Q: What's going on here? What's it all about?
A: This website offers resources, help, inspiration and a sense of community for seamstresses and costume makers who would like to improve their skills. We do this through articles, features, interviews and our core Masterclasses, which give you not a standard "How to Sew" course, but the basic building blocks of really great professional-quality sewing.

Q: Masterclasses? That sounds a bit advanced for me. I want to improve my sewing, but I'm not that good at it yet. What can you offer for people like me?
A: Calling them Masterclasses doesn't mean that you have to be a "master" already to understand or use the information contained within them! We've called them Masterclasses because the information in them is so valuable, a really condensed summary of all the most vital keys that can take your sewing up to "Advanced" level really quickly. The keys themselves are deceptively simple.

Q: I'm already a pretty advanced sewer - you make the Masterclasses sound like they're pretty basic. Won't I already know this stuff?
A: You'd be surprised how long it took most of us who wrote the Masterclasses to work these keys out for ourselves. As an advanced seamstress, surely there have been times when you found out something that seemed so simple and yet no-one had ever pointed it out. These keys really could make a huge difference in your work, since you'll be best placed to implement them and benefit from them immediately. Even if you do know some of them, your work will be improved simply by having them brought to your attention again. Repetition is the mother of skill, so I strongly recommend that you give them a try!

Q: I was a bit surprised to find out how much it costs to join your website.  Where does the money go to?
A: We have a subscription fee to remunerate our writers. They are paid for taking time out of their schedules to share their secrets and produce top quality, useful articles, projects and masterclasses - currently seven to nine new items every four weeks (this is no mean feat). We do not feel that it would be fair either to expect them to give away the benefit of their experience free or to undertake tightly deadlined work unpaid. There is no "filler" on this site and there is nothing taken from other sites.

It also pays a nominal salary to our two editorial staff, since we work hard to produce new content, upload and code it and manage reader memberships and enquiries each month. This is a part time job for each of us. We trust that one day the membership will grow to a point that will allow our remuneration to match the effort we put in.

There is no advertising anywhere on the site, as per the market research carried out when we first started - would-be subscribers said they'd rather pay a small fee than be hit with a barrage of blinking ads every time they logged in. So the subscription also pays for the hosting, a small amount of advertising and for business insurance, as well as a "virtual" office address (in the UK one must provide a mailing address on one's website, and a small remuneration to a local business centre allows the Editor not to advertise her home office address on the Internet. We see this as an essential security measure.)

It is also slowly working to pay off the debt incurred to get the site off the ground, which involved buying software to manage the memberships, the course in which the Editor learned how to construct such a site, and the price of the template design. The Joomla platform was free shareware, and the four months the Editor spent putting the site together on her own comes free.

In other words, Your Wardrobe Unlock'd is rather like a swan: the polished surface image disguises a lot of dedicated work going on beneath the surface!

Q: Can I share the information in the Masterclasses or in the website with my friends and family?
A: No, please do not share our services with non-members. Our staff works hard to provide you with quality products and content, please don't share it with others. If you know someone who is interested, please join our affiliate program and encourage them to sign up. You will receive a commission for the sale, and you will allow our online magazine to continue to provide the highest quality sewing and costuming information available online.

Q: I just signed up and I want to get started right away. What do I do?
A: Once your payment has been completed you will receive an email with login instructions. You may also log into the portal by using this link. Be sure to have your username and password handy.

Q: I forgot my username and/or password, what do I do?
A: On both the login page and the magazine homepage there are links to retrieve your password.

Q: I'm trying to print an article out, but I keep getting error messages. What am I doing wrong?

A: This is a problem with Internet Explorer 6, we've discovered. If you upgrade to Internet Explorer 7, or even better, download the awesome free browser Firefox, the problem should be fixed.

Q: How do I cancel my membership?
A: We are sorry to see you go! In order to cancel your subscription, email Member Support at least three working days prior to your renewal date with "Cancel please" in the subject line. (You can find the ending date of your subscription on your "My Account" page.) You will continue to have access to the members-only pages until the date you paid up to. In other words, if you signed up on December 15th and you cancel on August 3rd, you will continue to have access until August 14th - the day before your subscription for the next month would have been due.

Q: I meant to cancel my membership but forgot. I cancelled now, can I have a refund?
A: Unfortunately, we do not offer full or partial refunds for late cancellations. You must cancel your membership before the next payment in order to not be charged. Once you have cancelled you will continue to have access to the portal until the date you are paid up to. The only exception is if you contact us within the first 14 days of your initial purchase requesting a refund - we will of course honor our 14 day money back guarantee.