I know that a lot of them are ligit, sad to say but.............I am just showing the flip coin......I know...I know...there are people out there that will steal a design and say it is theirs....not good....stealing...no fun for the actual designer but...today I am not talking about that.
Do you think it is possible for two people to have the same idea a the same time or purt near close the same time?
I will give you an example.
I had a design swirling around in my head for months....and months. I scribbled down a few ideas (sorry...did some during church).
It takes a while to formulate the design but I finally had the idea formulated but just slow in finding the time to make it.
It was a round snowman table topper.
So....................................................
I am on facebook and there was my round snowman topper. Oh my gosh. someone came right into my brain and made my snow man topper...almost identical to the way I was going to do it. How can this happen? I went to my husband...."Someone stole my idea from my brain"!!!
I went to my children (the ones that would listen or pretend to listen). "someone stole my idea right out of my brain!!"""" I said.... I was so frustrated.
What is the lesson to be learned???? Sometimes the turtle does not win the race.
Not good enough?
I recently had an idea to make a cute little umbrella runner.
I go on the Accuquilt site and there is my idea....at least how the umbrella's are situated....I might have done a few things different for the wind effect. That was what I was waiting on the effect. but...............
SOMEONE STOLE MY IDEA RIGHT OUT OF MY BRAIN!!!!!!
Was it while I was sleeping? Playing my mindless facebook game (I do that sometimes while I am thinking).... did they see my sketches?
Crazy huh? Two people having the same thoughts. The snowman was almost identical to the one I was going to do the only difference is someone got there first and it wasn't me.
I remember thinking I came up with the best idea, posted it on my blog and someone says..."That wasn't your idea"....I am thinking WHATTTTTT....I did think of it...unique to me.
Oh well...what do you think? You think someone thinks like you and possibly could come up with something you thought of.
CAN'T HAVE A POST WITHOUT PICTURES....
Yes it happens. I figured out a way to make a stack and whack star. I was contacted by someone else who had published one just like it. (she is a friend now. ) The weird part is that I went about it JUST EXACTLY like she did. She said "Gene – what is so funny is that our cutting and sewing order is exactly the same "
ReplyDeleteI have actually had this happen to me , I am not much of a designer but now and then something will pop into my head but I may not get to it right then and poof there it is made by someone else , may not be exact but close . I feel your frustration , maybe you need to work faster ;-)
ReplyDeleteYes, I do think it's possible. It's happened to me as well. Not with patterns, just ideas. Mine is usually half done when I see someone else was quicker finishing the same idea. With so many people in the world now with creative thinking, I don't find it such a surprise or shock. Mostly I'm amazed at what people are coming up with and then amazed at finding several others with the same idea. Back to the drawing board, Barb. And may you be uniquely creative going forward.
ReplyDeleteI actually made something outta my head and after I posted someone asked if I had used a designer's pattern. No, but I did contact the designer and let her know I wasn't using her idea. When I publish a wristlet made that looks like her design, I also link to her as a courtesy. I think that if anyone has been sewing or quilting for a length of time, there are certain ways you know how to construct something you are thinking about. It make sense that someone else who has also been sewing for a while would use the same techniques and maybe even come up with a very similar idea.
ReplyDeleteIs this how the expression "Great minds think alike" began? You have my respect just for coming up with a good design. I think you should work on it to put your own twist to it and make it uniquely yours.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I've had that happen, I've actually had a second when I think "is that mine, did I make it already?". Weird.
ReplyDeleteHi!!!! Yes!!! I am not a designer either....but have had idea's and later found someone else had just done almost exactly what I had thought of!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI can see that happening!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if perhaps you didn't get a glimpse of something that made the idea percolate in your head; perhaps the same source the other person noticed and acted upon? We are bombarded by images these days and our subconscious does a great job of internalizing what we see. At least they didn't rip off your copyrighted work.
ReplyDeleteIt happens,
Susan in Texas
Yes, Barb! That has happened to me too. But I had published my rainbow quilt tutorial on my blog before I saw that the exact same design was actually published on the cover of a magazine I had never seen before! And really, how many different ways can a tote bag be made? I've seen different designers present the same ideas, and I have no doubt the ideas were original to each of them.
ReplyDeleteMGM
I can see it happening. I agree with many of these commenters and would add that I've seen many published books and patterns with almost the identical pattern in them. I assume they would do some research too!
ReplyDeleteYes, it totally happens. Great minds think alike!
ReplyDeleteThis happens to me all the time. Maybe I should try thinking less.
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed that it doesn't happen more frequently. I was reading another quilter's blog the other day and she kept going on about how this thief had basically taken her exact design, made a couple of changes and entered it in the same contest she had. But I no longer read her blog because that's just drama, IMO. She didn't bother contacting the other designer to hear her story so I think it's pretty silly to assume that as quilters, we see a lot of the same fabrics, are all given a color of the year, shop in the same places, and wouldn't occasionally arrive at the same idea for something we love. I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often!
ReplyDeleteYes it can happen. After all, we are frequently all using the same quilt blocks, etc, so I guess it really is a case of great minds think alike but when you look at the directions, there are almost bound to be variations there. I know I came up with a design last year that I thought was original, and actually made the table runner. A few weeks later I visited a blog I had never been to before and there was "my" design! Since the blog owner had actually published hers as a pattern, I never put the tutorial I'd written on my blog, nor have I ever shown the finished version, and I contacted her to explain and got her agreement that I could still give my version as a gift to someone. Had I maybe seen it somewhere before? I don't think so, although I can't be certain.
ReplyDeleteYes, I invented the log teepee, but while I was admiring my inovative idea and how cute it looked stitched out I came across it in a magazine a month or so later. well, I know it takes magazines a long time to put something together, so obviously my idea wasn't that unique. Get a bunch of crafty people together (or not) and there are bound to be duplications.
ReplyDeletedefinitely! i had made a small quilt i called fat fours. a friend asked me if i'd purchased the pattern. she told me about the harmonic convergence by ricky times. had never heard of it. so much for being a creative individual.
ReplyDelete