Crochet Controversies: Unpacking Gatekeeping & Pattern Plagiarism

I've been wanting to make this video for a while, and it wasn't until Temu stole my crochet designs that I'm finally getting the courage to talk about it. For some reason, I don't see a lot of people discussing this topic on crochet YouTube but I feel like it's a pretty big problem.

Please remember that these are just my opinions, and you might not agree with all of them - please also feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below because I would love to hear your perspectives on the topic.

I don't follow too many crocheters on Instagram anymore because of all the drama that followed - so many people accusing others of stealing their designs, when everyone just has the same bear/duck/bunny with some variant of a tulip/sunflower/daisy and some kind of hat/bag/accessory.

I do think that the large population of younger individuals who are new to the crochet community contributes to it - while age is not an excuse for ignorance - a lot of them may not be as aware of the ramifications of pattern theft. Honestly, with all the very similar patterns that are being sold now, it's also become very difficult to pinpoint where an original design started. Once something becomes popular, several different versions of it start popping up.

I didn't talk about this in the video, but I think 'Pattern Testing Culture' is not healthy. People are very eager to create patterns because when they post calls for pattern testing, they can ask for follows and likes and saves in return. There's a lot of positive social media feedback every time a pattern is created, encouraging people to come up with large quantities of patterns that aren't necessarily quality.

Anyway, let me know what you think!


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