Now on Ribblr

There’s a new platform for makers and designers: Ribblr. I’m new on there and here’s my mini-review.

The benefits for designers is supposed to be the easy-to-use designer / pattern-writer area, the low fees, and the protection of our patterns.

There’s been a lot of drama over stolen patterns. It’s really disheartening to see your patterns in the hands of dishonest people. And this was definitely one of the main reasons I took a peek into the world of Ribblr.

I also heard there was the ability to earn a commission when someone made something using your patterns.

Ribblr is supposed to be user-friendly for the customers as well. But any new platform will take a little bit of time to get used to.

The biggest complaints I’ve read about are the inability to download the patterns (which is actually a feature for designers to protect them from theft, but customers don’t always want to have their patterns ‘stuck’ in the app). There’s also a limited amount of patterns on Ribblr because it’s new.

But, in an effort to broaden my horizons, I’ve decided to try it.

I definitely will NOT be adding all 300+ of my patterns there. It’s way too much work to make my stuff mold into their template. That was the same problem I had with LoveCrafts (so I only have 4 patterns there).

I’ve got 2 listings on Ribblr, but they are both for the same pattern: Book Dragon. One uses the interlocking crochet method and the other uses the overlay mosaic crochet method. However, I’ve added the downloadable PDF for BOTH TECHNIQUES in each listing.

Ribblr boasts about the interactive pattern reader that keeps your place and helps you know what row you’re on. If I redrew my chart on there it would interactive as well (but no way am I redrawing the chart for Book Dragon, it’s huuuuuuuge).

This interactive pattern template probably works well for some things, but it isn’t great for my patterns where I offer two techniques for every design.

Not all designers will offer a downloadable PDF on Ribblr (it kind of defeats the purpose of forcing customers to stay within the platform) but since the only way to get my charts into the pattern was to upload a PDF I am already at risk of someone selling that file. Thus, I also added the full PDF of both techniques into each listing.

One of the things I made a conscious decision about with my listings on Etsy and Ravelry was that BOTH TECHNIQUES should be available to anyone who purchased the pattern.

I didn’t want anyone to grab the pattern and not realize it was the wrong technique. Plus, most people are going to be making it once, using one technique, so the very few people who want both options can just think of it as a bonus instead of risking someone not getting what they want.

Anyway, my review on Ribblr so far is that it was relatively easy to setup as a designer but as a customer I’d rather have the PDF. I also don’t like trying to adjust my unique patterns to fit into a template that is meant for basic crochet designs.

Unless I see a surge in popularity there, I won’t be putting much time into at all. It has reminded me that I meant to add more patterns to LoveCrafts – but my complaint there is basically the same thing: it’s too much work adjusting my pattern to fit their template.