It’s Day 2 of Made for Mermaids’ Next Top Tester Challenge! Hopefully you’ve signed up under the “Tester Call” in the M4M Patterns Group page on Facebook and are ready to get started on your “pattern test” challenge.
Today through Friday, you will be printing your pattern, cutting out pattern pieces, sewing up your garment(s), and submitting fit feedback and photos. You can upload your fit photos and feedback in the Photo Album section in the M4M Patterns Group page on Facebook. Fit pictures and feedback must be submitted by Friday, 4/22/16.
In the files section of the M4M Patterns Group page on Facebook, you will find a few pages of our Bonny Leggings pattern that have been scrambled, laced with spelling and grammar errors and will have other mistakes. It is your job to find these mistakes and email your revisions to me. Tutorial edits must be submitted by Saturday, 4/23/16.
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Today, I’ll be sharing some tips when it comes to being selected as a new tester for Made for Mermaids. I was very new to testing and sewing when Megan G. invited me to test a pattern for her a few years ago. I had previously signed up to test for a few pattern companies and no one had picked me. I know it can be a frustrating process, but you have to keep applying! Here are some tips to help you stand out.
Join the Made for Mermaids Patterns Group. The best way for us to get to know you is through the group! Team Mermaid makes an attempt to look at every post that comes across the wall.
Be active in the Group. Share your creations. Share often. I posted a photo of the Elsa dress that I made for my daughter and it caught Megan’s eye! That is how I got started on this amazing sewing journey. 🙂 The more you post, the more we get to know you and your style. Here’s the first photo I shared on the M4M page. 🙂
Spread the Love. Sharing your creations in various social media outlets does not go unnoticed!!! We love seeing your posts using M4M patterns in sewing groups across Facebook and Instagram! Another great way to get designers to notice you is to start a sewing blog! Its a great way for them to look at all of your sewing projects in one place.
Imitation is the Sincerest form of Flattery. One of the most valuable things I have learned when it comes to getting selected as a pattern tester is this. Look at the style of the designer. Mimic the photos that they take. Take note about the type of photos they are taking, styling, posting, and publishing themselves. Every designer has their own style. When you share photos, post photos that the designer would consider tester-worthy. If the designer looks for clean photos with a plain background, take photos like this. If the designer prefers outdoor photos in certain settings, do your best to mimic these.
But I’m only a beginner. No problem! We use a variety of skill levels in all of our pattern tests. Its important to have feedback from beginners as well as advanced sewists! Don’t let your skill level deter you from applying for tester opportunities that arise.
But I’m not a professional photographer. Very few of us are. You do not need a fancy, professional DSLR camera or photo editing software to be a great tester! As long as you can shoot clear, crisp photos showing the fit of the garment from all angles, you are golden! Photography, while important, is not the only thing we look for in a tester.
Photography skills will improve over time! There are so many helpful ladies in the testing group and we all push each other to better ourselves! Its amazing to see where some of us started and to see how far we’ve come! Check out my very first M4M pattern test, the Aurora pattern from the Everyday Princess Collection and the newly released Juliette pattern from the Dreamy Collection!
Build up your “portfolio” of photos that showcase your skills. Just as if you were applying for a job, you should have a collection of your greatest hits saved for tester calls that may arise. These should be pieces that you are proud of and show off your skills, both sewing and photography. Here are some of my all time favorite M4M testing photos that are in my sewing portfolio. Sorry for the photo overload.. but this is highly narrowed down if you can believe that! 🙂
How to be an All-Star Tester… Yay! You’ve finally been chosen as a tester!! Follow these tips to help you get selected time and time again:
*Check the 1″ square on your pattern to make sure it printed correctly
*Read tutorial thoroughly and follow all directions
*Sew up your version in a timely manner
*Be active in the tester group
*Submit fit pictures
*Sew up multiple versions and/or options
*Submit tutorial edits
*Submit final photographs
*Meet all the deadlines
*Share your photos in sewing groups on social media
I hope you’ve found these tips informative and they will help you in your testing pursuits! 🙂 Stay tuned for more blogs this week about testing and the Made for Mermaids’ Next Top Tester Challenge! Do you have what it takes to be on top?
Glenda says
Love reading these blogs! Thanks for the tips & EXCELLENT & BEAUTIFUL photographs!
Laurie says
Thank you for sharing all these tips. I’m not currently in the tester challenge but the knowledge is helpful anyway. I think we all need the reminder that we learn as we go and we are all beginners at something! Love all the pictures, too.
Cassandra Gobin says
Great post! I think I agree with everything you have said. I love the relationships that develop in testing groups. I feel like once I test with someone I notice their posts more on other pages and want to give them sew-love. Sew sisters are a great thing to have, testing patterns or not.