Most folks know how to browse and post on a web forum, but every site has a little bit different personality, so this guide is designed to help you familiarize yourself with the forums, and get to the content you want, fast!

Types of Forums

There are two main kinds of forums on mysewingcircle, those that are main forums for the website, and those that are associated with circles.

Main Forums are available from the “forum” link at the top of every page. That link takes you to a list of forums. Clicking on a forum title will take you to a list of topics within that forum.

Forums for circles are available through the “circles” link at the top of every page. That link will take you to a list of circles you belong to. You can read and post in any circle, not just the ones you belong to. Click on a circle to be taken to that circle’s main page, which will have a list of discussion threads to the right.

Both kinds of forums work the same way. Here are a few quick tricks:

• Threads are organized with the most recently active threads at the top of the forum.
• Posts are organized with the first post on the first page, and each following post after it in order from the time it was posted.
• Clicking on a thread will take you to the last (most recent) page of posts
• From within a thread, clicking on the “Topics” link on the left side of the page, above the first post on the page will take you to a page with a list of all threads in that forum.
• Clicking “reply” below a post will allow you to compose a reply that is a direct response to that post.
• At the bottom of the page is a “reply” link with a conversation bubble and a green +. Use that link to compose a message for the thread that is not directed at a specific post.
• When there is a reply to a post, there will be a link below it that says “_ replies….” Clicking on that link will show all the replies to that post.

Composing a New Thread

Composing a Reply

Create a new Sewing Circle by clicking on the “circles” tab at the top of the page.

Make sure such a group doesn’t already exist, by searching or using “browse all”.  Try searching for several terms related to your interest.

If you decide to start a new Sewing Circle, click the link for create a new sewing circle and this form will open:

Fill in this form to start a new Sewing Circle

Note that, as Editor of the Circle, you will have the ability to add pictures later or to change the wording you have put in the form.

Two pictures are used for the Sewing Circle and you can upload these from your computer. They are:

• Badge Image 100 x 60 pixels
• Billboard Image 468 x 60 pixels

[For help in creating these images send a message to Sade or click here]

When entering the “full description” make sure to include words that people might use to search for your sewing circle so it will be easier for people to find your circle in the future.

Enter details of your location and then save the form. You can now enter your circle and you will notice that you are Editor. Here is what the different levels of membership mean:

Member
* Sewing Circle will appear on “circles” page of “my sewing room”
* You can access that group from the main “circles” page
* Your recent project activity shows on the “recent activity” tab in that group
* You can invite others to join the group

Moderator
* You have all the benefits of a member
* You can edit or delete any message on the forum within that group
* You can designate a thread as a “sticky” thread

Editor
* You have all the benefits of members & moderators
* You have the ability to edit Sewing Circle details
* You can change pictures
* You can add other moderators
* You can add other editors

Obviously, the ability to edit member’s posts must be used with care and it is helpful to add a small note whenever an edit is made, to clarify why or what was edited. (For example, you may need to edit a web link or insert a space to correct formatting.)

When you have started your Circle, you can add yourself as a Moderator and, as time goes by, you can look out for people to add as further Moderators or Editors as your Circle grows and flourishes.

Moderators and editors have the ability to make “sticky” topics in their respective sewing circle.  Here is how to make a thread into a “sticky” topic:

If you have already posted a message in a thread its easy, just edit the message and select the appropriate “type”.
If you haven’t yet posted a message in that thread, click reply, post, edit it, and select the appropriate “type”.

Create a new project by clicking the “add project” button within “my sewing room”.

On the next page, fill in whatever information you have about the pattern. Only the Name and Status are required. Click “Save”.

Congratulations! This has created your project! You can now add some information about the project so that other people can find it and see what it looks like.

Tag a Project

Tagging allows your project to show up in more search results. To tag your project, go to the page for that project and either:

• Click on a relevant suggested tag. It will be added automatically!
• Type in the word or phrase you’d like to tag your project with, click “add”. Each tag must be added separately.

Add Pictures to a Project

A picture is worth a thousand words! To add a photo to your project, you will need to have a picture saved to your computer. Please be sure you own the copyright for the photo you are going to attach!

1. Click on “add picture” from your project page.
2. Click “Browse” and locate the picture from your computer that you want to add.
3. Once the picture is selected, click “Open,” and then “Attach”
4. Admire your handiwork!

