---
title: Editing freesewing content on GitHub
---

## Introduction

This 'How to' is designed to help get you started editing content using the
[GitHub website](https://github.com/freesewing).

GitHub stores all the Freesewing content, it allows supporters to suggest
edits, and helps the administrators to review and implement approved changes.

If you are new to GitHub, you will need to [create an
account](https://github.com/signup?user_email=\&source=form-home-signup).

For info, it is also possible to make changes using the GitHub desktop
application and/or your computer's command line; these advanced topics are
beyond the scope of this 'How to'.

All pattern instructions and web pages (including this 'How to') are written in
_Markdown_. Please see our [Markdown
guide](https://freesewing.dev/guides/markdown) for more information on this.

For security, most contributors don't have permission to change the code.
Instead we must follow three steps to make edits:

1. _Fork_ (create a copy of) the repository.  This will be your own copy and
   you can make all the changes you want.
2. Make the edits.
3. Save your edits and submit a _pull request_ to let the admins know about
   your changes. This says _"hey, I made some changes. I think you might like
   them and consider them for inclusion into your (original) repository."_

The GitHub documentation provides a more [detailed
explanation](https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/quickstart/fork-a-repo),
but this guide should be enough to help you get started.

## Fork the repository

- On GitHub.com, navigate to the freesewing
  [repository](https://github.com/freesewing/freesewing)
- In the top-right corner of the page, click **Fork**\ ![Fork
  button](fork_button.png)
- Click the **Create fork** button.\ ![Create fork
  button](fork-create-button.png)

## Make the edits

- Navigate to the folder containing the file that you want to edit.

To help you understand how the repository is organised, here is the path to the
Simone instructions:
`freesewing/markdown/org/docs/patterns/simone/instructions`  This folder
contains several files, one for each language.\ ![Path to Simone
instructions](simone-instructions-path.png)

- Select on the file you want to update. Please only edit the English language
  files (called `en.md`), our translation software will handle the other
  languages.
- Click on the **Edit** button.\ ![edit button image](edit-button.PNG)

<Note> 
Clicking **Preview** will show what your changes will look like.  

![Edit and preview buttons](edit-preview.png)  
</Note>

## Save your edits and submit a pull request

When you are happy with your edits:

- Scroll to the bottom of the page and enter a brief description of your edits.
  This will help us know what has changed.
- Click the **Commit changes** button. This is similar to saving a snapshot of
  your edits.\ ![Commit changes](commit-changes.png)

Now you will create a _pull request_ to let the admins know your edits are
ready for review:

- Navigate to the repository where you created your fork.
- Above the list of files, click the **Pull request** button.\ ![Pull request
  button](pull-request-button.png)

Congratulations - you have just submitted your first edits to the site
maintainers!

You can keep track of the progress of your changes in GitHub or in the
[github-updates
channel](https://discord.com/channels/698854858052075530/836689608820916234) on
our Discord server.\ ![github updates channel
image](discord-github-updates.PNG)