I've thought about publishing my doll patterns for sale off and on now for a number of years. Today, I sat down and started off with making a simple teeshirt for Ken dolls, and taking pictures as I went along. That strikes me as the clearest way of explaining how it's done. I'm an experienced sewer and I always get in a tizzy over written instructions without pictures.
IT'S A PILE OF HARD WORK.
I do not begrudge anyone a penny of what they charge for their published patterns. People like Gracefaerie, Designs by Jude, Adams Harris, and MHD Designs - I salute you. The work involved in creating a usable pattern is well, work. Lots of work. I can understand why they charge what they do for their work, in fact - I'm surprised it's not more.
It seems one needs to love doing, or needs to be a bit of a dolly philanthropist to go to all that trouble for a few quid per pattern. I know it depends on how many you sell, but realistically, I know most dolly designers are certainly not getting rich from doing it!
Then there's the problem of "Do I sell PDF format only?" Because down that path lie scaling issues for customers when they come to print out the pattern. Or "Do I sell only printed patterns?" I feel that path will be extremelly costly in printer ink. I know folks charge a bit more for a printed pattern (plus shipping) than PDF versions, but you can't hike up the prices too much.
It seems sticking to only one option might make me lose potential customers. So I have to offer both, which means two sets of problems to solve. Ah well, I'll do a couple for Ken dolls, then a couple for Ellowyne and see what happens. If I have the energy.... ;)
So anyway, Here's a few pics from my first pattern instructions, just for a few visuals. My back hurts, and I have a headache now. So I'm off to chill under my blankie, with the cat.
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please do the Ellowynes pattern!!!
ReplyDeleteI will! I need to get the Ken stuff out of my system first, and it takes a long time to produce one simple pattern, but I shall get there, :)
DeleteAh yes the perils of printing out a pdf pattern - especially ones from the US!!! I just bought some Designs by Jude patterns to have another go at sewing for the Ells - Printing them out was a bit of a mare but we got there in the end and by a happy accident when I printed one of the patterns out to fit to page I realised it looked Patience size - so my Patience girls (the cuties with big heads!) are getting some clothes!!! I'd buy your Ello patterns - although I think my sewing is best viewed from a distance (lol!!) so not sure I'd ever do them justice :)
ReplyDeleteYes, it's a bit of a mare. Gracefaerie, I think can send you an A4 version.... I know someone can, but I forget who. I'm doing both, and I'll probably have the option of punters ordering a hard copy for a nominal fee. So fingers crossed it all works out.
DeleteOooh, any chance of some pippa ones being issued? :)
ReplyDeleteI always shudder at the prospect of doing Pip stuff again - but it's possible. I have plans for lots of other things first and each pattern takes a long time to get right. But yes, maybe. If it's a success I might get fired up to make Pip patterns.
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