Why do craft patterns always have to cost money?

Dear community,
the question “Why do craft patterns always have to cost money / why isn’t it free?” comes up again and again, so I thought I’d start a thread about it here. 

Creating patterns takes a lot of time, effort, energy, and creativity. It takes time to create a beautiful pattern with lots of expressive images and easy-to-understand text. In addition, the author / provider has to answer customer questions and also handle the organizational work.
This time investment should also be recognized in the form of a reasonable purchase price. Nobody wants to have to work for free. 

Alternatives for everyone who wants or needs to save money:
We have lots of free patterns in the shop, free patterns on the blog, there are discounted patterns / patterns on sale / special offers and when using up leftovers, things always get cheaper. With the prepaid discount / store credit account discount you can save even more.

What’s your opinion on this?
 

Hello,
if I want a crochet magazine or book, I have to buy it anyway.

So why not do the same for individual patterns?

In some cases, it’s actually an advantage.
A magazine might only have one or two patterns that I like.

I think it’s great when one or two patterns are available for free.

But…
designing, writing, and testing patterns takes a lot of time and effort. And that should be appreciated.


 

I also believe that the work—just like a regular job—should be paid for.
It’s not just the whole process of creating the pattern and photos; support is also part of it when someone gets stuck.
That takes time, too.

I agree with all of this, too. Many people put countless hours into their work, and getting paid as recognition for that is only fair.
After all, none of us want to work for free.

However, so that I can understand how a pattern is structured, I can see the value in having a free version available; otherwise, I’m happy to pay for patterns. Of course, free patterns are always welcome, too. That goes without saying.
 

It’s great that people here appreciate the designers’ work.
Still, I’d like to point out once again that sharing patterns violates copyright law—especially when distributing them in WhatsApp, Facebook, and other groups. It’s easy to Google what kind of penalties this can result in.
And no, lending a book is different, because you’re not making a copy. By the way, copying and sharing content from books and magazines is also prohibited.

Crafting is a hobby—but creating and selling craft patterns is a JOB, just like any other. And just like everyone else, we designers would like to be fairly compensated for our work.

It’s wonderful that there are so many customers who appreciate this and are happy to pay a few euros for a high-quality pattern.

Everyone else who thinks that craft patterns should be free should ask themselves how they’d feel if they worked hard and diligently all month long, and at the end of the month, their boss came up to them and said: “Wow, that’s great—look at everything you’ve accomplished. I’m absolutely thrilled. But surely you understand that I don’t want to pay you a salary for this. I’m sure you enjoyed doing it....”

Best regards, Michaela

I’ve also written patterns before and always made them available for free, though I rarely do that and I have the time and inclination to do it that way. I know how much work goes into a pattern—above all, in my opinion, it should be written so that both beginners and advanced users can follow it, and that’s not easy at all. Because you must never make the mistake of assuming the person using the pattern can read your mind—THEY CAN’T!! And unfortunately, I’ve come across patterns like that time and again online. I very rarely buy a pattern—I’ve learned to create most of the ones I need and use myself, since pattern drafting was part of my tailoring training. I fully understand that these patterns cost money, and that’s justified given the work that goes into them.
Personally, I have many patterns simply stored in my head, and when I want to sew something, I go through them step by step without paper or a screen. Often, at the beginning, I really don’t know what the piece I’ve started will look like when it’s finished, so I let my creativity guide me :-)) ;-)) I start with a vague idea, and the rest just falls into place.

Best regards, Inge