New Sewing Commuity Website (similar to Ravelry if you're familar with that).

Hey,

My husband has built a new website inspired by the very popular knitting community site Ravelry. (I knit and sew, and have always been frustrated by the fact that I couldn't find a similar venue for sewing enthusiasts).

So, it's in it's first release, though we skipped the "beta" phase, as we will only be adding improvements, what you post will not be lost, and what is there is fully functional, unless there is a bug, of course.

It is called My Sewing Circle, www.mysewingcircle.com, and the idea is you can have a digital sewing room to organize your patterns, fabric, tools, and digital embroidery files. You then post projects you have done, and you add what pattern you used, which fabrics, what notions if any, and then there is a notes sections for mods. The idea, beyond organizing your stash, is that you can search the database for fabrics and patterns that others have used and see what you can do with a pattern or fabric, and of course just admire others work at the same time. You can post comments to others projects and add friends =).

 We hope to incorporate the ability to purchase patterns in the future, directly from the site, though right now you can put in a url link to the pattern, whether a website or pdf.

Next up is a forum on the site, so be on the lookout for that.

The fabric and pattern database is user driven, so once an individual adds a fabric or pattern, it is remembered for all eternity and will pop up when you search for a fabric or pattern, so, the more people that post fabrics and patterns, the easier it will get to use. We also plan to contact major fabric designers and see if there is a way they can send us their stock photos, as we can do a large import pretty easily.

So, please take the time to check it out! We would love for this to take off. My husband is excited about it and has really enjoyed making the site for all the sewing and fabric lovers out there! Check out the blog for updates and what's to come at www.blog.mysewingcircle.com. Any questions can be directed to admin@mysewingcircle.com. Please feel free to give us ideas, constructive criticism, and bug reports.

Thanks!

~Carrie

Anyone have any feedback ?

Oh, and wanted you all to know that this site has zero ads, will be free, and we will keep all personal info absolutely private and will not share it with anyone, at all, period.

it's nice and simple in appearance, which is very good. the font used in the box is too small to read, and should probably be increased...the fact that there are no ads is also nice.

I'm probably not joining since I've already got too many sites on my favorites list...but good luck.

Wow!
This sounds great.

I wish I was more organized with my
sewing projects-this would help,
no doubt.

I will come back and check and see
how it's doing and I think it will
help lots of people to get organized
as well as help folks to share their
work and love for sewing.

I've got to work on a writing class
I'm doing, but I will definetly be
checking you out!!!

Hope it goes well-it's a great idea!


Elaine

I joined. Its sounds great!

Thanks ya'll . We're struggling with getting folks to add patterns and fabrics. It's really easy to do, but we're all so busy these days. We have about 50 members now, though. I'm really hoping that fabric manufacturers will allow us to import stock photos if they have them, that might make it easier for some. The forum should be up really soon so we can all converse over there!

Thank you for the feedback, it is very much appreciated!

You might want to add some other categories to your notions menu.  Or give the option for "other."  My project used a snap, but I couldn't choose that.  I would expect to see things like bias tape, zippers, buckles, twill tape, velcro, etc.

I plan to poke around some more when I have access to more of my stuff (I'm at work now).

I hope it takes off! 

Oh, I'll take a look at that again. We can also make it so that you can write it in, and the database will add it, I think, I'll have to ask dh. I know I need to put in many more pattern categories, I think there are 3 right now...I keep forgetting that, I think we had decided to make that user driven as well. Thanks!

Ok, added more notions categories, and I think we're gonna do tags for pattern categories, so you can add more than one for a pattern. Ex. baby, dress. They you could search for a pattern by tag.

I signed up.  It'll be great to see how this goes!

I've signed up too.  Looks interesting.

I have also signed up! I got a small thrill from being able to use my actual first name (without symbols or numbers) as my username!  I have never registered on a site so new that I was able to do that. Like I said, small thrill!

I hope to contribute soon!

Hi! I just wanted you all to know that we have enabled Tags now, so you can add a Tag to your project or pattern. This will also enable us to build a search feature to search by tag. Tags are created by users, so if you do not see a Tag that fits your project, you can create it to be added to the database, so it will show up the next time someone adds a project or pattern. Dh is working on the tools section, so that should be up soon. There you can add a sewing machine, serger, etc. to your stash. And I believe you will be able to indicate what tools you used to create a project. This will help others know what they can do with what equipment! The forum has been technically added to the site, but we need to enable it, and design it to look pretty!

So, lots to come! Please keep posting suggestions for us!

We have done another release tonight. We added the Tools section finally! There are several ways to add a tool (tool is a sewing machine, serger, scissors, etc.), and a wizard walks you through it. If your sewing machine has previously been added, for example, you simply choose it from a list. If you don't see your tool, you can add it, and it will also save to the database. The third option is to keep your tool to yourself, and it doesn't require much information, just a name for your own reference. You will find the "tools" section under My Sewing Room. I'm going to be adding tool categories. Please, please, please, if you can, post some suggestions for me .

Coming up next is the forum. We have created it, but it's not pretty as I have no idea how to make changes. It's in phpBB3, if anyone can help! I will also need moderators, if anyone is interested, please post here, or PM me.

Thanks!

~Caroline