Something to Think About

Lawsuits and Quilters

Elizabeth E.11 Comments

My friend Rhonda sent me news of this latest scuffle involving quilters and the law, as a follow-up to my post about Pinterest.

I’m piecing this together (no pun intended) by reading the blogs of the two women involved: Emily Cier, of Carolina Patchworks and Kate Spain.  As I understand it, Moda sent Emily some of Kate Spain’s fabric to use in a quilt, which she did, and put it in her book.

As a side light, a tote bag was made to publicize the book (shown above in a screenshot from Amazon).  This particular screen shot was right above another shot of other quilters having their own totes as well (shown below).

Emily Cier received one of those very cheerful cease and desist letters, which basically puts the fear of God into you, if you’ve ever received one.  They are very effective.  She blogged about it.

Then Kate Spain, whose fabric is shown on the tote, blogged about her side of it too.  She gave an little illustration of how copyright works, encouraged others to continue using her fabric and tried to soothe the populace.  But we live in a digital, trigger-happy world, and I must admit some of the comments made me cringe.

But others had a legitimate question: if they create using Spain’s fabrics and that fabric is shown in books and on patterns, will they be sued as well?  I read through all the comments and didn’t see a response to that, but it was made clear once one commenter provided a link to Amazon and the tote bag.

And, then Emily followed up with a response.

I see the difference between the two issues–and if I were Kate Spain, I’d probably jump around too–but then does that mean that we can only use our own fabrics if, by chance, we become well-known enough (as in Emily’s case) to publish a book and want a promotional tote made to publicize our book? Somehow I don’t think Emily meant to appropriate Spain’s fabric designs, but instead was happy to have her quilt publicized on a tote.

In both cases–the Pinterest issue that I raised earlier and this one–it seem to me that copyright laws are at the core.  Many commented that the threat of lawsuits had disrupted their “pinning” habit, and they were a bit irked. (Agreed. However I do wish there were a way for Pinterest to “poke” or ping me when one of my images was being used.  Before I had a Pinterest account, there were no notifications whatsoever.)  And like one of my commentors, I’ve been frustrated by the amount of quilt designs that I once thought were in the public domain, being licensed and appropriated for a quilter’s business.  I remember even being disgusted when another icon of the blogging age, The Pioneer Woman, claimed the recipe for Texas Sheet Cake — which has been in my recipe file for about a century — as “her” buttermilk-chocolate cake recipe.  (I kind of stopped reading her after that.)

Will we as quilters be bound by the tangle of copyright laws that seem ambiguous as best, and harmful to the creative process, at their worst?  What do you think? Do threats of cease and desist lawsuits ever cross your mind when you make up a new quilt?  Do you think that all of us quilters are scrapping for the same slice of pie?  Or is it, as one quilter charged on Spain’s blog:

This situation is, I believe, the result of a designer who sells fabric, but is not a quilter and does not understand the process of creating quilts. A quilt is not a tea towel, paper napkin or plate. The implications for every quilt book, magazine or pattern published is simply staggering. The quilting community needs to take note of this issue.

In other words, who do you think “owns” that image on the tote bag: the fabric designer, or the quilt artist?

Sewing · WIP

WIP–iPad Cover

Elizabeth E.4 Comments

Since we had picked up iPads during our jaunt to San Francisco, any self-respecting quilter knows what’s next: make a cover.  And I knew just what I wanted to do.  Waiting for me when I got home was this sweet little gift of some bird Spoonflower fabric from Betty–we’d done an informal fabric swap (I think I got the better part–thank you Betty!) and these birds were destined to be a part of any cover I’d be making.

But I figure I would start with my husband’s, since I knew he wanted to get his own cover, so whatever I made wouldn’t be a long-term keeper.  No pressure.  But he wasn’t going to get these terrific birds!

I Googled “iPad cover tutorial” on the web, read through about 12 of what was offered (quite a range!), and dived in.  I chose a beige linen for the outside, some blue Minky for the inside, with a top band of blue ikat fabric so the minky wouldn’t show.  I wanted it to be solid, and this had to be quick, as my daughter Barbara (read about her *here*) and her grandchildren were arriving in about an hour.  I sewed on the top bank of fabric to the Minky, layered it up and started quilting narrow parallel lines in gray thread–not necessarily as a design choice, but because that’s what was in the bobbin.

Cover all quilted.  This is the outside.

And this is the inside–showing the band of fabric at the top.

I trimmed it up.  Good thing this is the guinea pig model, as the width across — of nearly 16″– is really too snug.

This is the final shaping before I begin the binding of it.  The flap is on the lower left of the photo.  I’m beginning the binding at the lower left corner proceeding all along the bottom of the shape above, then plan to fold the piece in half, and finish the binding along the joined edges.  We’ll see.

