Alerts

Okay, it's not talk like a pirate day, and I am going to summon all my will to not type this post in pirate-speak. I just want to bring your attention to a new section of the website called "The Coupon Clipper" (geddit?). Think of it as the far corner of the shop that you head to first to see what's on sale. Linked at the bottom corner of every page on the site! Ye never know what treasure she holds...(argh, I couldn't help it). </piratetalk>

Win this bag! (all funds go to Grind For Life) 

Embroidering for a cause! There are two fundraisers going on right now to benefit worthy causes:

Grind For Life: Amy Bindel of Early Bird Special has (~beautifully~) embroidered my Floral Fantasy Tote Bag (above), and donated it for Bake and Destroy's auction to raise funds for Grind For Life, an organization founded by Mike Rogers to provide financial assistance to cancer patients and families when traveling long distances to doctors/hospitals.

♥ Link

x - x - x 

Gulf Restoration Fundraiser: Meighan of My Love For You Is a Stampede of Horses is holding a seven-day only fundraiser to benefit the Gulf Restoration Network. I donated this piece. You can more info on the fundraiser is here, and all donated works are here.

♥ Link

Maybe it's time to hold a Jerry-Lewis style embroidery-telethon? I need to get my velour tuxedo cleaned and I'm ready!

(sample examples I'm stitching up all over one of my aprons)

Do you believe in re-incarnation? Well, where some of my earlier pattern sheets are concerned, I certainly do.

I'm really excited to finally re-vamp some of my most popular sheets! It's like everything old was new, and then it got old again and now it will be new again! Whoop! Look for re-incarnations SOON TO COME (like mmmmaybe next week-ish) of...

Now, if you like the old versions just fine as they are, thankyouverymuch, get the PDFs now, before they go bye-bye 4-evar. Some of the older designs will remain, but not all. It will practically be like having six new sheets, so you can start getting excited about it...NOW!

You have been stitching me out of house and home! I've been running out of lots of patterns all at once, but fear not: they are now getting re-stocked. So, we now have back in the hizzy-houzzle: Beach Babes - Camp Out - Forest Friends - Garden Variety - Zombies & Monsters and also: Sushi Bar - Tiki Freak and Krazy Kitchen! I don't want you to go without....

You know, I'm always so rah-rah about everything around here, I thought I'd just fess up about one of my less stellar pattern attempts. "Word Balloons" went over like "Lead Word Balloons" when it came out, and I've never really understood why. It was a customer suggestion, and I thought it was a great one. Approved! Immediately put into production! I mean, aren't you just dying to put your own words into, over, around and across these balloons? I am! So, I broke 'em out and used this textile to make a sweet guest towel that says (I just wrote in pencil on it) "here." Like, "Here I am, a clean little towel for you to dry your hands on. Mind the embroidery. Thanks." Then you take a mint, leave a few coins in the tray on your way out and think "Well, that was extra nice."

Word Balloons Embroidery Patterns

For Sublime Stitching, she's been a Guest Artist! Tara's artwork is utterly dreamy and inspiring, all sweetness and spikes mixed together for your unusual embroidery: Tara McPherson Embroidery Patterns

Mixing rock and roll art with embroidery makes me very happy. Being able to get artists like Tara McPherson to collab with me to make their work available as embroidery patterns for crafters like you -makes me deliriously happy.

Other musically-related Artist Series Patterns I have for you:

Carson Ellis (The Decemberists)

Daniel Johnston

Stock Report: The MOST AWESOME TEA TOWEL is back in stock!

Message to licensing applicants! Calling all Licensing Applicants! Hey there. Okay, I'll stop yelling. I know many of you have sent in your licensing applications (and they keep on a-coming in) and you have very patiently been waiting for next steps from me. I just wanted to let you know that I am still going through the first tsunami wave of them. Sit tight! Watch this space or my tweets for news as events warrant.

