Free patterns are great. As a maker, it's a great resource to experiment with a project in mind, and manipulate without worrying about ruining an expensive pattern. As a designer, making free patterns may be counterintuitive but it helps putting your name out there, drive traffic to your blog or designer page, etc. It's also a great way to practice making patterns to sell later.
I have never sold a sewing pattern before. I draft sewing patterns and use it for baby's clothes or accessories but I am still learning about grading for different sizes on sewing (especially with woven fabric) so I don't feel quite ready to publish sewing patterns yet.
But I wanted to share some of my creations with other makers. So I'm experimenting with making some accessories patterns to be shared as free patterns later. For example, I drafted this bib pattern for Logan. We are doing baby-led weaning with him, which mean MESS MESS and more MESS. I got some plastic bibs for him but he hates the texture and just gets distracted and starts chewing on the bib instead of focusing on the food. His other bibs are more of drool bibs, so they soak up stains super easily and not quite big enough to cover his body. So I decided to make some with busy pattern to hide the stains but soft enough for him. I hope these work because he LOVES blueberries, and yogurt. And it is PAIN to remove stain.
I will keep you posted!