Every day it seems that the coordinated network of fraudulent pattern shops gets bigger and more pervasive. I know a lot of knitters and crocheters are hesitant to even buy patterns anymore because of how hard it can be to spot fake AI-generated patterns. This is hurting a lot of small business owners, folks like me and all the designers that I support.
One of my newsletter subscribers asked me something recently that I think a lot of us are wondering: how do you actually tell if a pattern is the real thing?
Here’s my tried and true check-list:
✔️ How long has the designer been around? Under a year – beware and vet more rigorously.
✔️ What are their pattern reviews like? This one’s tricky because there’s a network that works together to leave effusivse (fake) reviews. Look for generic writing, no profile pic, and multiple reviews from the same person. Often you’ll see real one-star reviews with seller replies that blame the buyer’s lack of skill, etc. If your spidey sense is tingling, trust it – that’s almost certainly unconcious pattern recognition.
✔️ Does the seller have any status? (Etsy Pick or Star Seller, for example) If so, that’s a good sign.
✔️ Can you find examples of the pattern being made by someone other than the designer? Check Etsy listing reviews for project photos and Ravelry project pages too.
✔️ Do the stitches look perfectly square or not really knit or crochet? This is a tell-tale sign, a big red flag.
✔️ Does the designer’s style look inconsistent across their shop?
✔️ Does each project look impossibly perfect? AI photos often have this dreamy, almost too-perfect look – soft focus, flawless skin, lighting that’s a little too even. Everything looks beautiful but somehow … off. Again, trust your spidey sense.
Let’s look at an example together:
Can you see why this is AI-generated? The stitches look almost plastic – way too uniform, too perfect. The photography is cliché and has that dreamy, soft-focus glow with lighting that doesn’t quite match the real world. And c’mon, no real yarn project ever looks like this.
But the picture only conveys half the story. The shop this eagle came from (StudioMarry) is less than three months old, the five-star reviews are suspiciously enthusiastic with no project photos, and the actual pattern is reported to be six pages of vague instructions in multiple languages. Classic signs.
The one-star reviews are written by real people and say things like, “Complete AI-generated scam, no details whatsoever.” Trust the one-star reviews.
Real designers – the ones losing sleep over stitch counts, the ones whose bills depend on their patterns and shops being trusted – need us to shop smart right now. Report the shops selling fake patterns – let’s get the gatekeepers to do something about this! Bookmark this post, share it with a crafty friend, and again, trust your spidey sense. It’s usually right.
Post last updated April 19, 2026. Email me if you have a tip and I’ll add it to this post.
April 19, 2026 at 10:01PM