May 1, 2018: DMC has edited the Instagram posts about the contest to now include a $500 prize. In an email to Craft Industry Alliance, Alex Holbrook, the director of public relations, stated that the company is reviewing how artists are linked on the company website and, although it has been in the pipeline for a while, correcting this issue will now become a priority.
DMC, the embroidery floss, company, is running a contest that has cross stitch designers feeling stabby.
On April 16 we reported on DMC’s contest soliciting artists for designs to be published as free patterns on the DMC website. The winners would receive no financial compensation. Although in the past DMC has paid artists for designs, those collaborations were suddenly ended late last year and, according to the social media manager at DMC whom we spoke with for the April 16 article, the company’s current plan is to run unpaid contests to generate new patterns.
On the DMC website the artist doesn’t get a web link on his or her pattern’s page nor do they have a full profile, making it difficult to understand how even the promise of exposure as a prize could be meaningful.
The free patterns are used by DMC to sell embroidery floss. They are sent out weekly to DMC’s email list of 100,000 subscribers and each pattern is linked to a kit of DMC floss for consumers to purchase.
To enter the contest artists use the #dmcxstitchcontest hashtag on Instagram. At the beginning of the week, we began seeing subversive entries appear on the hashtag, and they’ve continued to flow in all week. Here are some of the highlights to date. We’ll continue to add images to this post as they’re created. DMC has yet to respond.
By Steph Rohr (Steph has led the way here, creating the first subversive entry and reposting all the rest.)
By Sarah Fisher
By Beth Barrett
By Steph Rohr
By Danielle Larson
By Sara Bridges
By Robyn Wade
By Robin Hobbs
As we said in our article last week, DMC controls 60% of the embroidery floss market and they’re in a leadership position here. Patterns sell floss and good patterns are designed by skilled artists whose work is worth paying for.
Thanks for the update, and thanks for sharing the artists!
– backstagestitches
Thank God there is
“While She Naps”!
I love your newsletter. It really is mind blowing the things that can be resolved with a united wakeup call. Keep up the great work.
Go, artists go!
I just unsubscribed from their newsletter and gave this as a reason. If enough people do that they will think hard about their policy.
Yes I’m going to do the same!
I will do the same.
How can I share this article? Sulky has Cotton Petites Threads which is 50 yards of 12 wt. thread wounds on a snap end spool. One strand is equal to 2 strands of embroidery floss.
This is awesome!! I’m so sick of corporate greed!!
Aurifil makes GREAT embroidery floss!! AND they support and promote their artisans.
These are brilliant! Good on them. Big boo-boo from DMC– there are too many competitors out there to tick off the artists who create your profits.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE…..finally artists are speaking out against corporate greed!
we have been speaking out for a while but the internet makes it easier to be heard
Great job subversive artists!
As a working (and paid) costume designer and artist these make me so happy. We CANNOT give away our creativity for free. And the sooner everyone knows, the better. Congratulations to the artists you presented.
Way to go DMC, you have lost another customer…me.
It seems like ever since DMC moved to their Commonthread branding they’ve actually moved away from the community aspect and all of the things ‘commonthread’ was supposed to mean…. This is just another example of that. I’m glad to see some artists saying something about it!
Thanks for bringing this to light. If I thought about it at all before (and I can’t really say that I did), I assumed that free patterns on corporate websites were designed by paid staff members.
OH MY GOODNESS!!! I’m almost speechless but don’t want to be. I do a great deal of wool applique and although I use Aurifil wool threads, many of my followers have told me they use DMC floss rather than wool threads because it is what they can afford. I understand the need to save money and never poo poo someone using a different thread than what I recommend. That being said, I would love to spread the word (regarding the lack of DMC’s support of their artists to line their own pockets!) via my social media but am always concerned with copyright issues. Abby, how much (if any) of your article can I copy and paste on my FB pages (I have three)?
Hi Kathy, Thanks for asking. A paragraph or two is fine. Please link back here. Thank you!
Watch Harlan Ellison’s rant on YouTube – Pay the Writer!!
BRILLIANT! Thank you for posting! Harlan is the king! LOL.
Without designers, DMC has nothing. There’s no reason to buy their thread. WAKE UP DMC! You just put your reputation on the line. Support your designers!
FANTASTIC protest ART!!! Way to GO!!
