Q. I have just had a quick look and can’t see the sleeve designer. All I get is a standard type sleeve editor.

A. In order to use your Sleeve Designer, you must first select Custom Sleeve from the Sleeves options within the grid over Mia. All standard sleeves use the Sleeve Editor.

 

Q. I installed my program and put in my key codes and am having a problem getting it started. It keeps giving me "invalid code". Do I need new keycodes?

A. If  you are running a very early version of Dress Shop that required User Name and Activation Code, your current keycodes will not work until you update your program. Updates for both Dress Shop 5 & Dress Shop 6 are available from our web site at /DownloadsNew.htm. If your current Dress Shop 5 program is version 5.18 or earlier, you will need to get the full program build from: /DownloadsNew.htm

Your keycodes contain the numbers 1 (one) and 0 (zero), never the letters O, L or I. If you are entering your codes with these letters and not numbers, you will get the Invalid code prompt.

 

Q. I want to send by email, my measurements and a picture of the strange draft I am getting, but don’t know how to do it.

A.  To send your measurement file as an attachment to an email: go into My Computer\DressShop. In your DressShop folder, look for the file named MyDSMeasurements.txt.  This is an individual file located below the sub folders within the Dress Shop folder. Once you locate the file, place your curser over it and right-click one time. In the resulting pop-up menu, select Send to>Mail recipient. Put the recipients address in the email, along with a detailed explanation of the problem and send it on. To send your measurements to support, enter that address support@livingsoft.com

To create and send a picture of the drafted garment, draft your garment, then go to the print page. While the pattern is on the screen in quarter scale, hold down your "Alt" key on your keyboard (lower left corner of the keyboard) and then in your top row of keys on the keyboard, select the "PrtScn" or Print Screen key (to the right of all your F1 - F12 keys). This will capture the image that is on your screen. It will look like nothing has happed, but not to worry. Then go to Start>Programs>Accessories and locate and select Paint (included with all Windows versions). When your Paint program opens, in the upper right side, locate the dashed rectangle and click on it. Then place your cursor on the blank white area, right click one time and in the pop-up menu, select Paste. Save the file as a ".jpg" and then you can send it as an attachment to an email.

 

Q. Can I use the Problem Report to send in my measurements?

A. You can submit your measurements within a Problem Report. Be sure to include an explanation of the problem you are having. If you can get the problem occurring, on the screen at the time you submit the report, we will be able to collect more information that can help us better advise you.

When you submit a problem report form, the current measurements being used at that time, plus your printer settings and product activation codes entered will be sent with the form so we will be able to duplicate what you are looking at. If the problem you are having is with your personal measurements, most often your report will be forwarded to support.

Problem Reports go to the programmer. He can look at problems that may be being caused by the program. He can also help (somewhat) with a limited class of measurement problems and advise about those. These include missing measurements or values that are so far out of the normal range that they seriously distort the pattern to such an extent that anyone looking at it would say "that pattern is broken". He can also advise people regarding which measurements have what effect. Shoulder line too steep, waist tilt not right, crotch curve the wrong shape - He can answer questions about that. 

He can make changes to the program to correct problems that are in the program. Those fixes then get included in the next update.

What he cannot do (and therefore what you should not be using the problem reports for) includes:

1. Advise you about the fit of your measurements. He cannot see your body, so he cannot tell you if these measurements will fit or not. He can only tell you whether they will produce a reasonable looking pattern.

2. Advise you about how to remove a wrinkle. This is too body dependent.

3. Advise about sewing issues. He is not a sewer. He is a programmer that works with sewers.

4. Advise about hardware issues.

5. Deal with accounting issues.

6. Deal with order problems and shipping questions.

 

Q. I bought some Add-on sets a couple of years ago and now I can’t find them in my program.

A. At the time that Livingsoft Northwest took over development and sales of Dress Shop, customer sales and ownership records were put into a newly written online system that shows you (and Livingsoft) what you own. With the staff changes that were happening at that time, some records did not get transferred to the new company.

Go to the LivingSoft web site at www.LivingsoftNW.com and log into "Your Account". Your account page will list exactly what the current Livingsoft account records show that you own. If ownership of something that you purchased prior to December 2003 does not appear in the current Livingsoft "Your Account" lists, you will need to contact Annette (Annette@livingsoft.com) to correct your records. Only Annette might possibly have some record of it somewhere in the accounting files of the former Livingsoft Corporation. These may be prior electronic files that did not convert properly. Or, they may be paper files that had not been entered into the electronic files at all. She will have to see a receipt or you will have to help her find the record (purchase date might help) in the accounts of the former Livingsoft company.

 

Q. My User Manual will not open.

A. If you are using Windows operating systems Win98 or later with the free Reader on your system, you should be able to display the DS Manual.  If you see the white screen when opening the manual you need to open the Reader program, go to Edit, Preferences, Internet, and select the options to display Reader in web browser window, click OK and restart the computer for changes to take effect.

If you have newly installed Adobe Reader, you must register it before it will open the manual.

Adobe Reader does not over-write previous versions. It simply adds additional version to your computer.  If you have a previous version of Adobe reader on your system, please go to Add/Remove Programs and remove any version(s) that you currently have before installing a newer version. Multiple versions can create a conflict resulting in not being able to access the manual.