FREE CHECKLIST FOR ETSY PATTERN SELLERS

Etsy Banned AI Sewing Patterns. Is Your Shop Ready for the New Photo Rules?

The October 22 update added photo requirements that affect every pattern seller, even if you’ve never used AI. This free checklist walks you through updating your listings one at a time, so your patterns stay live and buyers can see a real person made them.

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What’s inside the checklist

✔️ The 3 new Etsy rules every pattern seller needs to know, in plain English

✔️ A per-listing photo checklist, including what counts as an “unedited” photo

✔️ Why your CLO3D renders shouldn’t be your only finished-garment photo

✔️ An instructions checklist, plus the gray area Etsy hasn’t clarified yet

✔️ How to show buyers you’re a real pattern maker, not an AI pattern brand

✔️ A step-by-step plan for fixing a big shop without reshooting every photo

✔️ A quick reference of what’s allowed, what’s not, and what’s risky

✔️ Links to Etsy’s official policy pages

This checklist is for you if…

You sell sewing patterns on Etsy and want to make sure your listings meet the new rules

You use background removal or photo editing and aren’t sure what’s still allowed

You design in CLO3D and use renders in your listings

You’re planning to sell patterns and want to start off on the right foot

You don’t have time to read every policy page yourself

Hi, I’m Christina

I spent over ten years drafting patterns by hand as a theater costume patternmaker. Today I draft digitally in CLO3D, Adobe Illustrator and Affinity Designer, sell my own patterns on Etsy, and teach sewists how to make and sell patterns of their own.

When Etsy announced these changes, I went through my own shop listing by listing. This checklist is exactly what I’m using, so you don’t have to dig through the policy pages to figure it out.

Keep your patterns live and your shop protected

Etsy hasn’t set a deadline for updating existing listings, but buyers can open cases, and you may owe refunds if a listing doesn’t match what they receive. Start with the checklist and work through your shop a few listings at a time.