Why I started a Patreon membership and how it’s going!

A couple of months ago, I launched a Patreon account.  I announced it here and have mentioned it a few times since, but today I want to do a bit of a deeper dive into WHY I decided to try Patreon for my quilting patterns and HOW it’s working out!

I think we all try to craft our environments to provide to us the things we need: the comforts, the nudges, the structure, and the freedom.  My current lifestyle is being quarantined/isolated with a busy toddler, a hard-working husband, and a whole lot of pets!  While we originally thought that covid-19 would cause us to hunker down for 30 days, that time got extended and as we realized the time would be extended to a year or possibly longer, I began to think about what I would make that long isolation feel better.

Overall, we’ve been weathering the covid storm quite well. We have a lot of privilege that has made this easier. We live in a big house and have acreage, so there’s space to be and explore while staying safe.  My husband’s job has changed a bit, but the work is steady and pays well.

There are challenges, of course.  We pulled our toddler from daycare, where he used to spend 15 hours a week; we stopped his swim class, library time, and all his outings.  With the loss of all that outside stimulation, Simon started to struggle with naptime and bedtime, which only resolved itself when we dropped nap.  So, Simon used to be out of the house or asleep about half of the time, and now he’s awake and with me full time. It’s a lot.  It’s joyful, but boring.  It’s challenging, but under-stimulating.

Realizing I needed to accept isolation as my lifestyle, I looked at my realities.  I need a break mid-day, so Jon takes Simon at lunchtime.  I need studio time without having to negotiate it, so we made a weekly schedule of which evenings I will stay in the house and hang out with Jon and which I will cross the backyard to the studio. 

And…here’s where Patreon comes in…I need some external pressure while I’m in the studio.  I need some slight stress to produce.  I need some direction to what I’m doing.  Otherwise, I just start a million projects or browse online fabric shops.  Covid has meant the cancellation of my teaching gigs (and I’m not looking to teach online).  Patreon, I discovered, is one way to make a promise to produce a certain amount of patchwork each month.

Here’s how I made that discovery.  One new thing that has happened while my family has been isolated is that I started playing Pathfinder.  Pathfinder is like Dungeons & Dragons, it’s basically collective, structured storytelling, usually with Lord of the Rings themes. Jon is a longtime player and I had been gearing up to play with him in some capacity since last year.  So we were somewhat poise to go, and started playing a game in March, with Jon as the gamemaster.  And then, after a few months, as Jon was wishing he could be a PLAYER, and I volunteered myself as gamemaster.  In preparing to be a gamemaster and then running a weekly game, I discovered all kinds of resources that are being made by more experienced players.  While lots of tutorials and such are available for free, it’s not unusual in the gaming world to put some of the best stuff…pre-made game scenarios, maps of cities and castles, behind paywalls.  I became a patron of an experienced GM on Patreon.  Patreon is a membership service where you pay creators a monthly fee and the they provide you with exclusive content .  I enjoyed the content of that first creator, and then I became a patron of a couple of my favorite mapmakers.  For less than $10/month I was able to support these experts as they did what they do so well…and get special access to useful tools along the way!  And I can change my memberships at any time.

I thought to myself…why isn’t quilting more like this?  

There seems to be a whole lot of content that is free—usually stuff that’s not innovative or complicated.

And then there are quilt patterns for sale for $11.  A fair price, but kind of a hefty one, too!

Where’s the in-between?

Meanwhile in the studio, I was making my Atomic Log Cabins Quilt.  I was sharing, as usual, on Instagram.  As I made it, and I had number of people ask for a pattern for this quilt. 

Here’s the final piece of the Patreon Puzzle: I sent them my studio notes and they told me they could follow them easily.  Studio notes are the notes I make for myself about what I’m making—they are the heart of a pattern, a diagram of a block with dimensions, maybe a cutting diagram if something is tricky.

I cannot tell you how happy it makes me to be able to share my studio notes with people!  It skips the part of pattern-writing that I hate.  It’s fairly immediate.  I don’t have to have “secret” projects!

And so, I thought, let’s try making my own page on Patreon and people can sign up for a monthly dose of studio notes!  It’s just enough structure for my studio time and I can use the funds to buy fabric, upgrade my studio lights, and more!  So I thought about it, got ready, thought some more, and then launched!

That was then, this is now!

I am four months in and am finding the slight pressure to produce to be very helpful!  Feedback has been good so far and membership is growing.  I’m feeling encouraged to do more to share my quilts with people that haven’t already seen them and am pleased I decided on this experiment.  For the time being, it is here to stay!

The current puzzle that I’m working on is the role of this blog.  I think I need to re-center the blog in my creative journey—Instagram can be fun, but I think this bog needs to return to being my online home.  I’ve been cleaning up the site and plan to write here more often.  I hope to see you here as this journey continues.

If you’re interested in my Patreon, here’s the link: https://www.patreon.com/rossiecrafts.