Copyright and Usage Policies

All original content on this web site is copyright and exclusive property of Whipstitch Industries LLC/Deborah Moebes 2007-2013.  All rights reserved.

The Whipstitch name, logo, shield, color palette and signature needle-and-flourish are registered under US Trademark, reg. no. 3907247, and are protected intellectual property.  Likewise, the design and layout of this website is the sole property of Deborah Moebes and Whipstitch Industries LLC.  All rights reserved.

This website is created and written solely by Deborah Moebes, pretty much because I love sewing that much–and I love sharing sewing with others who love it, or think they might love it, or who just want to figure out what all the fuss is over.  While I am an author and sewing instructor, the skills, techniques and tutorials you’ll find on this site aren’t error-proof, and it’s always wise to do additional research and keep in mind that neither I nor Whipstitch Industries can be held liable for any hiccups along the way.  Sewing does involve the use of sharp tools, so do be careful!  The outcome of your sewing project will vary from those shown on this site, and I hope you’ll share your results in our Flickr group.

Use of Images

Photos that appear on this site without accreditation are my original photos, and subject to copyright restrictions.  Please do not reprint, reproduce, lift, steal, screen capture, or otherwise copy images and content from this site for your own use.  Exceptions to this are as follows:

• You may use any unaltered image (or even two) for non-commercial purposes as long as they’re credited to Whipstitch and accompanied by a link back to the original post. If you’d like to use more than one image, it’s always professional and polite to ask permission first–it’s pretty easy to contact me so that we can discuss on a case-by-case basis.
• Images should not be used for galleries, landing pages, graphics, post series, or any other format that duplicates a large chunk of my content.  At no time should an image from and/or belonging to Whipstitch or any affiliate site be used for your masthead, logo, blog header, avatar, background image or other large-scale and highly-visible identifier.
• Whipstitch images should not be uploaded to your Flickr account and credited to you.  I know, I can’t believe I have to say that, either.  But I do.
• Please feel free to pin any image to Pinterest directly from the individual site page, rather than adding it to your own blog and pinning from there; it just keeps the links cleaner and helps everyone find what they’re looking for!

In very rare circumstances on this site (like, I think there might be three, maybe), images have been purchased through a stock photo licensing company and used in accordance with their guidelines; such images may or may not have attribution, but documentation is available upon request (or a link to the source, should you want to use the same image by purchasing it yourself).  Any third-party credited images have been noted as such, linked back to their original source, and are believed to be in the public domain and used in accordance with the US Copyright Fair Use Act and/or Creative Commons License, almost always with the knowledge and consent of the owner of the original image.  When in doubt, y’all: ask!  Most folks are happy to have their content shared, but nearly all of us bear the scars of having had it stolen.  Asking to share a link or image keeps the love moving around and around, and keeps everything neat and tidy on your side of the street.

I reserve the right to remove or replace images at any time, as the needs of Whipstitch and the site change over time.  Sorry about that.

Use of Text and Tutorials

Please understand that any duplication of text is plagiarism and constitutes a violation of federal and international copyright law–they take that stuff pretty seriously, y’all, so cutting-and-pasting is a huge no-no.  At no time should any text, copy, instructions, guidelines, descriptions, or body of a site page be utilized by you for publication, in print or online, without express written permission from Whipstitch Industries.  Seriously, you cannot cut-and-paste someone else’s work and call it your own.  Exceptions to this on this site are as follows:

• You’re welcome to summarize and link to copy on my site, instead.  If you found a tutorial or project that you really love, and you’d like to blog about it, knock yourself out!  But rather than lifting multiple lines of text and copying them directly to your site, please paraphrase and then link back to my original post.
• You are always invited to print and preserve projects and instructions from this site for your own use.  You are not invited to share, email, photocopy or otherwise distribute those instructions to others, however.  Should you want to use a pattern or idea from this site with your Bee or group, please share the link to the original post with them and ask them (politely) to print their own copies directly from the site.
• In the same vein, tutorials should never be reproduced in part or in full without my consent, even for educational purposes.  I would love nothing more than for you to use a tutorial from this site for a class you’re teaching or a workshop you’re leading–how awesome!  I ask that you contact me and let me know where and when you’ll be teaching (I’d love to give you a shout-out!) and then direct each student to print their own copy of the instructions.  This is pretty easy to do via a pre-class email or alert, and it prevents instructions and images from being separated from the original source.
• Under no circumstances may you transmit or electronically store content for later retrieval, nor are you permitted to utilize copy, projects, designs or images from this site for publication, in print (books or periodicals) or online.
• Purchased patterns are not for reproduction, not even to share with your bestie or your mother.  Please direct them to the site where, for a shockingly reasonable fee, they can purchase their own copy and support independent design.  When linking to patterns, please link directly to the blog post or sales page, not to the PDF files.
• Online classes, also called e-courses, are proprietary content and are not to be shared or distributed in any way to individuals who have not registered for the class.  Ditto live workshops and lectures.  They are not to be duplicated, disseminated, or replicated in any form or forum.  Class content, outlines, general curriculum organization and specific lesson text and projects are all protected by US and international copyright laws.  Please enjoy and blog about your experiences with my online classes, engage with other students, talk it up to your friends, and take the time to write a review!  Get inspired by what you learn here and go forth to develop your own ideas!  But don’t commit a crime by copying the content and sharing it beyond the “classroom.”  Yes, it’s a crime.

I reserve the right to edit or update content and text throughout the site at any time, with no notice, as befits the growth and development of the site and Whipstitch Industries.  I further reserve the right to edit or remove any comments or submissions from third parties to this site that are malicious, rude, defamatory, inflammatory, derogatory or otherwise icky in nature.  That goes for you, Spammers.  If your comment disappears and it was a really, really good one full of love and honey and unicorns, I’m super sorry about that–you can always contact me and I’ll see if I can’t retrieve it (no promises, though–a girl’s only got two hands).

Giveaways & Disclaimers

Whipstitch Industries is a business, and the blog on this site operates as a part of a for-profit entity.  On occasion, I do giveaways or posts promoting products; I do not accept payment for any feature or endorsement, and truly only review and promote businesses and products that I use myself and feel good about sharing with others.  For full details on promotions and giveaway guidelines, please see the disclaimers page.