Community Call: July 18, 2026

Hang out
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You are all invited to our audio/video conferencing hangout.
Please leave a comment here or on Discord to add things to the agenda.
This topic will be updated after the call with notes.

About

FreeSewing’s bi-weekly hangout is an informal hangout/chat/meeting that is open to everyone.
The call is organized/hosted by @tangerineshark.
The call does not have a fixed structure or agenda items. Everyone is free to suggest agenda items, ask questions, or bring ideas.

Location

This week’s meeting will be split between two video conferencing services:

  • For the first half of the meeting we’ll using Jitsi Meet. We’re trying out Jitsi to test its capabilities and to identify possible technical issues, in case we ever want or need a Discord alternative.
  • As we understand it, Jitsi should work for everyone via web browser, no login required.
  • At exactly 30 minutes past the hour, we will switch back to Discord.
  • We will also possibly switch back to Discord before then, if we encounter too many problems with Jitsi. (Keep watching the Discord #meeting-chat channel for possible updates.)

First half: Jitsi Meet (no login required)
Second half: https://discord.freesewing.eu/ (meeting room: :speaker_high_volume:voice chat)

Date and Time

Date: Saturday, July 18th, 2026 4pm UTC, which can be found in your local time zone here.
Or check the Events tab in Discord!
The meetings will always be at 6pm, Antwerp time.

Agenda

  • TBD
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July 18, 2026 Community Call

Notes:

  • Happy to be meeting on Jitsi today.
    • Don’t like data collection policies of big companies.
  • Some of FreeSewing website’s explanations of measurements are confusing and could be better.
    • Confusing for non-English speakers.
    • Waist: “narrowest part” doesn’t work for some body types.
  • Would like FreeSewing to switch Community Calls to Jitsi permanently.
    • User doesn’t use Discord, doesn’t have a Discord account. Hasn’t been able to participate in the past.
    • Historically, FreeSewing just settled on using Discord because it was convenient.
      • In the past FreeSewing tried Gitter.
      • Company currently using Mattermost, another alternative.
    • We’re testing Jitsi Meet now because:
      • There was a push to move off of US-based technology.
      • Discord was changing their age verification policies, requiring identification.
      • Jitsi has a possible alternative, if we ever decide to switch.
    • One advantage of Jitsi is that non-Discord users can participate.
      • Viola might also be interested in our switch to Jitsi?
      • This particular instance of Jitsi Meet is hosted by a US-based company, so it might not work for us long-term.
        • There are other hosted instances of Jitsi, outside the US.
        • But, this particular instance has moderated meeting functionality, where others likely don’t.
  • Our next meeting will use Jitsi Meet, for the entire meeting
    • Can re-use the same URL.
    • The next meeting will still be testing to see if Jitsi will work for us, if it can work for the duration of an entire meeting.

(At this point, we switched to Discord video conferencing.)

  • It’s unfortunate that Discord is just so convenient to use. Things just work easily, once you log in.
    • Can search usernames on Discord. Difficult to search for usernames on the forum or on FreeSewing.
  • It might be nice for FreeSewing to have a channel for official communications, sort of like the blog.
  • Gen-Z haircuts and fashion.
    • Broccoli cut. Big pants.
    • “Gen-Z” is no longer the name of the current young generation?
  • FreeSewing newsletter emails going to spam folder.
    • Marking as “not spam”.
    • Using Gmail.

Attendees:

  • aethenelle
  • Benjamin F.
  • joost
  • TangerineShark
  • user-151047 (naehmaschinist)
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Haha, this is certainly true for most Americans’ bellies.

It’s also confusing that what we generally call “waist size” on pants is really the hips, because nowadays (men’s casual) pants often hang at or near the hips, not the waist, right?