Using the FreeSewing.org website

On these pages, we’ll paint a high-level picture of how to get the most out of the FreeSewing.org website. Most people will be most interested in How to generate bespoke sewing patterns.

COMMENT by joost
Where can I download the patterns?

It can be frustrating for visitors who come here expecting a website where they can download sewing patterns that they can’t seem to find the sewing patterns to download. Almost like hiding the download button is some elaborate scheme to waste their time.

I don’t really know how to fix this because I cannot control people’s expectations. FreeSewing.org is very different from a website with some links to PDF sewing patterns. So if that’s what you’re expecting, we almost have to de-train you before we can talk about what this site offers.

So I’m not going to do that. I’m going to assume you are reading with an open mind.

joost

Finding your way

On every page of FreeSewing.org is the same header with links to the most important sections of the site:

  • Designs shows our collection of parametric designs you can generate bespoke sewing patterns from
  • Documentation holds all the documentation, for the website, for our designs, everything
  • Blog holds blog posts with updates and news about FreeSewing
  • Showcase show examples from the FreeSewing community, things they have made with FreeSewing patterns
  • Account is where you can manage your FreeSewing account
  • Support lists your options for where to get help
  • Search can help you find something if you’re not certain where to start looking

In addition, the header also has buttons to change the Theme (or color scheme) and Language of the website.

On mobile, the header is at the bottom of the page and because of space constraints not all of these links are shown. However, click the hamburger icon to open the menu that contains all of these links.

Signing up or Signing in

You can sign up for a FreeSewing account at /signin. We support signing in with your Google or GitHub account if that is easier for you.

If you already have an account, you can sign in to your account at at /signin.

Some functionality requires a FreeSewing account. So I will assume you have an account for the remainder of these instructions.

Important account settings

When your signed in, you can navigate to /account to manage the data stored in your account, which includes various settings.

I’d like to highlight a couple of them that are worth your attention:

User Experience

The User Experience setting allows you to gradually reveal more complexity. If you are a little overwhelmed with everything FreeSewing.org has to offer, setting this to a lower value will gradually hide more features for the sake of simplicity. But setting a higher value here will show more features and functionality.

Dial this setting down if you want a simpler experience. Turn it up if you want more power, or some things that you know exists are not shown on your screen.

Two-Factor Authentication

Please enable Two-Factor Authentication to secure your FreeSewing account.

Make it your own

Now that you have a FreeSewing account, there’s more you can do on FreeSewing.org. Click through to learn more about the following features:

Generating sewing patterns

With that out of the way, let’s move on to How to generate bespoke sewing patterns.

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