I made the binding out of 1 1/2″ wide bias-cut fabric, using the same linen as I did for the cover, then folded in half, then the raw edges pressed to the inside.

Sewing on the binding, heading around that rounded flap corner.

Here’s the inside, showing the band, plus the soft Minky fabric, which will allow the iPad to be protected from scratches.

I sewed the scratchy part of the Velcro to the cover outside, and the soft part to the flap, finishing just as the doorbell rang and my daughter and her three children arrived!  My oldest grandchild, Keagan, is holding the finished product, with the iPad slightly protruding.  Maddie, the three-year old sister and Riley, the five-year old brother hadn’t made it up the stairs yet.

And here it is closed.  I’m sure my husband is still looking for just the perfect cover, but this will get him through until he finds just what he wants.  I’ll be starting on my cover when all these little people in my life have returned home, and after I finish grading the midterms.  Spring Break ends this week–so sad to see it go, but summer is just a short 9 weeks from now.  I’m already counting down the days.

On another note, here’s a couple of pictures with my other granddaughters in them–having received their doll quilts.  They are both posing with the quilts I made for them when they were born.

Oh, yeah.  I’m one of THOSE grandmas, who’ll whip out her phone to show you pictures of her grandchildren.  Yep, any time.  Any place.

Other projects I’m working on:
Doll quilts for Keagan and her little sister Maddie and a “guy-quilt” for Riley’s Buzz Lightyear figure
Star quilt, which adorns my pin wall and I still love
Hexagon blocks, which are a nice piece of handwork when I sit down to watch a movie (not this week!)

Thanks–no, many thanks!--go to Lee of Freshly Pieced Fabrics, who is hosting this Works In Progress Wednesday.  Return to her blog to see what she, and others are working on.

Creating

Time to Go Home

Elizabeth E.4 Comments

When I start finding lots of images that could be turned into quilts (like the ones below), and. . .

. . . when I start buying souvenirs like the ones below. . .

. . . I know it’s time to go home and get back to quilting. So we did, driving 8 hours south through the rain. . . to more rain.

But we made a little detour first, to this place.

Where we saw a bunch of blue-shirted happy Apple employees.  And yes, Krista, we bit, which about covers our birthdays, our anniversaries, Bastille Day, St. Patrick’s Day, whatever. Check back Wednesday when I attempt to make an iPad cover in less than an hour before the grandchildren arrive for their Spring Break visit.

Finishing School Friday · Something to Think About

The Done Manifesto–FSF

Elizabeth E.4 Comments

Since, during summer, Friday is my FSF–Finishing School Friday, I thought I’d mention this idea of the Done Manifesto, created when “Bre Pettis, an inventor,  and collaborator Kio Stark gave themselves exactly 20 minutes to create a manifesto encapsulating everything they knew about bring a creative vision to life.” (from Infographic of the Day: 13 Rules)

I read about this some time ago, but parts of their manifesto haunt me, as I read your blogs and hear you talk about the struggle to craft a balance between your time blogging/interneting and quilting.  Here’s the full list; focus in on number 12:

Some of my “done” quilting is ghostly, existing on pinboards, and websites and floating around on the internet, and on this blog.  You have to take my word for it–my quilts exist  in real time, with the soft hand of cloth, quilting, and batting, sewn together with the whir of a finely tuned machine.  I love reading your comments, interacting and forming online friendships with you (one of the good things about blogs!), but look at Number Nine.

This one notes that to dig in and get the work done is what’s right about things (“People without dirty hands are wrong.  Doing something makes you right.”) All of these can be applied to quilting.  One of my friends completed a quilt top, hated the borders, unpicked, resewed.  Another friend had begun quilting her son’s wedding quilt, hated it, unpicked, resewed.  Both of these quilters embodied Number Eleven.

Number Seven?  Throw it away is sometimes good.  And so is to give it away–to a charity, a quiltless friend.  Some quilts are made to go out into the world and not hang around in your closet.  And Number Six?  Will I ever finish the list of quilts I’ve dreamed of?  We all know the answer to that one. But that brilliant Number Thirteen nails down the reason why doing the *real* quilting and sewing and creating is so much more satisfying: “Done is the engine of more.”

I loved all last summer when I could easily post something “done” every Friday.  It’s a different satisfaction that I get from quilting than from most anything else I do in my life.  My quilting stays done.  I can touch it, be warm underneath it, point to it when I hang it up on a wall.  It defines me.  It’s my favorite work, for when I enter my quilting zone, time just flies.

This week’s finish: Doll Quilts.  I heard from Kim, my daughter-in-law and they have arrived!