Replies

1. 
   sewhappy | Aug 13, 2005 12:43pm | #1

   hello I have only just this moment joined the group.Maureen(UK)

1. 
   mimi | Aug 14, 2005 02:19am | #4

   Welcome to Gatherings!  What are people sewing in the UK?

   mimi

1. 
   sewhappy | Aug 14, 2005 02:21pm | #7

   thank you for the welcome,afraid I can only speak for myself re:what others here in the UK are sewing I think after reading some of the messages on this group,we have the same problem as many other countries do re: sewing is not really taught in schools anymore,plus at the moment clothes are so so cheap being shipped in from foreign countries,that unless you are really interested in sewing & have the time to enjoy creating something from a flat piece of fabric or knitting something that is not mass produced.

   A neighbour of mine,knocked the other day,I commented on her legs,she was wearing a skirt,always seen her in trousers.Skirt was really pretty,she then said skirt £4.00p top£2.00pBra £3.00p.(not too sure what that is in$$$$),can just throw them away she said as they are so cheap,cannot buy fabric/threads etc., for under that price.There I am knitting for the coming winter,because of the main thing is I like sewing/knitting etc.,& creating something that I have made.

   its cold/miserable/rainy here.Maureen

    

1. 
   momcat50 | Sep 10, 2005 11:57am | #15

   I liked your comment about cold miserable and rainy from your August entry. This weekend, second in September, it is supposed to be near 90 and humid. And this is fall in Wisconsin! Where oh where is the fall weather I love....I long for a nice cool rainy day. perfect sewing weather.....

   We were lucky enough travel to England in 2000. The only fabric store I got to was Liberty of London. A treat for the eyes. Isn't it nice that fabric packs flat?

1. 
   sewhappy | Sep 11, 2005 12:49pm | #17

   just to say hello again from a dark/cold/miserable Sunday here in the UK.My son's birthday.

   Mother nature when she swishes her skirts there is no-way can anyone predict what the day will bring weatherwise.

   Last week glorious sunshine,it has ended in storms.

   Have not been to Liberty's for years,but it was such a lovely shop to wander around the last time I visited.

   Still have some of their old fabric scraps tucked away.

   Been asked if I would make a simple" bride & bridemaid's" dress,will be shown the pattern sometime next week.

   All advise will be gratefully received.Maureen

2. 
   mimi | Sep 22, 2005 05:42am | #19

   sewhappy:  You will enjoy making a wedding dress!  I just finished my daughter's wedding dress and she will walk down the aisle in it Monday.  I highly recommend making a muslin of the gown for fitting purposes.  I will gladly answer any questions you might come up with, if you have any.

   mimi

3. 
   sewhappy | Sep 22, 2005 01:42pm | #20

   Thank you for your offer,just wrote you a letter on this and it disapeared.

   So will just say good luck on the big day,and I hope you will be as proud as punch seeing your daughter in her finery

   Pattern not turned up yet,so I am not holding my breath.

   Maureen

2. 
   sueb | Aug 13, 2005 02:04pm | #2

   What is it about it that you don't like? 

3. 
   Marionc032 | Aug 13, 2005 11:02pm | #3

   Isnt't that the way its always been? I've always had to log in. Perhaps you had your account set to log you in automatically when you visit the forum?

   Marion

4. 
   pingu812 | Aug 14, 2005 06:38am | #5

   Hi Frances,
   Actually, I like it this way, because half the time I'm reading messages and wanted to response back and then I find out I didn't log in. I would much prefer logging in and not have to worry about logging in later.

5. 
   FrancesC | Aug 14, 2005 07:01am | #6

   No, it hasn't always been that way. Anyone who came upon the site could read the postings. If you wanted to reply or ask a question, you had to join and then sign in.

   Lots of people will go away when they find that they have to join to even see what is going on. Especially if they have a suspicious nature about the Internet, as well they should, and have minimal information about Threads or Taunton.

   This is making something that was free and open into something closed and secretive. I don't like that.

