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Publish a design

Publish a design when you want to share it with other stitchers: a freebie for your group, a sample of your work, or a pattern you are happy for others to sew. Publishing puts a copy of your design in Boldbobbin's public community gallery and hands you a link. Anyone with that link can see it and download it into Boldbobbin, and the website can turn it into a machine file in their browser. You choose whether people may sell what they stitch from it.

Publish one​

  1. Save the design to the cloud first. Publishing copies the version stored in your cloud, so it has to be there. If it isn't, Boldbobbin offers to save it for you before going on.
  2. Click Publish in the header, or File → Publish to community…
  3. The first time, you are asked for a public name, between 2 and 40 characters. This is the byline your gallery designs appear under, and everyone browsing can see it. You can change it whenever you publish.
  4. Give it a Title, and a Description if you want one.
  5. Choose the license.
  6. Publish. The link appears on screen with a Copy link button.

The dialog shows the stored thumbnail of what is about to go out, so you can see what you're publishing before you publish it.

Example: a free ornament for your stitching group
  1. Save the snowflake ornament to the cloud, then click Publish.
  2. Title it "Snowflake ornament" and add a line in Description such as the hoop size and the backing you used.
  3. Under Selling choose Personal use only, and under Credit choose Credit me. The dialog sums it up: "People may stitch this for themselves and must credit you. They may not sell what they make from it."
  4. Click Publish, then Copy link and post it in your group.
It is a snapshot

Publishing copies the design as it is now. Editing or deleting your own copy afterwards changes nothing already public. To update what people see, publish again and choose Update the published version.

The license​

Two plain questions, each an independent choice:

  • Selling: may other people sell what they stitch from this?
    • Personal use only: they may stitch it for themselves, but not sell what they make from it.
    • Commercial use allowed: they may sell what they stitch from it.
  • Credit: must they name you?
    • Not required
    • Credit me: they must credit you when they share or sell what they make.

The dialog restates your choice in a sentence, for example "People may stitch this for themselves and must credit you. They may not sell what they make from it."

This is not the same as your own plan's license

What you grant here is about what other people may do with your design. It is a separate question from whether your plan lets you sell what you stitch, which is the commercial-use capability.

Publishing again​

If you have published a design before, the dialog offers two routes:

  • Update the published version: keeps the same link, likes and copies, and does not use another publication. As of v1.3.0 the dialog opens on the description the publication already has, so you edit it rather than retype it.
  • Publish as a new design: creates a second entry with its own link, and uses one more of your publications.

How many you can publish​

Your plan includes a number of publications, and the dialog shows how many you have used. When they are all in use you can unpublish one to free a slot, or upgrade. Designs you have already published stay online either way.

Manage what you published​

My published designs lists everything you have in the gallery, with its publish date, likes and copies. Unpublish deletes the public copy and stops its link working; your own design is untouched.

Pro features and publishing​

Publishing runs the same Pro-content check every export does, so it cannot be used to route around the export gate. A design containing Pro content (a patterned fill, a tatami gradient, a decorative stitch, Photostitch, Auto-Trace, your own lettering, or pixel art stitched as cross-stitch or mini-satin) needs the matching capability to publish, just as it does to export.

If it won't publish​

  • "Save this design to the cloud first": publishing copies the stored version. Let Boldbobbin save it, or save it yourself and try again.
  • The gallery needs a preview image: previews are made when you save to the cloud, so save it once more, then publish. Previews need WebGPU (Chrome, Edge, or Safari 18+); if this computer can't do it, the design has to be saved once from one that can. See Realistic mode is unavailable.
  • "Sign in to publish to the community": publishing is tied to your account. See Signing in.