom and dad), I'd say they'd be mine.
A few thoughts come to mind when I think of this incident. Why would someone express their intent to copy your design in your presence? Copyright, patterns, competitions, and attributing the designer for works are huge points of discussion on quiltart.com -- an on-line art quilt group. In general, quilters seem to believe if you make a quilt based on a pattern, or inspired by someone else's quilt, you should attribute the design appropriately. Hey, give credit where credit is due.
And, why not just ask directly: "Gosh those are adorable overalls, do you sell the pattern?" or "Can I take a picture of them?" The answer would have been "YES" to both questions. And without asking, here it is, a picture of the front of these overalls which I designed for my girls because they love the zoo.
You don't have to go far to find inspiration for original designs. Visit the zoo, go to the beach, take a walk through the woods. I just live my life every day with two beautiful daughters. We play, we laugh, we romp. Through those activities and seeing the world through their eyes, more inspiration and ideas for designs come to me than I will every be able to make.
1 comment:
You're very generous to share your design that way, it's cute. This is a sore subject for me. To lable your work as original, when you've taken the pattern from someone else & not give credit where credit is due, is WRONG! Why don't people understand that? I wonder if the daughter would've been so anxious to use your pattern. If she's really an artist I would hope she'd come up with her own ideas, tell mom thanks but no thanks.
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