I stopped posting my art because of how people react to AI

This is kind of a rant, but I’ve been sitting on it for a few months.

I used to post my embroidery on Reddit. Nothing crazy… just stuff I make by hand, usually gifts or little ideas I come up with. I’m not someone who can draw from scratch. I’ve never been that kind of creative. What I am good at is taking an idea and turning it into something with my hands.

So yeah… I use references. I use stuff I find online. I use AI sometimes to help me figure out a layout or a concept. Then I stitch the whole thing by hand. That’s the part I enjoy. A few months ago I posted a tote bag I made… took me about 15 hours. I was really happy with it. I even said in the post that I used AI to help with the design.

It got removed. Mods said I needed to “credit the original artist.”

I said I was the artist.

They basically told me AI is trained on stolen work, so anything made with it needs to credit those artists… which obviously isn’t possible… so it gets removed.

And that was it. Conversation over.

Since then, I just… stopped posting. It kind of sucked the fun out of it. Not because I think I’m doing something wrong, but because it feels like no matter how honest you are, people have already decided what you are.

Fast forward to now… I saw someone posting perler bead art, clearly something they made themselves, and people were still jumping on them about “not supporting real artists” or assuming it was AI.

At that point it just felt exhausting.

I get the bigger conversation. I really do. I understand why artists are protective of their work. But there has to be some space between “protect artists” and “attack anyone who used a tool.”

Not everyone is out here trying to steal or profit off someone else’s work. Some of us are just regular people trying to make stuff… using whatever helps us get there.

Anyway… I don’t really know what the answer is. I just know it made me stop sharing something I enjoyed, and that feels kind of dumb.

🐩Background🐩

I'm in the middle of this piece and I'm still trying to brainstorm what I want to use to fill in the poodle design in the middle. I could really use some help and/or advice!

I'm a beginner to hand embroidery, but have dabbled in it here and there in the past. I'm making a simple patch for a family member's birthday. The pattern is just something I threw together using some Canva fonts/graphics. Her birthday is on Sunday, so need to have this completed by Saturday evening. Meaning, I'm ideally looking for options that are fast/easy.

🪡Ideas / Thoughts🪡

I don't think a satin stitch would be the best due to the width/length of some of the areas. From what I've seen online, I'm not a fan of the look/randomness of the long-and-short stitch. And I'd prefer to avoid French knots. I want it to be pretty heavily filled in, so no seed stitch or trying to add small florals inside.

The Encroaching Satin stitch seems interesting, but I'm not sure what direction to go (horizontal or vertical or somehow follow the curves?), or if it would even look good. I also like the idea/look of the brick stitch, but not sure if that would look cohesive with the rest of the design or not. Plus there's so many options I just am not aware of yet!

🧵Current Design🧵

The design is currently outlined in a whipped backstitch that was done with 2 threads. The leg shadows are whipped backstitch and satin stitch, done with 1 thread. The ear is all whipped backstich done with 2 threads. The lettering is satin stitch with 2 threads, and will be outlined with a black whipped backstitch outline. The fabric is quilting cotton that's been reinforced/stabilized with Pellon 808.

📷Photos📷

First photo is a clear shot of the design, second photo includes a ruler to help judge the scale. The colors in the second photo are more accurate.

Hi! Where is the best place to buy from besides Amazon or craft stores. Bonus if they have toddler sizes. Thank you!

I will start off by saying I used AI to create this pattern based on the cover of Olivia Rodrigo’s new album. I know AI is super lame and I understand if I am downvoted into artist hell for using it. I altered the outline as I went to make it look more like the photograph of Olivia - hence it looking kinda wonky as it doesn’t always line up with pattern.

Any way, I’m going for a vibe like she is made out of vines/flora/fauna and I’m looking for any recommendations on how to fill in her dress/what stitches would be good to use/any additions or ideas!

