This is a question that I’ve often been asked.

Usually you want to sell my designs for charity events. (Thank you so much to all those of you who have written to me to ask me for permission – I really appreciate it!) In that case, the answer is an easy one to give:as long as you’ve purchased the design (once is enough), I’ve never said no to such requests! I am always delighted that my designs should be used for such a good cause, and I love to hear about what you’re doing.

Now and then, though, I find out that someone is selling my stitched designs… as a business. Without having asked for any kind of permission, of course. As you can imagine, this is not legal and it does not make me a “happy bunny”.

Maybe these people are not aware that it is not OK to do so, and that it is actually quite easy to take a few simple steps, so that they can sell my stitched designs in a LEGAL manner. I cannot speak for other designers, of course: it’s up to each of them what they do and don’t allow with their own designs.

So here’s my policy on the matter:

you will notice in my Terms and Conditions (you can find them at the end of each chart as well as on my website: Terms & Conditions) that my charts are for personal use only and that you can stitch my designs as many times as you want, as long as the finished pieces are not for resale. However, it is a deliberate action on my part to have missed this out from under the “you may not” section. That’s because I do allow resale of stitched models, if certain conditions are met. I like to build respectful working relationships, whenever possible.

These conditions are:

1. Proof of purchase: the models sold by the seller must have been stitched from designs purchased from my website, OR (if the designs were purchased before we entered into an agreement) a proof of purchase from an approved shop must be provided.
2. One chart per stitched model: the seller must purchase a chart from my website for each item they stitch. (ie. if they offer 3 stitched models of the same design, they have to purchase the design 3 times from my website. If they later want to stitch and sell more of that same design, they still have to purchase 1 chart per stitched model, etc. When you have a business, not matter how small, it’s a cost that you have to build into your product, just like you would for the fabric, the stranded cotton, embellishments, etc.) It goes without saying that it cannot (under any circumstance) be considered legal to share or resell the PDF chart. We are only talking about stitched models, here.
3. Crediting: the seller must credit the designs clearly and appropriately: [name of stitched design as published on the chart], designed by Faby Reilly Designs (www.fabyreilly.com), stitched by [name of the seller].

It’s quite straightforward, really, but as always, if anyone has questions of any kind, I’m always MORE THAN HAPPY to answer them 🙂 !! Don’t hesitate to ask!

Happy stitching, everyone!