A note on fabric stash - we are in the process of finishing it and will publish it tonight or tomorrow. :)

As promised, we launched fabric stash today :)

You can not only manage your stash, but also offer it for sale or swap. Hope you like it!

This is such a great initiative. Long overdue for the sewing world! Thanks.

You are most welcome! :)

We still have a longest list of things to add, but we shall keep making this a nice and useful place :)

An idea: It would be great to be able to add a whole pattern magazine or a book without adding all the patterns one by one. Perhaps so, that the existing patterns here in Sewist would be shown under the magazine/book. Also there could be a possibility of combining several patterns? (I am particularly looking at a newly minted book "Boundless Style" in my shelf and the patterns in it are supposed to be randomly put together from different bodices, skirts etc.). But I have high hopes for your community. Since Ravelry, I have been wishing to have something similar for us sewers but none of the attempts I have seen, have been good enough. Your Sewist has a lot of potential! Thank you!

Thanks for the idea!

Actually, we are planning something like that. I myself is a huge fan of old sewing magazines, but it is a pain to search for a pattern you require flipping through all the pages.

We shall be showing books and magazine issues on separate pages, we are finishing the layout. Another feature we are planning is setting the used magazines and books for sale for Sewist members.

I still think we'll need to add all the patterns, but we'll be helping with the database :)

The combinatory patterns are something that need to be thought of, right now I don't think we have a convenient method to store this. I'll talk to the guys.

Under 'fabric type', please could there be an option for 'stretch woven' which would include fabrics with some spandex content. They function quite differently from knit fabrics, so I think they really need to be in a different category because you'd use them for different patterns. Thanks!

How about we rather filter these by stretchy + fiber content spandex?

Idea: How about a pattern review area with a place for sewists who have comments about that pattern? Tricks, hints about making that pattern up?

That is a good idea, I was just afraid that this would be overwhelming, as there are projects as well.

My idea was also to allow people to create pattern reviews - with all the ratings of course - with external links to their blogs for example, also a way of promoting your sewing blog, right?

Another idea: Functionality like Pinterest...all sewing related of course?

I am still investigating this... you mean posting pictures of someone's dress and discuss it here on Sewist?

From what I could google, this is tricky in European copyright law, so I just want to make it in a very safe way :)

In the pattern area, it would be great if there was a dropdown for pattern company.

It would also be great if, after adding a pattern to my library from the pattern area, I was taken back to the last page where I was searching for patterns, and not page 1. For example, I have been adding Lekala patterns to my library one by one, and have to keep navigating back to page 15, or 24, or whatever page I was last on when I was browsing through the Lekala patterns to match up to what I've got. I hope that makes sense.

Also, I'm a Lekala and a Bootstrap customer. I really like both companies. Because it's so much easier, I am just choosing the Lekala versions regardless which company I bought the pattern from. If people do enter information for Bootstrap patterns, is that going to cause any problems? If not, would it be possible to pre-load Bootstrap patterns as well? I don't know if that is a conflict of interest, but I wanted to put the request out there.

Thanks!

Another similar request: it would also be great if, after hitting the heart button next to a project I like from the projects area, I was taken back to the last page where I was searching for projects, and not page 1 of the projects.

I agree with Elephun. I've enjoyed browsing the projects but after I view a project and hit the back button, I get taken back to the first page of projects. I then need to scroll forward several times to get to the actual previous page viewed. As more and more projects get added, it will be more difficult to find where I left off if I'm always routed back to the first page of the projects.

Reading your copyright issues link, it looks like you can't post photos from pattern envelopes. Is it possible for you to get permission from pattern companies to do this? It would be much more helpful in the project section, to be able to view the pattern envelope.
Another comment - it would be helpful to be able to embed hyperlinks within the forum.

Also, the ability to edit a forum post would be helpful.

Great idea. I think waiting just a little while to roll out the pattern review capability would be okay. For what it's worth, I agree that it might be overwhelming to have both the projects and reviews in the very beginning. I'm sure it would take a little time to develop anyway.

Thanks for asking!

The main idea is to keep the database consistent and not create duplicate entries, so if you note a pattern that is also on Bootstrap, I guess it's better to add another source to the same pattern.

How does that sound?

Yes, that is an important issue, and I'll pass it on.

At the moment we are not copying all the request parameters right into the link to make the search faster, and do it with an internal ajax request. But I am sure the guys will find a workaround.

Yes, that's in process, and also the moderator role for the groups' forums. :)

We may probably do it in the form of ratings with comments, and if you want to upload a photo then it's better to use a project :)

Embedding links will be added, and we'll also work on using the images you have already uploaded, like projects and stash photos.

As for the copyright, I just want to make it completely right, so I have sent requests to the major companies and waiting to hear from them.
Some companies have already signed up with Sewist, and hopefully will be either start adding their patterns or give us a permission to add the listings for them with photos.
One of the features that we will be adding sooner probably is the ability to add photos to your library listings, also for the purpose of exchanging used books and magazines and booklets, and then allow this as an illustration photo for a published material. And also using projects photos as a featured photo for a pattern.

Sorry, I missed the part about the pattern company. :)

At the start, we made several sources available:
Sewist member as a designer
Website - that's the most popular source nowadays I guess :)
Book
Magazine

I believe we will have to add the name of the actual designer to the pattern, and let you filter by it.

As for the pattern company, I would like to take a look at how the database grows to apply the right changes to the database. For example, is Vogue Patterns a McCall's? At the moment probably yes, but I am not sure we can unite the older paper patterns under the same name. :)

So we'll definitely look at this, but decided to launch with multiple resources at the start and devise a good way to unite them :)

Here's something that'd be really helpful to me and possibly other people - I'm English but living in Switzerland, and so often fabric shopping in (Swiss-)German and occasionally in French. My grasp of the languages is ok but sewing terms are so specialised that sometimes difficulties arise, also with ordering from sites in other languages. Would it be possible somehow to compile a multi-language sewing dictionary with terms for processes as well as for materials etc. There are a duplex of sites out there that I've found for English-German, but they're not extensive.