Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

Inspiration?  Technique?  Style?  Interpretation?  Ownership?  These are all important words that have many different meanings the world of quilting.  Let's consider each of these and what they mean to me. 

I've often been asked where you do you get  your inspiration?  Inspiration can come from anywhere.  Most of the time it comes from the fabrics themselves, and what I see when I look at it and buy it.  Sometimes it comes from nature, something I've seen, places I've traveled to or saw online.  Once in a while, I am inspired by a quilt I see online, at a quilt show or in a book or mazagine.  In those cases, if the inspiration comes from another quilter, I will attempt to get their written permission to publish my quilt inspired by them, or to teach classes using their book before I put the quilt online or into a show or on on any website.  I have been very fortunate in most cases (all but one in fact) in being able to secure their blessing and permission to show the quilt, use it as a class sample, teach a class, using their pattern or book provided the students each purchase their own copy of the book or pattern.  The other quilters that put their designs and patterns out there, love getting pictures of my finished quilts inspired by their own efforts.  I also like it when my students allow me to photograph their projects or are kind enough to send me photos of their finished work that they started in a class that I taught.  I always make sure my quilt labels include the source of the inspiration where applicable, giving credit where credit is due. 

We've all been asked "How long did it take to make that quilt?"  usually by non-quilters.  But have you every been asked "How did you make that?"   I used to take alot of classes, to learn a technique that I may not otherwise try on my own or to see how others compose their quilts.  I've learned an incredible amount of different techniques over the years and many of them I still use frequently.  In some cases, I learned a technique in a class that well, I decided it just wasn't for me and I never finished the project from that class or used that technique again.  That's not to say the class wasn't useful or that I didn't learn anything, in fact, the act of doing and deciding not to embrace a certain methodology is in itself very useful.  In several cases, I came up with a better way to do something and have used that process instead with even better results.  This brings me to the question of ownership, as in who owns the idea, the technique, the style or interpretation of something? 

We all know that many well known quilters have a certain style that makes many of their works easily recognizable. I think that Michael James was one of the first quilters that I noticed with a specific graphic style that was easy to recognize.  Caryl Bryer Fallert is another quilter that has gained worldwide recognition for her incredibly beautiful quilts, because of their color, composition and style and precision.  Ricky Tims is another quilter who has inspired many of us with his Caveman, Convergence and Medallion style quilts. I've read about other people's quilting style and have often wondered what someone else would say my own style is like.   I think my style has evolved from the Early American Confusion Quilts, mostly traditional pieces made with those 1970 - 80's calicoes.  Next I travelled through the Rock & Roll  Era of buying and using loads of Novelty printed fabrics including some really ugly Elvis fabrics. I'm glad to have not spent much time in the Depression Era, even though I did collect many of those 1930's reproduction prints, which I have not really used to make a quilt, yet.   Next I traversed across my Landscape period where almost everything I purchased looked like something found outside, water, sky, grass, architectural details.  I have most recently emerged from the Hand dyed/Bali chapter on my life.  Now I have passed into the Rollback Route, trying to use up many of the fabrics I have collected over the years to get my stash under control.  I am happy to say that I have managed to find some pretty cool ways to use up parts of my collection, create some classes to teach while I downsize and try to get rid of some of the textiles that I really don't need to hang onto much longer. 

What about Interpretation?  Have you ever seen something, it could be a painting, a picture, a postcard, a photo in a magazine and wanted to make it into a quilt?  If its your own picture or image that you own the rights to, then its simply a matter of making the piece of art from your own image.  However, if the image is the work of another, you should seek their permission to make something based on that image.  Keep in mind that there may be copyright and intellectual property rights to be considered before using that image to create your art.  You may be able to get away with a 'based loosely on "insert image name and owner of the image here" credit if the piece you create is indeed loosely based on the image.  I would like to think we all err on the side of caution and get the necessary permissions before we proceed. 

Finally, in regards to ownership, patterns and designs are owned by the designer of the pattern and the publisher of that pattern (if not self published).  Last year, I was teaching a foundation piecing class using my own paper designs.  One of the students told me bold faced that she was going to run across the street and make copies of the patterns for her to use and give to her friends that were not taking my class.  I was frankly shocked at her complete ignorance of copyright etiquette, so I explained to her that I had extra copies of the patterns for sale that I would be happy to sell to her for her friends and that making copies of someones pattern without their written permission was illegal.  She didn't seem to understand that it is not okay to take a pattern that you have purchased and make copies and give them to all your friends to also use those patterns without paying for them.  It became quite a hot topic at the quilt shop for about a week or two after the class. Don't be a "Ripoff Ramona" or "Copycat Cathy".