Abby, you are a rock star. Thank you so much for writing this article.
It is so hard to make a living in this business of craft. Exposing these issues is so important.
I understand as an artist/designer that exposure is important but shame on DMC for not even linking the artist to their designs.
It is the least they can do for the pittance they are now agreeing to pay the designers for their original art.
Thank you again for this informative article. I’ve enlightened my followers on all 3 of my FB pages and linked back to your original post. Thank you for all you do to keep us informed of what is happening in the industry, providing us with information to make well informed decisions as we struggle to make a living at our craft.
Way to go Artists!
Hah, omg! I have to say, this has been one of the most interesting blog posts I’ve ever followed. Having been a corporate exec for a significant portion of my working career, I have found it very interesting that this small, grassroots protest movement has been able to marginally sway DMC to reconsider their tactics. But, I still stand by my original post to your first blog post exposing DMC’s lack of judgement contest: DMC, you need to do the right thing. And, this isn’t it. In fact, it just makes you look like you have egg on your face. Whomever is your decision maker needs to be taken to task for a second stroke of poor judgement. Here is what you needed to do, since clearly, your person in place cannot seem to make the correct corporate judgement, and continues to offend your customer base (I am still shaking my corporate head on the serious miss-the-mark correction): “To our valued customers and independent artists: You have spoken loudly and clearly. We hear you. We made an error in judgement with our contest, which lacked insight and thoughtfulness for those people we highly value – our talented independent artists and customers! We have decided to restructure our annual design contest, moving forward, to reflect a more supportive and energized approach to truly promote independent artists, whom our industry relies upon to provide beautiful and engaging patterns! We’ve added a prize for our contest winners, and we will include the winning artists’ bios on their winners’ pages (because we know you’d like to know more about our artist winners), as well as a link back to their web sites. Plus, all artist winners will be given a percentage of the sales of any of their design thread kits, as a way of helping our up and coming artists to build their businesses. We are excited to be able to be able to give back and support our industry artists, and we can’t wait to see the entries!”
Okay, how hard was that, DMC? You need to re-think your public image, pull up your big-boy pants, and do the right thing. An admission of error, and a serious and invested change of approach will go a very long way in repairing the damage. The best companies acknowledge their errors, make amends, and execute good change. I again, lay down the gauntlet, DMC.
Would you consider sending your reply to DMV? It’s brilliant!
Thank you, Marsha, very kind of you. You can believe (if DMC has any social media savvy at all), they’re reading Abby’s blog. So, they’ve read not only my post, but all the other more important posts by their industry artists 🙂 I can tell you, if I had been in the responsible person’s position, and allowed all of this horribly negative press to befall the company, I would have been served my walking papers. A company’s reputation amongst it’s customer base and commercial artists is everything. Social media can make or break a company’s reputation, it is that powerful. I am hoping someone comes to their senses at DMC’s parent company, and flexes some muscle, and makes it right. People respect companies who can admit they’ve made a mistake, and are willing to make their customers and their independent agents/contractors happy. DMC, still waiting….
THANK YOU Abby–you’re doing a fantastic job!!!
Shame on DMC!
The language in several of the designs above is uncalled for and I truly don’t understand why you would give “exposure” to them.
If people don’t like the contest that DMC is running, then don’t enter. No one is forcing any artist to use DMC products or to enter any of their contests. Yes, I agree that artists should be paid for their work, but if this competition offends you because there is no payout, then don’t enter. I cross stitch as a hobby and this contest in my mind would be fun to enter. It’s my hobby and I don’t care about the money. I would bet there are other people in the world that feel the same way. If you take your work so seriously, this is not the competition for you.
the offensive language is deliberate, and if you don’t like the designs, don’t use them. However, many of these people DO care about having their hard work and original ideas valued, and please understand that this a rampant problem in many of the fiber arts – you yourself undervalue your own creative work, because the industry as a whole undervalues you. These artists are trying to change that.
And, when the company doing that undervaluing is one of the largest suppliers of the raw materials for your so-called “hobby”, and many will have access to limited alternatives, then those artists have even more right to be morally outraged.
Finally! Thank you, Leslie, for having the courage to speak up. You expressed your dismay perfectly, and I am in total agreement. The language was offensive, unseemly, and speaks volumes about the artist.
