Big changes are afoot at Craftsy, and if you are following any independent designers on social media or via their blogs & websites, you’ve probably been hearing a lot about it over the last few days.
For those of you who haven’t heard, Craftsy sent emails to all of their designers, including me, on December 19 to let us know that they are drastically changing the platform.
Many designers are losing their shops entirely. No questions, no ability to petition for a second chance.
Other designers, like me, received a message saying that we can keep our shop, but that some of our patterns may be deleted. There is no list of patterns that may be excluded from our shops.
Stores will be purged or locked down on December 28, depending on whether or not designers are being cut. My understanding is that the remaining shops will be frozen until some time in 2019, meaning those designers who do make the cut won’t have access to change their stores.
We were hit with this all at once. No chance for input, no time to process with just Dec 19 – 28 to figure it all out.
Here is the FAQ they have created for this change.
Because of the past ease of using Craftsy, most of my paid pattern business was built on their platform. Losing control over my pattern business is not an option. I am an independent designer and have been since I started down this path many years ago. I do everything myself from designing, writing, communicating with pattern testers, editing, publishing, promoting, etc.
Effective immediately, my Craftsy shop is closed.
As of the writing of this post, I have deleted 261 patterns from my Craftsy pattern shop, both free and for sale. There is a lot of work ahead of me to remove & change all the links on Sewhooked and to find appropriate new homes for all of my patterns. Please know that I will get all of this sorted out, but it is going to take a considerable effort and a lot of time.
On that note, Craftsy says on the FAQ linked above that customers will continue to have access to purchased patterns which have been purged will be able to print or save those PDF files. However, if at some point this because an issue for you, please feel free to send your receipt to me at sewhooked@gmail.com and I will be happy to send the pattern or patterns you purchased to you directly.
All of my FREE patterns are still available right here on Sewhooked. You can access them to print or save. See FREE PATTERNS in the menu above. There are several menu options to choose from.
For the time being, all of my paid patterns will be in my Etsy shop. If you’re looking for a pattern not currently listed, please get in touch and I will add it for you. I am looking into several other possible platform options as I decide what to do next.
As of right now, my Craftsy & Share-A-Sale links no longer work. If you need help finding a pattern, please contact me. Be patient as you wait for replies.
Sewhooked is no longer a Craftsy affiliate effective December 22, 2018.
For the time being, I’ll be enjoying my family as much as possible for the holidays and I hope you get to do the same.
In Stitches,
Sewhooked 
I am so sorry to hear that a company would do this to you during the holidays.
They did this to untold amounts of designers. Every Indie designer I know has been affected. I could have stayed to see what happens, but my gut feeling was absolutely not. I’ve learned to trust my gut. Merry Christmas, Miss S!
I am sorry to hear about this. I have heard from many of the people I regularly get paper pieced patterns from. Some I have downloaded and printed, others are up in the cloud, and the rest of my 300+ patterns are saved on Craftsy. I live in Alaska and our internet is slow and expensive. Like you I am in the middle of the Christmas rush. I did write Craftsy last night and they assured me that I wouldn’t lose my patterns. I sure hope not because I have a lot of patterns that I really like at Craftsy.
My computer died this fall and patterns in files and on the desktop we’re lost….and this is one more thing. I guess I will be transferring my patterns to another hard drive. We share your pain…and I will continue to enjoy your patterns, no matter where they are. Margaret Andrews. Craig, Alaska
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It is most certainly a mess. I do very much hope that they remain true to their word and that downloads of deleted patterns and shops will continue to be available. Thank you very much for your comment. I’ve been agonizing over this decision and the support I’ve received has been amazing. ♥
Jennifer – I am so sorry to hear about this. What a nightmare. Wishing you the best over the holidays and an easy resolution to all this in the new year!
It is indeed a mess, but I’ll get it sorted sooner or later. Have a wonderful holiday!
Dear Jennifer, I am so sorry to hear this… I would have to agree that this is horrible timing. I am hopeful that all the designers will be able to sort out their options. Thanks for being so clear and honest. One of these days I intend to start a POD bookshelf quilt. I just visited Pittsburgh with my daughter. We visited a couple of great shops there and bought more fabric to ‘eventually-someday’ begin our Harry Potter bookshelf. ( She isn’t a sewer at all , yet, and is now beginning grad school.) Have a wonderful Christmas! Martha Cook
Martha, I hope you do start your PoD! Seeing other’s quilts made from my patterns has brought me so much joy over the years. I’ve had a lot of quilters start with the PoD and then there is no stopping them!
I am sorry to hear that Craftsy is again changing things. To be completely honest,I haven’t bought anything from their site in awhile. They barely have anything to offer me that doesn’t have their own label on it. Good to know that at some point we can order patterns from your site. Merry Christmas and best wishes for a Happy New Year.
The original Craftsy platform was such a boon to indie designers like myself. I am sad that they felt they had to change from an open marketplace because it allowed completely unknown designers to grow an audience. My free patterns are still right here on Sewhooked and my paid patterns (most of them!) are on Etsy. Other options will wait until after the New Year. Have a very Merry Christmas!
Hey Jen – for what its worth, I sent an email to Craftsy as a customer indicating that I was very unhappy with the designer shop changes and that I – as a paying customer – was very unhappy with the lack of communication from them regarding the status of shops that I had purchased from. Not holding my breath for a response, but you never know. Hang in, Merry Christmas!
Karen Misner
Thank you, Karen, and Merry Christmas to you, too!
I am so sorry this is happening to you and the other designers. I appreciate you letting us know. Thanks,Janey
Thank you, Janey. I try to be transparent about all of my decisions when it comes to what I sell. Have a lovely New Year. ♥
I am one they surprised with an email. You can see a screen shot of the email on my site.
I asked in chat why. And in short their reply, “Over the years, it’s grown massively and we have not been able to monitor the submissions for things like quality and trademark/copyright compliance. “
So my next question, was their an issue with one of my pattern? Their response, “ No, not a problem at all. To get this done we decided to start fresh in 2019 and removed over 90% of all of the patterns and when we reopen the marketplace in 2019 we will have a process to bring your patterns back.”
Fortunately you had an alternative. I did not, only Craftsy.
Good luck.
Wow, just wow. I will be honest and say I didn’t bother to message them. When I read the FAQ page and saw what they planned to do with remaining accounts, I just couldn’t stay.
A number of designers are moving to Payhip. I don’t know much about it (to be honest, I haven’t had time to look!), but I have been told they have a free account option.
I hadn’t heard of their reconstruction until the email. To be honest with you, it is a poor way to do business. They could have provided more of a heads up to allow us to make other arrangements. They’re gonna have to offer some pretty good perks for me to list anything in the future. Grant it they offered the service for free but, how many people downloaded our free patterns or purchased our patterns then purchased supplies for said pattern?
Jennifer,
Craftsy has lost a paying customer in me!
Best wishes for the New Year and speedy transition to your new sales platform.
Regards,
Leslie
P.S. Your Nittany Lion logo and Schenley Pilgrim’s Lion mascot paper piece patterns from http://www.fandominstitches.com made a boring T shirt quilt soooo much better.
Thank you and I’m so glad you enjoyed the patterns, Leslie. 🙂