   I am a member of a medical support group which appears on MSN and it is freely available to all. I monitored the site for several months before I signed up and I never would done so if I hadn't been able to tell what was going on before I signed up. There are other groups in the same field which don't act that way and I will not sign up blindly.

   As for not being signed in when you want to post, that is simple to remedy by signing in automatically, if that is what you want to do.

   FrancesC

1. 
   Marionc032 | Aug 15, 2005 12:31am | #8

   It was a while ago that I joined the Gatherings Forum, and for the life of me I can't remember if I was able to browse messages without registering or not, but its always been the case that when I enter the Forum, I'm prompted to log in first (I prefer to do it manually rather than being automatically logged in). I just assumed that everyone had to register.I do agree about the ability to monitor a forum before registering. There are a few forums (fora?) that I check every once in a while and I prefer to be just a casual observer and not a registered member. If I had to register to even read messages, I wouldn't do it in most cases. Maybe I'm paranoid, but it has something of the Big Brother aspect to it. Why do they want to know who I am if I'm just an observer?Marion

1. 
   FrancesC | Aug 15, 2005 05:10am | #9

   Logging in has not been required and, in my case, I have never been prompted. I just logged in when I wanted to post.Your second paragraph expresses my feelings exactly.FrancesC

2. 
   mem | Aug 15, 2005 05:42am | #10

   Hello Francis, I understand your concern re signing in although I dont share it. I guess that you could also say that it is Tauntons and the others who have signed in,right to know who else is having access to the site. Really the details demanded are not all that different to those found in a telephone directory. Now that you have signed in I hope that you find it as worth while as I have!

1. 
   Jean | Aug 15, 2005 06:24am | #11

   It also gives them a little more control over the content of the posts by easily identifying the trolls that inhabit the area, whose main objective is  to instigate pandemonium. That doesn't happen here very often....can't say that's true of some of the other forums.

1. 
   FrancesC | Aug 16, 2005 06:19am | #12

   Just reading a site allows no opening for a troll. Signing up to post does but we have always had to register to post and trolls have not been a problem, undoubtedly because the Sysop can control things.Trolls are really only a problem on sites which are not managed. FrancesC

1. 
   pingu812 | Aug 26, 2005 06:07am | #13

   Hi Frances,
   Yes, I can see why you don't like the new registration system. If I were looking at a forum to join I would had bypass this one because I never join a forum until I know if it's the group I wish to discuss things with.Seems to me that Taunton will end up with a lot of "dead accounts" which they will have to delete after some time. Maybe this joining up is for them to justify the website. More names you have the better it looks even if the accounts were only active for the one time sign-up.

2. 
   Josefly | Sep 04, 2005 02:58am | #14

   My experience with the new system has been strange and irregular. I am not routinely prompted to log in, and when I want to, knowing that I am going to post, I have to go to the main Threads page and click on the log in button in the top right corner, which then takes me to log in, and then takes me to the Taunton Press home page, so than I have to again click on Threads or Gatherings. It's frustrating. What am I doing wrong?Then when I try to logout, I get the message "You are logged in as." as if I hadn't logged in at all.

   Edited 9/3/2005 8:04 pm ET by Josefly

3. 
   Bigfathairy | Sep 10, 2005 05:20pm | #16

   Hello all, I feel that this registration system smells of Big Brother. There is no reason to require people to register for a forum -- JUST TO SEE THE MESSAGES. Loggin in to post is another matter. Unless they are collecting email addresses or compiling statistics on what we click on, what's the purpose in a required registration - just to view? There are lots of quality forums that do not require registration. Trolls are eliminated by the moderators and discussions remain ***on topic*** Also, regarding registration and email -- I only use one email addy from a free email site. That way, I don't have to see the spam generated from being required to register for forums. All spam is gathered in one place and automatically deleted after 10 days.

6. 
   netizen | Sep 13, 2005 05:18am | #18

   I subscribe to the magazine so I don't see a privacy issue to have to log in. They already have my info. I figure my subscription helps pay for the website, so maybe it should be for magazine subscribers only. I belong to another publication web forum, heck, my daily newspaper even, that runs under those circumstances. It would bug me to have lurkers, actually.