While it is always wonderful to bask in the warmth of positive accolades, one would be wise to be concerned about what hasn’t been expressed here. Many times people are so put off by what they’ve read, they see no point in making an effort to respond. They just leave…
I respect your background and where you stand, but I have to point out the hard reality here: every person within the art community carries significant weight through their actions. Our actions as artists, whether novice or professional, whether hobbyist or dedicated, affects everyone.
I learned this the hard way.
As someone who attends conventions, selling prints of my art, for years I only thought of myself. I charged cheap because I thought it would make people like my stuff more. Never did I consider how my low prices were affecting the artist alley. Never did I consider how my actions were affecting the OVERALL art community and contributing to the challenges artists face. And I certainly didn’t think how my ignorance was training new art appreciators to think of art as only dead-cheap or free, no matter the hard hours and work that went into its creation.
Once I started thinking beyond myself, it opened my eyes and made me more aware.
The same could be said for hobbyists. I know you do what you do for the fun of it. And I know you have a firm appreciation for your craft, even if it’s only a hobby. You should create art for whatever reasons you see fit. However, understand that you not caring for the money and seeing art only through the eyes of a hobbyist is affecting those who DO care and see art as beyond a casual affair. For many, it’s their job.
You advise artists who are ‘offended’ not to enter their contest – that’s sound advice. However, there are plenty of artists who are already taking your advice, choosing not to take part as a sign of protest. Yet, because there are people who have noooooo problem participating in it and don’t care if art gets paid, their actions have become negated.
Contests don’t keep track of negative numbers – only positive. And if you got enough POSITIVE number of entries from hobbyists, from freelancers, from undergrads, from whoever, then we’re stuck back on square one with artists, from all walks in life, demanding respect and pay for their hard work.
In an ideal world, public perception would not be influenced by artists who only want to create without compensation. If that were the case, I wouldn’t have to meet another person expecting me to draw them their favorite character for free. Sadly, public perception IS being influenced by hobbyists such as yourself. Because there are enough of you who don’t care for the finance challenges, this influences how people view ALL artists.
“What? You want me to pay you???? But my cousin, Suzy, did this FOR FREE! Why are YOU charging?”
“I can only pay you 5 bucks for that 30 dollar commission. You’re being greedy for asking that much! Stop being greedy!”
“You’re not a TRUE artist! Art should only be created for fun!”
“You’re being entitled!”
That’s only a sample of things I’ve experienced in my own art career and with fellow artist friends. It’s not my intent to shame you. And I hope I didn’t offend you with this. However, from one artist to a hobbyist, I did want to lay out the hard truth: your actions affect me and countless others trying to stay afloat. I get that you’re upset with the language in those designs, but personally, I feel like you’re placing too much focus on a subjective issue that you’re ignoring the real problem here. If anything, there’s an underlying tone in your message that basically states: art should only be for fun, so stop whining about getting paid because *I* don’t have a problem with not getting paid.
Jess, just wanted to make sure you knew where the majority of us hobbyists stand. My stance is quite different than the above. Being a sewing and quilting hobbyist for many decades, we are also subject to unrealistic requests from our non-artistic friends. Here are a few examples (of many I’ve gotten over the decades) with regard to sewing/quilting requests. These are real btw: “Oh, I love that quilt, can you make me one?” (no offer to buy the fabric, batting, thread, pay for my talents or labor). “Oh, I love that quilt, if I buy the fabric, can you make me one?” (Same basic tenant, zero concept of time/money, no offer to pay for my time and skill, and actually probably more insulting than the first example), “Oh I know you sew, can you mend this for me?” (I don’t “mend” MY stuff, much less your stuff), “I’m getting married, I heard you sew, can you make my wedding dress for me? It’s just a regular dress.” (NO offer of any remuneration, SERIOUSLY!?!?) The response after someone attempted to commission me to make them a quilt: “OMG, you can’t be serious! I can BUY a quilt at (fill in the blank) for a fraction of that amount!” (Hmm, back to time value of money concept, which is why I do not make quilts on commission, because no one would be able to afford my going hourly rate. This response is usually preceded by a period of long, shocked silence). “If you’re making it by hand, it should be cheaper because fabric is so cheap” (no additional critique needed here, I can hear you all laughing your butts off from here).
