The Savvy Sewer Salon at Sawyer Brook

Recently I've spoken to several of our regular customers about the Salon. Some told me they are following the conversations, but don't know how to participate. Others have said they don't know how to follow the topics. Figuring there may be more of you out there with the same questions, I created this quick tutorial. More information on any of these directions is available in the FAQs or in the Information Desk forum. If you want to participate, but are not sure how, don't be shy, just email us and we'll give you a hand. (Update Mar. 2009: Read about our upgrades to the Salon.)

How to Register as a Member -- It's Free and Easy
Use the link to Register at the top of the page, agree to the terms, and then create a profile for yourself. After choosing a username, password and preferences, click Submit at the bottom of the page. Now you are a member!

Next time you visit the Salon, you can log-in using your username and password, and if you choose the option to be logged in automatically, the Salon will remember you on that computer as long as you don't sign out. Now that you are a registered member, you can participate in any conversation you like!

Following the Conversations
The discussions in the Salon are organized into subject areas called "forums." Inside each forum, you will find a number of topics that have been started by members like you. Any member can post a reply to an existing topic or start a new topic of their own.

There are three easy ways to keep tabs on the latest conversations...

Easy Go to http://www.sawyerbrook.com and click on Community. Click into The Savvy Sewer Salon. OR Create a shortcut on your desktop for the Salon and double click to enter. If your login has been remembered, you will see your username on the top menu -- otherwise, you can click "log in" to enter your username and password. Once logged in you will see red highlights next to each forum showing new posts available for reading.

Easier Subscribe to the E-mail Digests. Each evening, abstracts from the day's new posts will summarized in a single e-mail and delivered to your inbox. To start receiving e-mails, click "E-mail Digests" at the bottom of the page. (Digests are delivered via Feedburner, which we also use to offer a continuous feed of new posts--see the next option...)

Easiest Add the Salon to your RSS newsreader. Don't have one? I use Google Reader, but there are a number of others available. This way you can manage all the sites you are interested in following. With one click you are there and can review the newest entries at a glance. You can subscribe to the main feed by clicking the "RSS Digests" link at the bottom of the page, or you can get a feed from a specific forum by clicking the RSS link at the top of the forum page.

Posting

• You can reply to any post by simply clicking on the post reply button above or below the post.


• If you want to start a new topic, click new topic in the forum that best matches the subject matter.


• To keep track of new posts to a particular topic, you can simply click "Subscribe topic" at the bottom of the topic page. Updates of new posts will be sent to the e-mail address associated with your membership. You can also track these subscriptions in your Member Settings panel.


• If you have an idea for a new forum, email me at barb@sawyerbrook.com and we'll be happy to consider creating it.