When Can Anyone Call Themselves A Designer?

Anyone who has been reading my blog for a while knows what I do to patterns. Occasionally I follow them from A to Z but 90% of the time I do it my way. I have been known to use pattern stitches the wrong way up and put sleeves onto sleeveless things. I can add panels onto plain items or decorate with flowers and other motifs. I still don't call myself a designer even though my designs bear little resemblance to the original pattern that I looked at when I started. I have made up things from scratch but I am usually using an idea that is stored in my memory that I probably saw somewhere else. Does changing small things on patterns make a person a designer? In my mind no it doesn't but I have seen many examples of people claiming to have designed this and that when it is merely an adaptation of another pattern. As my Mum used to say there is no such thing as fashion and new design it is only old times with vinegar on meaning a revamp of an old fashion.

I showed you this photo of a work in progress on my last blog and I thought that you  might like to see the finished item.

This started off using a vintage pattern for a dress but I changed it to add side panels in the cream and edged it in cream and added my signature flower motifs.

Can I say that I designed this?

This is my latest finished top for a customer. I took a pattern for a pineapple top. Crocheted it in thicker cotton aran yarn. Turned the top to the bottom so that the pineapples went downwards instead of upwards. I added shoulder straps and an edging to match part of the pattern. To me this is an adaptation of an original pattern as I didn't design the pineapple stitch that forms the main part of the tunic top. I did however add V shaped panels under each arm to give the bottom edge a bit more width for the hips.

I enjoyed making this top so much that I think that I will make something similar for my Etsy shop. I have sold a few things on there since I reopened my shop after a gap of 12 months. I am very pleased about this as I mostly get my orders via friends. If you are on Etsy please come and give my page a hello.It is  Urban Gypsy Crochet .  I also post daily on my Facebook page named  Urbangypsycrochet, I not only post my crochet on Facebook I also post other people's crochet and share other items that are non crochet just because I like them.

I am gong to post this white top up to Scotland via My Hermes. They have put their prices up but still nowhere as near as expensive as Royal Mail who not only charge by weight they also dictate the size of a parcel and whether it will fit through a cardboard letter box template that they try to thread the parcel through at the Post Office counter. I don't know why they are making life so complicated for small people such as me who maybe sell one of two items per month so not exactly a business as such. I make very little profit on anything I sell I just like to crochet and it's nice to make a bit of money to buy more yarn with. All of this makes it a nightmare to post to anywhere abroad. I put a charge of £10 for postage to anywhere other than the UK on my Etsy page and when I got to the Post Office with my parcel they wanted £16.25 to send to the US by airmail. It was only about 450 grams so they are making it almost impossible for people other than in the UK to buy my crochet. I am practically charging as much for the postage as I am for the yarn. Small businesses are often  people with small children who are trying to work from home to earn a living and trying to avoid the high childcare costs that they would have to pay if they went back into the workforce.

 The government try to get people to be employed to help themselves to get off benefits and then the Post Office does it's best to make it impossible to run a small business without charging high postal charges which puts them at a disadvantage when competing with other countries. I am retired and do have a small set income to rely on but I have many friends who are younger and trying to be self employed with small businesses and I feel so sorry for them.

I am still crocheting away. I have some more orders to make but they are not wanted until next month so I am going to make something else that I like making for my Etsy shop.

Happy crocheting