Seriously Savvy

I was so excited to learn about Savvy Seams in this Wired article about the rise of online sewing resources.

The thing that thrills me, aside from having access to all these free, cool sewing patterns, is that the site offers them for use under Creative Commons License.

What does this mean? Well, it means that these patterns are offered under a very simple sort of “un-copyright,” that allows you to use and customize them, with certain minor restrictions:

(This is quoted directly from the Savvy Seams website.)

- Attribution. You must credit SavvySeams and list the web address.

- Noncommercial. You may not use these patterns or designs, or any other content of this website, for commercial purposes. This means the sewing patterns are not to be sold or used in making items for resale.

- Share Alike. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a license identical to this one.

- For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the license terms of this work.

Now seriously, how great is this? You can take advantage of all this wonderful free content, and the author has been 100% clear about what you can and cannot do with it. But you are still free to make, alter, and share it.

With the online craftosphere being the freewheeling place it is, I’d love to see more of us using this kind of licensing when we wish to protect certain work. It’s so much clearer and friendlier than a traditional copyright, and it allows for the kind of participation and sharing that makes our community go.

. . . And, lest I leave out the most important detail, Savvy Seams’ patterns are super-cute. They have clothes, bags, home decor, accessories . . . . my favorite is pictured above.