Taking Credit and Giving Credit
Apr. 7th, 2010 02:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
threadwalkerThis 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.
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.
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no subject
Date: 2010-04-07 11:04 pm (UTC)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.