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AI Crochet Images and Patterns

 The Rise of AI in the Art World What do you think of this image? It's very pretty at first glance, isn't it? Does it make you immediately want to seek out the pattern to make them yourself? You're not alone. I took this image from a random page on Facebook that showed up on my newsfeed. I have no idea who originally made it. It's being shared by pages that appear to be run by bots, as the caption is always the exact same.  So What's the Problem? The problem is these crochet parrots are not real. That is not real crochet. The photo is generated by AI. How can you tell? Firstly, they are too perfect. Creating crochet birds that could sit like that on a perch without falling over would be challenging. The direction of some of the stitches doesn't make sense. If you zoom in, you can see the stitches on the head especially do not look like crochet stitches. The yellow feathers on the left bird's head look like real feathers, which you wouldn't be able to rep...
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Pattern Design Process - Part 2 - Testing and Finalisation

 My Pattern Design Process Part 2


So, the pattern draft is done and I'm happy with it. What next? Well, I like to make at least a couple for photos and for safety testing. I finalise the written pattern and ensure the photos are included. I use Canva for creating my digital patterns. It's really easy to use and I can even use it on my phone. It's free to use with a selection of royalty free graphics and images. You get more with the premium membership. They also print documents for a decent price, things such as business cards and my care sheets for my items. 

The next important step is to look for some pattern testers. As a rule, most designers will recruit crocheters on social media. For me, I have found Instagram and TikTok to be the best places. Why do this? Well, when you write something down, it'll make sense to you but it might not be as clear to other people. So testing ensures that the pattern works and makes sense for other people as well. It's easy to miss typos and number errors on something you wrote, so having another person read over it can help pick up these mistakes. 

The other benefit of pattern testers is being part of a community and helping spread the word about your new design. Most of the time testers are volunteers, but it is good practice to give them a shout out for helping and giving them the final copy of the pattern for free as well. You could offer other incentives or rewards to thank your testers if you like, and I'm sure that would be appreciated. 

The Testing Process

So when you have chosen your pattern testers, you need to send them the pattern. I establish a reasonable time frame for testers to get back to you with feedback and photos of their makes. I always massively appreciate the testers time and feedback. To stay in touch, many designers will have a group chat or such like. I have a Discord server for my testers, which I may open up to the community at large in the future. 

I enjoy seeing the amazing projects made with my patterns, and the feedback helps me make sure my pattern makes sense, works and is as accessible as possible. That's what is important to me, getting feedback and ensuring I've not made any errors. 

Preparation for Release

Once I've had all the feedback, I use that to edit my pattern and ensure it is perfect. I give it one final proofread then I publish it as a pdf. I have recently updated my patterns to have both UK and US terminology versions. I can switch between the two but I know some people are unable to do this. 

I will then post online with the planned release date, and share the testers photos and give them all a shout out on social media, and then I list the pattern on my website! My webhost thankfully makes this process fairly simple and streamlined. Then that's it, the pattern is out in the wild! 

I charge the same price of all of my plushie patterns, which accounts for the work that goes into the design. I do like to share some free patterns as well, but the bigger ones that take this much effort, it's important to charge something. I keep the prices low, so that they're affordable to most people. At the end of the day, it's a business so I can't give everything away for free. 

I hope this helps a bit to understand my process. It may be different for other people, but this is how I approach it. It can take a bit of time to complete a design, it's not something you can do in a couple of hours. But it's fun, and like any art form, the creative expression is important. 


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