In the past month, I have been focusing on understanding the business aspects of running my blog. Specifically, I have been exploring strategies to offset my hosting costs, ensuring that writing my blog doesn’t leave me with a big loss. During this process, I gained valuable insights into the monetization methods used by designers in the maker or fiber arts industries. Am I suddenly quitting my day job to write the blog? Nope, not even close, but I’m happy to share my results with my readers, so we can all support our favorite independent pattern designers together.
Before I get to the list. I want to add a couple disclaimers:
I’m not making a living from my own blog (I really like my day job!) so it’s just a hobby for me. However, I am very interested in supporting those who DO depend on designing income to support themselves and their families. I’m also not perfect, I’ve forgotten/neglected to do some of these in the past, so I’m looking forward to improving. In particular, writing this post has given me some motivation to finally add Ravelry projects for gifts I finished years ago! The most important part of this post, for me, was realizing that I am not a passive member of a community. I can support designers in these small ways, even when my credit card is hiding out in my wallet for a while.
This information is based on my personal experience of establishing my blog and interacting with the social media side of the fiber arts community. As you might have noted if you read my bio, I’m an economist in real life. But the economics of running a small fiber arts business are not in my professional purview, so please take these suggestions as the sincere, but amateur, thoughts of a new blogger, not the advice of an expert! I’m also very open to being wrong about any of this, and would love to read your analysis and ideas in the comments or a private message.
Please note that my only experience is with the following platforms: Ravelry, WordPress, Pinterest, and Instagram. You may need to adapt the advice I’m giving on other platforms in order to fit the typical engagement styles of those platforms. In particular, I have no idea how to use TikTok, so feel free to leave any tips in the comments.
So let’s explore some ways to show support for independent pattern designers, even if you’re not currently able to make a purchase.
First, here are seven free ways to support your favorite designers, as promised:
1. Engage with the designer’s content by following them, liking their designs, and leaving thoughtful comments.
Comments that go beyond just saying “cute pattern” generate engagement and help the designer gain visibility. Personally, I make an effort to specifically mention what I like about a pattern or project. For example, I might write, “I really appreciate the attention to detail in the neckline of this pattern. It adds a lovely finishing touch.” Or, “the colors you chose for this blanket are captivating.” While commenting on Ravelry may not be as common as on other social media platforms, I have additional suggestions for Ravelry below.
2. Pin the designer’s patterns on Pinterest to help increase traffic to their website.
I was pleasantly surprised by how much traffic Pinterest drives to this blog when I analyzed my traffic sources. (If you’re interested in driving traffic via Pinterest, this is the article I saw that got me thinking about it.) My personal working theory is that this is because pins have a longer lifespan compared to other social media posts. Instagram posts appear to become “old news” within a few days, and the algorithm can be opaque (to put it kindly). By maintaining a public Pinterest board featuring your favorite designs, you actually provide long-term support to the designers, without feeling the need to post multiple times about the same project.
3. Favorite the project on Ravelry and add it to your queue if you plan to create it.
Having a high number of favorites and queues can help a design gain visibility and appear in “top” lists. Ravelry is similar to Pinterest, where designs have long-lasting popularity, and even older patterns can still have great visibility years later. I am not the best about “queueing” my makes, it stresses me out to much! But I do have an extensive set of favorites, meticulously sorted by category for future reference.
I’m not aware of any platform like Ravelry for sewing patterns, but if you know of one, please leave it in the comments and I will include it here!
4. Visit the designer’s website and explore their pattern library.
Some designers charge for patterns and make money directly, while others give the pattern away for free but get paid by advertisers or sponsors. I was informed, while setting up some ads on this site, that you will not receive any ad revenue from people who are using an ad blocker. I was able to add a request to turn the ad blocker off. I know this is a difficult topic, as lots of people (including me!) can be annoyed by just how many ads we see every day. So personally, you should do as you like on my website, no hard feelings! But learning about how this works, in the context of content I really want to support, made me just a bit less annoyed when a website asks me to turn off my own ad blocker!
5. Share the designer’s posts with friends or repost them in your stories (with the designer’s permission).
This tip is more about visibility than generating actual revenue or engagement for the designer. Reposting or sharing is a great way to get the word out to your maker friends about great designs. However, please ensure that the designer is comfortable with you sharing their content in public ways, and remember to give proper credit to the designer. Sharing the actual pattern (if it’s a PDF) is definitely discouraged, and most designers prohibit this.
6. When you complete a project on Ravelry or Instagram using someone’s design, remember to tag the designer.
If you have created something amazing using another person’s design, whether it’s a free or paid pattern, consider sharing it on Ravelry or your preferred social media platform and appropriately tagging the designer. This way, your impressive finished project can inspire others to use the pattern. I definitely added some long-overdue projects to Ravelry as I was thinking about this post!
One difficult subject in the maker community is selling finished items from patterns you purchase or find. Ethically, it’s best to support the designer’s wishes, especially if they have made them clear. Personally, I encourage anyone who would like to sell finished items using my patterns to do so. As far as I could tell (from my years-old, highly unscientific googling), there is not much overlap in the consumers who want to make the item (pattern buyers) and those who want to purchase the actual item (finished item buyers). In fact, here’s a link to purchase my soap savers as finished items, in case you want one but don’t have the time to make it! The maker reached out years ago and tagged me in these items when they were just starting out. I believe they have since iterated on the original pattern, but it’s exciting to see something I created supporting another maker’s income!
7. Join their newsletter or online community.
If you like receiving frequent updates about designers you love, you can often join a community dedicated to their patterns on Ravelry, Patreon, Facebook and other platforms. The higher membership numbers can help the designer land other deals or persuade others to join as well. I’m personally a huge fan (and paid supporter of) Cashmerette for her sewing patterns! I’ve added one of my (rare) sewing photos below based on one of her patterns.
If you want to offer even more support when you’re able to make a purchase:
Buy the pattern.
If the pattern is not free, you can support the designer by purchasing it. Some designers also offer a paid option for an ad-free PDF version of their pattern. If the pattern is free, you can still show your appreciation by making a small donation if the designer has a way to accept it. Some designers also offer a “pay what you can” model where you can choose the price based on your ability to pay. I have personally paid for sewing patterns this way, but not yet for a knitting or crochet pattern.
Purchase your supplies through the designer’s affiliate links.
My blog traffic isn’t high enough for access to most affiliate programs, but while researching my options, I learned that some designers use affiliate links to make commissions. They are links to online stores or products that the designer recommends or uses for their patterns. Sometimes the designers even offer a discount in partnership with the suppliers. It doesn’t usually cost you anything to purchase using an affiliate link (you pay the same price), but the designer gets a commission from your purchase. In my case, I have used these links to get a win-win discount on yarn for projects, even if I’m not necessarily making the designer’s pattern this time.
Do your research on the source of the design before you pay.
Unfortunately, some unethical designers will steal free or paid patterns and try to make a quick profit by holding these out as their own designs. Protect yourself from being scammed by running a quick google image search to make sure you are using the original version and driving all that traffic and revenue to the original design. Sometimes you may even discover that the original is free!
Leave a review for the pattern wherever you made the purchase.
There are a LOT of designs out there, and some are better than others. If you really enjoy a design, write a nice 5 star review and note exactly what you like about it. This will help others choose wisely when they are shopping for their next pattern.
While writing this post, I realized I need to make a post showcasing all the newborn and birthday gifts I have made for Miss Everleigh! There are so many pictures on my computer and phone of those projects, and all together they just might make an interesting post.
Are you planning to use any of these ideas to support your favorite designers this year? Do you have more ideas to share? Meet me in the comments!