"For Individual Use Only" fabric
 

I purchased some Elizabeth Studios fabric online. When I received it, I noticed this phrase on the selvage. I had purchased this fabric to make some items to put in my Etsy shop. I wrote an email to Elizabeth Studios telling them what the purpose of this fabric purchase was and I got an email back rather quickly granting me permission to make and sell my items using their fabric. I know this has been a long debated topic but if you have any doubts, you can just email the manufacturer. If they refuse permission, then I would just make sure I didn't use any of their fabrics again no matter what the intended purpose was.

I cannot understand these designers not allowing people to buy and do what they like with the fabric, isn't it advantageous for them to sell as much as possible. When you buy something you should be able to do what you want with it, after all that is why you chose it in the first place - isn't it!

I should think that if a fabric were 'exclusive' for use to some commercial entity (say if JCP wanted to make a line of purses and matching accessories), that the designer wouldn't offer it for sale to the general public at all- negating the need for the marking on the fabric. Things that make you go "hmmm..."

I just never buy those fabrics anymore. I can usually come up with something just appealing without worrying about selling it in a craft show or somewhere. I never really know what I am going to do with some of my projects.

I don't buy them either but I bought this online so I didn't get to see the selvage before purchasing it.

I don't usually sell what I make but it irritates me that someone who is selling their fabric line wants to limit what I do with it!!

If you bought it it is yours to do with as you please. They can't really stop you from selling items made with the fabric. They can't even really stop you from selling the fabric you bought just as fabric w/o ever making anything with it. I imagine the printing on the fabric is more like the "Not for individual sale" printed on small packaged items that are sold in larger lots. Like the manufacturer doesn't want the business they're selling to to be making things with it after buying wholesale and then re-selling those items. They can't tell the individual consumer what can and can not be done with the item once purchased. I mean, imagine if you made something from fabric you bought, gave it to someone as a gift and that person decided to sell it later online or in a yard sale or even a craft show. They can't go after the person who recieved it as a gift. Likewise they can't go after you. They can not stop their product from being sold and re-sold indeffinatley. They sold it, it's not theirs anymore.

So, the bottom line is, it's yours, you bought it. Do what you want with it. Don't worry. :)

I hope that made sense.

I think this is to prevent someone from buying bolts of fabric, then reselling it. Think about the copyright for printed material (magazines, articles, patterns). If you buy a pattern, then make copies for your friends, the author of the pattern is not being paid for his/her creativity. If you purchase yardage, then resell it, the designer/manufacturer is losing the sale that they could have made to that other person.

Think about it. - unless the designer/ manufacturer was going to patrol every craft fair, yard salem, rummage sale, auction, Etsy site, eBay site, individual web site, private purchse, etc. - how in the world would they even know you made something out of their fabric then ( gasp) SOLD it. Totally unenforceable statement. As an individual crafter don't lose sleep over it.

Now they do go after the big ones (Chinese knockoffs, etc.). but are not real successful even then.

Just because you bought an item doesn't mean it is legal to do with as you please, that is why there is copyright laws in place. I would be very wary about giving advice that is this generalized, you can go to jail or face a hefty fine by copying or selling things that are copyrighted, or have patent laws in place.

However in the case of selling fabric in a quilt that has a statement to not sell, you would probably be fine. But just buying something doesn't give you the right to do with as you please.

I don't sell what I make, however when I buy a fabric I want to be free to use it any way I like. If they don't want it to be used why sell it.

Not naming any names:
This goes back to a designer that had this warning on the selvages of her fabric sold my Moda. Some of the fabric was used in a quilt that was ultimately used on the cover of a quilt pattern book. To make matters worse, it was Moda who gave the book author the fabric to use in the first place. The designer "took legal action" because she wasn't specifically listed as the designer of the fabric in the cover quilt and she also demanded that all the books be destroyed.
I won't buy any of her fabric: if you want the name of the designer and are a clever googler, you can find out for yourself and read the original story.
Oh what the heck! Or read this link:

http://craftnectar.com/2012/03/27/copyright-infringement-and-being-reasonable/

Many bloggers weighed into this last year .......... :(

BTW, be sure to read the comments in the above link. :)

AFAIK, the courts have so far sided with the purchasers/users of any such fabric. The copyright holder owns the right to the fabric design, and licenses that design to converters who may then produce items (such as yard goods) for sale. The designer, converter, etc. has no legal control over what you do with yard goods that you purchase, except that you may not reproduce those yard goods and offer them for sale yourself. Anything you make out of those yard goods? Yours to do with what you will.

I am asking the moderators to close this thread. It was not meant to re hash a topic that has been run into the ground of who can use what, who can say what can be done with their products, etc. It was just meant to say: If you want to use a fabric that has stipulations written on the selvage edge, it only takes a minute to email the manufacturer (OWNER OF THE DESIGN) and ask them.