After a brief hiatus, my Sublime Stitching Licensing Program is back! I thought I would do a blog entry about it. If you want to sell what you make with my patterns, thus making some extra cash for your crafts, this might be a great way to do it! I try to make it as easy on you (and me) as possible. I've already done the hard part: you know, made updated embroidery patterns people seem to love and want on stuff, earned lots of traffic coming to my website where they can find my dear licensees, oh, and a few other things to make this business somewhat recognizable and unique.

I mean, I can't possibly embroider my designs up for everyone who asks (as much as I would love to) so having an army of licensees at my back let's me say: why don't you ask one of these wonderful and capable stitchers to do it, or see what they already have stitched up for sale on their site? And seeing as how I have over 50 sheets of designs that you can combine in a gerzillion different ways, there should be no problem for you to make something unique and desirable. Get creative, people!

I sense you have questions. I have answers. Let me guess. You want to know...

Uh, why is there now a fee to apply?
Because I have to read all your applications all by my lonesome (which is harder if you have bad handwriting, but stitchers tend to have impeccable handwriting), approve them, sign the contracts, file them and mail a copy back to you. When applying was free, I was getting an overwhelming amount of applications and I couldn't keep on top of them. Because anyone could apply for free, it seemed like everyone applied. Having a modest fee should help stem the tide a little bit, and make for a more serious and robust group of licensees.

So, it's possible that I pay the application fee and am still denied?
Technically yes, but to be honest it's highly unlikely. I rarely, rarely turn anyone down.

How much does it cost if I'm approved?
Possibly nothing to very, very little. 5% of your sales is collected, but I generally don't collect royalties unless a large amount of items are being made / sold. It's decided on a case-by-case basis what that means and I expect you to be honest with me about that. Okay?

So, if I'm a freelance designer or employed by a manufacturer, I can apply for your licensing agreement myself and use your designs for projects I submit to my boss / company to make, right?
Wrong. The company manufacturing the product will have to apply for the license themselves and I will have to work out terms with them. My licensing program is first and foremost designed to be indie-maker friendly, and allow me the opportunity to work with larger manufacturers in an ethical fashion if they want to produce goods bearing my designs.

Do I have to be hand-embroidering your designs to obtain a license?
Nope! You can be using them as a basis for painting, digitizing, woodburning, screen-printing, beading...anything. Depending on the method of manufacture will determine the royalty. In other words, if you are making hundreds of product by machine with my designs on them, the royalty will be higher. If you are doing them entirely by hand by yourself, in small batches, the royalty will be little to nothing.

So, why do this at all?
Because if I don't, I lose the ability to enforce my copyright. If you don't, you are making it harder for me to enforce my copyright. If I say "yes, you can sell what you make with my designs and don't need written permission from me" then *anyone*, including major manufacturers (who just looove my designs but don't looove to pay me or ask permission first) could take my designs, use them on a product and sell them without any formal approval and without me being able to stop them. And, I'm not just being paranoid. Three lines of clothing have been manufactured without my permission in recent years, bearing my designs. Unaltered. Bought by the company directly from me. I'm not kidding. (I successfully stopped them in each case, and I didn't make a big deal out of it, so you may not know this happened to me at all). So instead of saying no one can do it, I try to make it as easy as possible for most everyone to do it -while still having a system in place for legitimate licensing. Make sense?

If you have more questions, you might find this Crafting a Business column I wrote about this very subject for Venuszine.com helpful and informative.

I get it already! Just show me where to apply, okay? Sheesh.
All right. Thanks for reading this. If you are registered and logged in, you can apply directly here. If not, why don'tcha register? 

I thought you'd want to know that these two lovely items, the Sublime Stitching Note Pad and the Embroidered Lotus Journal are going to go out of stock, never to return for sale! If you want either of them, now's the time. Or, if you feel so inclined to spend $50 on my humble little site, you'll get a free notepad! Orders over $100 get a free notepad and journal! (You also get a free Lotus Journal with any purchase of two books). I wanna make room for new stuff, so let's make sure everyone who wants one has one (before they're goners for good).