laurilli

Has anyone seen this quilt? the pics I have seen say it is made be the Amish. I was wondering if anyone knows if this is an Amish designed pattern or can I buy it somewhere? Thanks for any help. Laurilli

PaperPrincess

Here's a previous discussion:
http://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1...st-t22616.html
I think the pattern is similar to Pomagranite (sp?) and Flame:
http://ernsstev.com/bargello-flame-pattern-quilt/

dunster

The Amish make many quilts that are not Amish designs. This is one of them.

joe'smom

I read that the pattern is not available for purchase because the Amish own complete rights to the design -- I'm not clear on the details.

ManiacQuilter2

If you have done Bargello quilts before, it wouldn't be difficult to draft this design out. This is a pattern that was done in needlepoint during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

laurilli

Paper Princess I clicked on the link and all I got was a link back to quilting board but when I typed in the search box it just came back to this post.
Maniac Quilter While I have done a few bargellos I'm not sure if I'm up to drafting this out myself, but I will give it a try if I can find a close up picture. Thanks all.

Bree123

It was originally designed by Mary Beiler, an Amish woman, but she sold the rights to a quilting company called Almost Amish. Almost Amish does not sell any patterns for Light in the Valley. Also, they fiercely defend their copyright on the design -- even suing an Amish woman for making a quilt to sell at a charity auction based on the design.

http://lancasteronline.com/news/loca...a4bcf6878.html

laurilli

Bree123 that's a real eye opener. I know about copyrights, of course but why buy the copyrights if you're not going to market it? Just seems strange. Thanks for the info.

Macybaby

Seems odd that they could copyright a design that is based on a very old needlepoint design.

Bree123

They bought the copyright to the design so they can make Light in the Valley bargello quilts themselves & sell the finished quilts. That way, if anyone wants to legally own a LitV quilt, they are forced to purchase it from the Almost Amish store. Each LitV quilt is a numbered, limited edition piece meaning they can ask substantially more money for it.

The design process is often the most time-consuming part of making an original quilt. There are two ways to get compensated for that time: (1) turn the design into a pattern and sell hundreds of copies of the pattern -- designers get around 8% royalty or a flat commission, whichever is less . So let's say you manage to come up with the design in a mere 20 hours; they'd need to sell 4-500 copies in order for the designer to earn $20/hour for her design time. (2) protect the design rights & don't allow anyone else to copy your quilt. Quilts that are marketed as "one of a kind" or "limited edition" typically sell for higher prices so instead of selling a quilt for $800, you can now sell it for $1200. That extra $400/quilt pays for the design fee (or in this case, reimburses Almost Amish for the money they spent to buy the rights from the designer).

Personally, I prefer the second route. I create the designs so I can use them in my own quilts. There are dedicated marketplaces for original/limited edition designs and often they don't even allow visitors to take photographs because there are skilled forgers and pirates whose work devalues the original. They spend 2 seconds snapping a photograph & maybe an hour figuring out how the quilt was constructed; they have nothing invested in it other than the cost of fabric so it doesn't matter to them whether they make it to keep, gift or sell. Meanwhile, I may be out hundreds of dollars because my "one-of-a-kind" quilt is no longer one of a kind... and my reputation is tarnished, reducing how much I can charge on future quilts for a number of years.