Can you sell cross stitch made from a chart?
A finished piece is something you want to give away or sell. Giving it away is always fine. Selling is less simple: the stitching reproduces someone else's design, and the design has an author. Here is what you can do and when you should ask first.
This isn't legal advice. The rules depend on your country and on the particular chart. If you plan to sell a lot, ask a lawyer.
What you get when you buy a chart
When you buy a chart, you usually get the right to stitch it for yourself, not the rights to the design. A chart is protected by copyright (a lawyer's answer on Pravoved, in Russian). So what matters is the terms the chart's author has set.
Designers' terms differ: some let you sell a finished piece, others only under a licence or with permission. Look for them in the chart itself or on the designer's website. If there are no terms and nobody to ask, treat the chart as for personal use only.
Characters and brands — no
Cartoon characters, logos and brand names belong to their owners, even if you drew the chart yourself. Large companies watch marketplaces and have such listings taken down. Don't sell this kind of stitching.
What you can sell
- Your own drawings and photos. You are the author. A portrait of another person needs their consent. A photo taken by someone else needs the photographer's permission.
- Paintings in the public domain. In Russia and Kazakhstan, copyright lasts for the author's lifetime and 70 years after their death (Civil Code of Russia, art. 1281, Kazakhstan's copyright law, art. 28); terms are similar in many countries, but check yours. After that the work can be used freely, though you should still name the artist. Hokusai, Van Gogh and Hiroshige have long been in the public domain.
- Charts under a free licence. CC BY 4.0, for example, allows any use, including selling, as long as you credit the chart's author, link to the licence and say if you changed anything (licence text).
How to credit your piece
For a chart under CC BY, one line on the tag or in the listing is enough:
Stitched from the Crossette chart "The Great Wave" (crossette.org), licensed CC BY 4.0. After a print by Katsushika Hokusai, public domain.
If you changed the colours or the size, add "chart modified". The credit doesn't mean the chart's author endorses the piece or the seller.
About the author
This article was written by the Crossette team. Our charts after paintings from open museum collections are free and licensed CC BY 4.0, in Patterns. We're also building Crossette, a cross stitch tracker for iPhone and iPad. It's in development; to join the beta, email [email protected].