Attach a Pattern to a Project

1. Click on “add pattern” from your project page
2. Type the name of the pattern and the author in the search box and click “search”
3. Click on the correct pattern to select it.
4. If the pattern you used does not show up in the search results, your pattern may not be added yet. Check that you typed correctly, then click “New pattern” at the bottom of the window to add a new pattern. How to add a new pattern.
5. Once you have the pattern you used selected, click “attach” at the bottom of the window to associate your project with that pattern.

You can remove a pattern from your project by scrolling to where your project page lists the patterns used and clicking “remove” by the pattern you’d like removed.

Attach a Fabric to a Project

1. Click on “add fabric” from your project page
2. Type the name of the fabric if you have it and the manufacturer or designer in the search box and click “search”
3. Click on the correct fabric to select it.
4. If the fabric you used does not show up in the search results, your fabric may not be added yet. Check that you typed correctly, then click “New fabric” at the bottom of the window to add a new fabric.
5. Once you have the fabric you used selected, click “attach” at the bottom of the window to associate your project with that fabric.

Attach Notions to a Project

1. Click on “add notion” from your project page
2. Select the type of notion from the “category” pull-down box.
3. Fill in the brand and name of the notion. Notions are not linked to one another within the site so the name does not have to be exact.
4. Click “attach” at the bottom of the window to add your notion.

You can remove a notion from your project by scrolling to where your project page lists the notions used and clicking “remove” by the notion you’d like removed. A confirmation box will pop up. Click cancel to return to your project page without deleting the notion, or click “confirm delete” to permanently remove the notion from your project.

The following describes how to post a pattern to be included in the mysewingcircle.com database. Once you add a pattern it will be available to any member who may wish to learn more about the pattern or use it on their project.

First, search the mysewingcircle.com pattern database to determine if the pattern already exists. If found, “hooray!”, now you can use it on your project. If not found, continue to the next step.

Next, collect the information needed to post a new pattern. While only a name and category are required, you are encouraged to enter as much information as possible. It is very helpful to include both a stock photo of the pattern as well as a line drawing.  To capture pictures:

1. Find the website where the original pattern was posted
2. Save a non-copyright protected stock photo and line drawing (if applicable) by right-clicking on them and choosing “Save as…”. Save them somewhere on your computer where you can remember because you will need it in a later step

Now, you are ready to add the pattern to the pattern database. Only the fields with a bold label are required.

1. Go to my sewing room
2. Click on
3. Enter brand/designer if known (hint – type slowly and a recommended list will be provided based on your typing)
4. Enter name/number (required)
5. Choose a category (required) – this will be the primary category that this pattern will be listed under. You can browse all patterns by category on the main patterns page.
6. Specify sizes – often a pattern specifies a list of sizes, which can be made from the pattern. This is a free form field so you can fill out information here that you believe will be helpful to others wishing to use this pattern in the future.
7. Place a checkmark next to the this pattern is free field IF the pattern is available for free – typically this indicates that the url field will link you to a website where you can acquire the pattern at no cost.
8. Provide a url – enter a web address to additional pattern information or to link to a free pattern.
9. Enter fabric requirements to indicate fabric yardage needs of this pattern. This field will probably move to the project page later as fabric requirements are often very specific to the size made for the project.
10. Enter a description – Oftentimes you can simply copy the description from the original website, put it in quotes, and give them credit.
11. Click save

Now, tag the pattern to help others find it. Choose any suggested tags by clicking on the tag name, or specify new tags using the “add a tag” form. There is no need to use tags that include the brand/designer name or the category if already specified.

Finally, add the pictures you downloaded (if applicable):

1. Click on
2. Click Browse or Choose File
3. Locate the stock photo file you saved in the steps above when collecting pattern information.
4. Click attach
5. Repeat steps 1-4 again, but this time choose the line drawing photo file in step 3.

Hope this helps. Please let us know if you have any difficulties with these steps in the comments section.

Thanks!

I thought it would be helpful to provide some assistance for linking to mysewingcircle.com using a badge image. Referrals from member blogs and websites help our community grow!

To get a link such as this:

(clicking on it will take you to mysewingcircle.com)

Use the following code:

<a href="http://www.mysewingcircle.com"><img src="http://mysewingcircle.com/images/MySewingCirlce_comButton5.gif" width="150" height="70" border="0"/></a>

You can adjust the width and height attributes as you like but remember to maintain the aspect ratio to prevent stretching or skewing the image.