I have been having lots of conversations recently about AI and thinking about whether or not it has a place in the sewing/craft industry.
Our social media feeds are becoming flooded with AI generated images and videos but what about thinks like AI generated sewing patterns or instructions?
How do you feel about AI?
I'm not a fan as it tends to give generic and not entirely accurate information to any questions asked and some of the images can be a bit creepy. It seems to be showing up more and more though.
As to sewing patterns I was watching one YouTuber who had - as she put it - been duped into buying a cheap sewing pattern for a top which didn't sew together well at all. It was beyond salvagable and so she wasted some fabric. She then found out the pattern was AI generated.
That's such a shame - I think the price is definitely a good indicator of whether a pattern is AI - most are selling at a constant 70% off so around £3 total - we know how much effort it takes to produce a sewing pattern and I would be wary of anything coming in under £10.
The second indicator is the generated model - specifically their hands, although this is getting better.
And then if the fabric has a print on it - it's usually really messy and just peculiar!
I'm disappointed at the amount of AI content and images which are appearing everywhere.
AI generated patterns for sewing (or any other craft) aren't usually proofread or tested. The instructions are often incomplete or assume the purchaser knows what to do. This means that they are mostly bad quality and unusable.
Unfortunately, the use of AI is increasing and it will be difficult to avoid it.
They definitely aren't tested, things don't match up properly, i've even seen one with two zips!
I'm not keen... I was actually talking about this earlier with my son, and sure, there are some things that are helpful like automation of repetitive tasks, but we were talking about how AI just can't replicate human creativity like music, art, film and storytelling - and I think the same applies to sewing and pattern designing.
I'll stick to patterns designed by humans!
Yes exactly this, It has it's place but not when it's used to replicate creativity - you could even ask it to write you a novel about XYZ... it would be a terrible replication of anothers work
A positive way of using AI in the sewing industry - Sew Me Sunshine has just launched a new feature on their website where you can select a fabric and pattern and it generates an image of the two together so you can see what it looks like! Stash Hub have a similar feature in their Magic Mockup.
I use AI quite frequently at work. I never thought that someone would generate patterns using AI and sell them. I was shocked when I came across them on etsy, after I paid for it... guess I know now.
I will need to see if I can find the pattern and fabric mentioned on Stash hub. That seems helpful to me. I do think AI use is okay as long as it is disclosed as AI and I hope that there is soon to be education for folks about how to use it best.
I also use AI at work and I know it requires supervision. So I'm surprised to see people use it to do something they don't have any experience in.
I suspect the Etsy patterns made by AI are created by people who don't make patterns. The sites I've seen don't have any non-AI patterns which explains why errors are in the final result.
I'd be curious if an experience pattern maker would find any value in using AI. Does it actually save them any work?
That would definitely be interesting - I think they would have to go through things with a fine toothed comb to check for mistakes - which to start with until things get better could mean more work.
I also wonder that but don't know the process well enough the write useful prompts...one day!
It can be really hard to tell if a pattern is made with AI or not but there does seem to be a lot of them on Etsy - did you try making the pattern up at all?
I agree there are lots of postive uses for it, and sewing businesses can make good use of it for things like tracking metrics, content planning and things like that. But yes education will be needed for sure
I actually made both of the piece... I think because I learned to sew when patterns were vintage 🤣 I was able to wing it where the patterns were lacking. I feel this experience has made me want to understand pattern making and construction better.
How were the actual pattern pieces? I've seen videos where they are misaligned and don't match each other.
That's great that something positive has come out of it and it's made you want to delve further into pattern making!
I design and sell patterns so it does freak me out a bit that there are so many ai patterns out there. The comments here are really interesting though, the main one being price! I got drawn in to buying a £3 pattern on etsy and it was dreadful!
Oh no... I'd love to know a bit more about your experience with it? What was wrong with it?
It just came in my size so not nested and I got it printed A0 and it was tiny! I could tell straight away it was going to be nowhere near fitting. Quite bizarre!
Thank goodness you only spent £3 on it - that's so bad!
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