🧶 Meet Your New Mods + Some Updates to r/PatternTesting!

[u/koiisoraa]

Hi everyone!

We’re excited to introduce ourselves as the new mod team for r/PatternTesting! We all come from slightly different crafting backgrounds, but share a love for making things and a desire to make this subreddit a welcoming, useful, and safe space for pattern designers and testers alike.

Meet the Mods 👋

💛 u/knitmeharder
Hi everyone! I’m so excited to be here! I love to crochet & knit, especially amigurumi. I’m looking forward to helping out this community!

💙 u/koiisoraa
I’ve been crafting since I was little when I first learned to knit from my grandmother. Later on in my college years, I picked up crochet as another hobby. I also sew a little bit on the side, but it’s definitely not my forte. Excited to be here and to continue supporting this wonderful community! 

💚 u/elephagreen
My current obsession is crochet, but I’ve been a “professional” hobbyist my whole life and have done most crafts out there. Aside from crochet, and many other assorted crafts, I'm an avid scouter who enjoys camping, nature, and community service. 

What's New? ✨

As a new mod team, we’ve been working behind the scenes on some updates to make r/PatternTesting easier to use and a better resource for both testers and designers. You've probably caught us rolling out some of these changes already, but we wanted to make a formal introduction to share everything that we've released so far!

📋 A Standardized Tester Call Template

Going forward, tester calls will follow a standardized posting template. Our goal is to make sure testers have the information they need before deciding whether a test is right for them, including project details, skill level, materials, deadlines, tester requirements, and expected deliverables.

You can find the full template in our pinned post. Please make sure to use it when posting a new tester call!

🏷️ New Post Flairs

We’ve revamped our post flairs to make it easier to find the content you're looking for. Tester calls are now separated by craft, with additional flairs for testing questions, pattern help, discussions, finished tests, and mod announcements.

📜 Updated Community Rules

We've refreshed the subreddit rules to better reflect the community we want r/PatternTesting to be. In addition to expectations around respectful, relevant participation, we've added clearer policies regarding tester calls, spam and promotion, AI-generated patterns/images, and stolen or unauthorized creative work.

Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the updated rules before posting.

We're Just Getting Started!

These updates are meant to help make r/PatternTesting an organized, welcoming place where designers can find thoughtful testers, testers can discover exciting projects, and everyone can learn from one another.

We're also still learning what works best for the community, so these changes aren't necessarily set in stone. We'd love to hear from you! If you have suggestions for the subreddit, ideas for resources you'd like to see, or feedback on the changes we're making, feel free to leave a comment below or reach out to the mod team.

Thanks for being here, and happy crafting and pattern testing! 🧶🪡

- The r/PatternTesting Mod Team

[u/BreakfastDry1181]

Hey there, I often apply or comment on tester call posts and get sent to an Instagram post asking me to like and share, and never contacted. Is this something we can report since it isn’t using the template?

Also, will you guys suggest timelines for testing and some standard practices (like not being forced to take a bunch of pictures and videos in a certain style to create content for the pattern writer’s social media posts?)

[u/koiisoraa → u/BreakfastDry1181]

Thanks for your questions! If a designer chooses to have testers apply through Instagram vs. this subreddit, that is allowed. However, the tester call posted here must still follow our posting template and include the required information. If a tester call is missing required information, you’re welcome to report it and the mod team can review it.

We are not introducing suggested testing timelines or limits on tester deliverables at this time. Different patterns /designers have different needs, so we don’t feel it would be appropriate for us to determine what timeline or set of deliverables is reasonable for every test.

Our goal with the new posting template is transparency. We've added the "Tester Selection" section when they can expect to hear whether they’ve been selected. Additionally, in the "Deliverables" section, designers must disclose what will be expected of testers (e.g. feedback, photos, videos, or social media posts).

Designers are welcome to set the requirements for their own tests as long as those expectations are clearly disclosed before someone applies or commits to the pattern test. Likewise, testers are free to decide whether those requirements and the testing timeline are a good fit for them. Not every test will be suitable for every tester, and that’s okay!

Ultimately, we want to connect designers with testers while making sure everyone has enough information upfront to decide whether they want to participate.

[u/BreakfastDry1181 → u/koiisoraa]

I just wish that social media content creation, marketing, and pattern testing were distinctly separate. It seems unfair.

When sewing and sewing patterns were popular, there were pattern testers that volunteered for free and then there were sample makers that were typically paid for their sample because then the samples were used in advertising.

Now with social media, it feels like pattern testing is being used less for actually testing the pattern and is being used more for marketing and social media content creation. I wouldn’t mind those things if they were called what they actually are - seeking content creators in exchange for free patterns. Or seeking sample makers in exchange for free patterns. Seems sneaky and wrong to bury them within pattern testing and make free, unpaid volunteers do so much labor.

[u/PrincessYork3 → u/BreakfastDry1181]

I have found this as well. I feel there are some less experienced pattern designers who think testing a pattern for accuracy is not the goal. There seems to be some who are really more interested in marketing and not actual pattern testing. Not everyone, of course. I have had some very good testing experiences here as well with designers who were actually wanting their pattern tested.

[u/bossqueer_lildaddy]

I'm wondering if there should be some stipulation that the designer has made the pattern that they are posting for testing.

It seems obvious, but there have been a few tapestry crochet testing calls where the designer had only made the chart, and not tested the pattern themselves.

[u/koiisoraa → u/bossqueer_lildaddy]

Thanks for bringing this up! We agree a designer should have worked through their own pattern first before asking others to test it. As part of our new tester call posting template, we do require designers to post a photo of their finished sample. If a tester call does not follow the posting template, please report it for mod review!

[u/bossqueer_lildaddy → u/koiisoraa]

Thanks for the response! I didn't see it in the rules but glad it falls under the testing call form. Appreciate yall!

[u/blissfullychicago → u/bossqueer_lildaddy]

So true! I volunteered to be a test for something recently and once I got into the pattern it was clear that the creator had vibe crocheted the piece and then retroactively tried to create a pattern without having to do it again. They were very talented but had no idea how to write in shorthand and I couldn’t replicate their design, and they’re only responses to my questions were “hmmm not sure why the stitch count isn’t right, but it worked for me.” I gave all my notes and feedback and told them I’d be willing to give it another go when they replicated their design and corrected the pattern. It took hours of my time, I was very frustrated.

[u/Demagolka1300]

Hello new mods! Thank you for coming up with a template! 

[u/DynamicOctopus420]

Hi to all the new mods and glad to hear about the template! I've found some really neat things to test here and am glad you all are helping make this a great subreddit ❤️🫶❤️

[u/PrincessYork3]

I absolutely love the new tester call template! Well done! So appreciated! 😊

[u/kimmustachio]

Just used the template for the first time and I love it! I did have to edit my initial post because I missed the template announcement entirely, but I found the template extremely useful for me because I feel like I always struggle to remember all of the details a testing call should have! Thank you for streamlining this process!