Taking Credit and Giving Credit

[threadwalker]

This is a question about intellectual property and taking/giving credit specific to costuming. I'm sure it can apply to other arts, but my interal dialogue has been centered around costuming.

At what point do you say "I made it", "we made it", or "so and so helped me make it"? And what do those statements mean when you hear them?

For example, One person told me that when they hear the statement "I made it," they don't assume that means the speaker draped the pattern since most people don't drape themselves.

What do you say and when do you say it?


I am like the mad scientist and most of my stuff is patterned by me in the middle of the night by the light of a single bulb. (cue thunder and lightning) It takes a butt-load of time and it's hard, but when I get the impulse to make something I can't wait for someone to drape me. I'm all about striking when the iron is hot because life won't necessarily give me another window of time very soon.

So when I say, "I made it", I mean I draped it, cut it, and sewed it. This also means that when I hear someone say, "I made it," I assume they draped it, cut it and sewed it themselves, but especially the draping/patterning. It's interesting to learn the variations on what this means to others.

To me, my intellectual property is when the cut/drape is a result of my research and I execute the drape. If someone else has me drape and tells me where they want the seams, that's their intellectual property and I'm just the (skilled) set of hands turning it into reality.

Those are the easy ones. I think the gray areas are the collaborations.

If I am helping someone and it's a garment

-based on my research,
-I drape them,
-show them how to cut (add seam allowance etc)
-set in the sleeves (do the tricky parts)
-sew anything that isn't a straight seam,

(which mostly leaves straight skirt seams, hems and finish work for the other person), I still consider that to be essentially my work. I will always give credit where credit is due and cheerfully explain the collaboration, but I feel at that point that it's totally appropriate to put a garment like that in my own portfolio for future reference.

There is the variation where I help someone pin and then sit beside them while they sew it together and I consider that to be a "we did it together" and my comments would be along the lines of I patterned and taught, but so-n-so did all the work and construction themselves.

So I'm either making something or teaching and there isn't much middle ground.

Comments

[sarahbellem.livejournal.com]

"I made it" = I draped the pattern, fit it, sewed it into a garment. This accounts for about 99% of my historical wardrobe from any era.

"We made it" = Me and someone else collaborated on the pattern drape, fitting and sewing in equal proportions.

"I made it using X person's pattern" = I did not make the pattern, but made the thing from someone's pattern.

"They made it" = I did nothing but put it on.

I am very careful about giving credit when I'm dealing with something that I sewed, but did not pattern. Example, I made a coat for Gillian using a pattern made by Aurelia d'Ouessant, which I trued and fit to Gillian and then executed in fabric. I didn't do the initial patterning, which was based on a Tudor Tailor diagram, but I did sew it into a garment, so I take credit for that, but give credit to Aurelia for the pattern.

Another example is the 14th c. sleeve pattern I use, which was draped by Etain. Etain's pattern, my execution. She gets credit for the pattern, I get credit for sewing it.

And the joint project I'm working on with Vyncent right now for Leotulf.... We both draped the doublet pattern, we both are working to execute it. The distribution of labor is close enough to equal that I feel comfortable saying we both can take credit for it. Except the trunk hose, which is all Vyncent's doing.

[trystbat.livejournal.com]

Any outfit I wear, is *my* outfit bec. I assemble the total look, from hairstyle to accessories to skin-out choice of garments. The ensemble is my creation, & I'm of the school that feels assemblage is as much an art as anything else.

That said, each specific item gets credit from how/where it came from. I don't make my own shoes & I rarely create my own jewelry. I occasionally pattern for myself. I may commission a garment, & depending on how much input I gave, I consider that a collaboration where we each get some credit (my design, another person's sewing, for example). My own totally hair-brained ideas, uh, yeah, all my credit (bec. nobody else wants it, hah). But even those may be sparked by a conversation with someone -- this has happened more than once!

My costume diaries note where everything comes from, bec. ultimately, I don't think most art is created in a vacuum.

[helblonde.livejournal.com]

I make my own patterns, so any outfit I make, I have made from start to finish (well, with the possible exception of serging the cut pieces, since I have people for that). I have yet to use anyone else's commercial or private patterns. I will consult drawings in, say, PoF, Alcega, or Tudor Tailor, but I do not scale up the provided paterns, so I consider that research (especially when I disagree with the TT ladies).

The next most common sewing scenario for me is collaboration, where I design and pattern, but the other person cuts and sews under my direction. I will also pin and sew the most chalenging parts, depending on the level of the seamstress. I've never considered this in terms of intellectual property, but in this case, I can see this as being "my" outfit. I don't really think of the clothes I've designed thus far in that way, though. I generally say XX made it, since XX performed most of the labor. XX is generally quick to give me credit for my tutelage. Overall, my definition resembles yours here.

I almost never have people ask for a pattern who are both willing and capable of making the garment from that point. I can't remember the last time that happened. That may be because I follow the Micheangelo school of design.

Occasionally, I'll have a friend who needs help getting a pattern they draped to fit just so (shoulder seams, the back of a bodice, and such). Since they do the vast majority of the work, I wouldn't considr that to be mine in any way.

[callistotoni.livejournal.com]

I dunno, it sounds like we're all saying what I've observed, namely, that those of use that sew (or have sewn) alot are pretty darn specific when descibing an outfit. "I made this from a pattern Etaine made for me". "I made it all myself (including the pattern)". "I made this thing, but Cathie helped drape me and then did a bunch of the handsewing for me". Or whatever.

[kahnegabs.livejournal.com]

I would always give credit to anyone who helped me make a garment.

[fighter-chick.livejournal.com]

Huh. To me, the phrase "I made X" means that I cut it, pinned it, sewed it, and finished it. I probably had help with construction decisions and troubleshooting. "I designed this" would mean that I draped/created the pattern for a garment.

For example, I might say that "I made my favorite lime green Flemish kirtle." Then I'd add, "It's from Threadwalker's Flemish Kirtle workshop." What I *mean* is that threadwalker did the all research and helped with the draping and pattern creation within her workshop. Then I went home and finished constructing the garment as per her directions. And she probably helped me out if I got

Important safety tip: I am not a costumer. The idea that I could create my own garment pattern is so ludicrous that it wouldn't even occur to me that anyone might think that.

Hmm...interesting food for thought. I think I may change my verbiage a bit.

[dame-cordelia.livejournal.com]

My thinking is similar to yours, in that I am careful to point out specific elements of a garment as being my work or another's.

As I am going toward more fitted, later period clothing I usually ask for help with patterning, as I probably could do it for myself but it would take FOR EH VER. And I am very happy to tell people that C or A (or whoever) patterned a particular garment for me.

Usually fabric choices are mine, although I sometimes ask for advice. And sometimes I run across construction problems that it's just easier to ask an experienced person about rather than blunder along myself.

[ermine-rat.livejournal.com]

every garment has a lineage of contributors...but Bronzino probably doesn't want to share credit with you

[erzimagdalena.livejournal.com]

I try very hard to specify things that aren't my work, including draping and pattern drafting. It feels like false advertising otherwise.

When Conall got his Pelican I threatened to label each piece of his outfit with who made/donated/helped. It would have saved me a lot of talking. ;)

[aastg.livejournal.com]

For me, the easiest thing is to give credit where credit is due, even if it's something fairly trivial, like a discussion you had with somebody that inspired you to do the project in the first place.