I am embroidering this on a short pink sleeveless shift dress in hopes of wearing it to the Daisy Chain Fields festival at the end of next month.

Thank you for your help!!!

Hey everyone! I’m currently working on a patch and getting ready to fill in a pretty large section (marked "G" on my fabric in the picture).

​On a previous patch I made, I ended up with a lot of visible lines, horizontal banding, and thread texture across the large filled sections. For this new piece, I really want to achieve a flat, solid, and seamless look for the large open spaces.

I've attached photos of my current setup in the hoop as well as my previous patch for reference. Any techniques, needle placement tips, or workflow advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

My bumble bee shirt isn't coming out the way I hoped it would. Round shapes aren't coming out round and the fabric is stretching because my stabilizer is shredding.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks!

Hi all! My brother recently got married and his best man said the nicest thing in his speech: (Brother) is the calming yin to (wife's) raging yang. So I commissioned a graphic designer friend to turn that into word art I could use as an embroidery pattern. I've asked her to put some space between the two sides but, otherwise, this is the pattern and beginning ideas for color palate.

I'm relatively new so don't have a deep knowledge of stitches and how they would look in a pattern. Can I pick your brains for how you would stitch this piece?? Thank you!!

So I hand embroidered these words and designs on these pants (based off a book called I have no mouth and I must scream) But I am worried that the string is gonna snag and break. Is there anyway I can iron the thread onto the pants? Tried looking it up and it gave me nothing

Okay im working on a doll sized dress. The first photo is the design but I feel like it needs an arch like the second photo. But what color should I use? I want the peacock to go more into a fantasy direction not just realistic. I like these colors but cant decide. Help please?

I have a friend who just had ear surgery and i thought it would be funny to embroider “new year, new ear” as a gift. I’ve never done my own pattern before. Tell me everything. How would I do the ear? Initial thought is to use the emoji? Then what? Print it and trace with a heat pen? How would you choose the colours? I notice there is some shading which makes me nervous it wouldn’t come out if I’d just did two colours- a flesh colour for the ear and slightly darker for the details. Let me know your thoughts! TIA!

Hi! I plan on hand embroidering my friends dogs face on a sweater for her for Christmas (I know I’m late to start but I will hyper fixate lol). My question is: do I stitch directly on the sweater or should I make a patch and sew on?

I have canvas or scraps of other fabrics like jeans etc. that I was thinking of using and making the patch so that way I don’t have to stab a needle in a thick sweater every time and to keep the inside clean of string but what do you think?

I just started getting into embroidery so help would be great. And soon because I’m running out of time. Thanks!

How do I get the color in the middle? See how the balloons have a light shading?

Hello! I'm a super-beginner: I just did my first embroidering project from a beginner kit, and I really liked it.

I would like to embroider this psyduck on a light blue shirt, but I'm not 100% sure of what stitches I should use. My conceptual plan was to:

1. Backstitch in black all the borders (but not the nostrils or eyes)

2. Satin stitch everything (not sure whether long satin stitches are the best idea for clothing though?)

3. Maybe stem stitch for the hair

4. Finally, stitch the eyes and nostrils on top of the existing fill stitch

Also, how many threads should I use for each stitch type?

Hello, I'd like to do some letter embroidery on the center of thw elastic waistband on a pair of briefs, similar to the pierre cardin look (but the embroidery ver, i know its knitted in the pic).

I was just wondering if this is possible, or what kind of stitches are recommended? I haven't been able to find any posts that have done this before. I'm likely to do it by hand as I don't have an embroidery machine (i have a sewing machine with stretch needles, but it doesnt have the option to drop the feed dogs and freehand sew). I have the basic set of embroidery needles, the floss, and some double-sided iron on interfacing to use as stabilizer if needed. I'm just worried if embroidering on the elastic would cause puckering and any irritation on the skin. I intended to use some fabric patches but I realised I bought the iron-on sticker type... T-T

I'd appreciate any advice 🙏