This is a very common topic of discussion on several of the large sewing/quilting/machine embroidery chat lists I’ve run now, for about 20 years: Friends who are not artists, asking us sewists/quilters/embroiderers to make stuff for free because we’re hobbyists. Not professionals. Like somehow that qualifies us to work for free. It is a common issue, and we joke about it pretty frequently. I think being a hobbyist makes us more vulnerable to this issue, than those who try to make a living being an artist (which is why those non-artist “friends” even think of asking us this question in the first place). The common misconception is, somehow WE are doing this for free for ourselves, so, therefore, we should be willing to do it for free for everyone else. Like some big truck backs into my house, dumping off tons of fabric, thread, batting, embroidery designs, embroidery design software, etc. I love being an artistic hobbyist, and I certainly respect anyone who derives a living from their artistic talents. But, we hobbyists are also not immune to this strange “do it for free” concept, and I would propose that we probably get more of that silly request than even professionals do. Do I do things for free? Yes, of course. Even professionals do. But, of my choosing, and usually for very personal reasons.
This still doesn’t excuse DMC’s very poor idea to garner free artwork, and try to lamely explain that somehow they are giving up and coming artists “exposure”, when there was no “exposure” proposed. They need to do better than just offer a pittance award, they need to feature the winners with a nice spotlight piece, and provide those artists’ web site links in that spotlight piece. That is exposure. That is supporting your industry, and developing strong bonds between companies in the industry that help promote the artists that provide them with lovely artwork.
It’s bad enough that people are illegally sharing copyrighted charts on Pinterest and reselling their used charts on Facebook groups and Ebay. The needlework industry has lost too many designers to these practices already! Now DMC expects artists to design for them for free??? Sorry, DMC, I’m not coming out of retirement and falling for that “free exposure” scam.
Now let’s go get the quilting world. I recently did two different quilts for an unnamed fabric manufacturer, and GOT PAID. Then they told me that they were changing their policy: I could get free fabric, but they would no longer pay me for my quilt designs, nor for making the quilt. This idea: get free fabric, make us a quilt, get exposure, is rampant throughout the quilting industry, too. I don’t know what the answer is, because I don’t think the fabric companies are making big bucks, but I wonder if this “gig” economy is just now what we have to deal with. Perhaps with the ruling from the Supreme Court about “contractors” etc, it will trickle down to fairness. But are we creaters willing to live with fewer fabric choices? Fewer designers? It is a conundrum, for sure.
Thank you Abby! I’m sharing this as far and wide as I can get it to go!
I was a designer/publisher in the industry during the great years and even got to tour the DMC factory in France, which was awesome. Then computers entered every home and designers had their work ripped off with no regard for US copyright laws. We former teachers, nurses, and real estate agents went back to teaching, nursing, and selling property. DMC, Zweigart, Charles Craft–all the manufacturers were affected as designers sought another line of work that paid–not just better, but at all. I don’t see DMC’s promotion as corporate greed so much as struggling to continue existing. Do you doubt me? There used to be several US cross stitch magazines. I think Just Cross Stitch is the last, and their rate of pay is now less than half of what it was in the mists of time.
Great job, Abby, and all the subversive artists. You had me laughing out loud. As a muralist it has always pissed me off when clients would ask for me to add things, not agreed upon, thinking I’m just having so much fun, why can’t you do it for free. I always asked them if they ever asked the tile installer or plumber the same thing.
Wonderful post. It’s bad enought the users think all things creative should be free and copy patterns without remorse. I guess Big Business thinks it’s okay too. What if no one bought their threads because there were no new designs out there?
Just a quick note to say I’ve been designing cross-stitch for over 25 years, and I think we should also note how generous DMC has always been in supporting designers with free products for models etc…. was this contest aimed at designers? I’m unclear on that, as it seems to have been open to anyone – like the lady who said stitching was her hobby and the contest sounded like fun… is that who it was aimed at? They never contacted designers directly, or at least not me, and I am in contact with them regularly…
That’s terrible on DMC’s part of not paying these artists! Cross stitch takes forever and a day to do and people should be paid if they have a design to share!
Hi! These patterns are great and I’d like to use one as my Go To reply on Art Contests. (I’d like to stitch it too). But before I navigate out I just want to thank you for hosting the entry. 🙂