Privacy Policy

Effective date: October 19, 2026 | Last updated: October 19, 2026

This policy explains what personal information Sew Simple Joy (sewsimplejoy.com) collects, why, who it is shared with, and the choices and rights you have. If anything here is unclear, email hello@sewsimplejoy.com.

Who we are

Sew Simple Joy is a beginner sewing website at sewsimplejoy.com. It is run by an individual based in Pakistan, referred to in this policy as “the operator of this site”, “we” or “us”. Articles are published under the pen name Ellie Marsh.

The operator of this site is the data controller for personal information collected through this website. The site is written mainly for readers in the United States and the United Kingdom.

You can contact us about anything in this policy at hello@sewsimplejoy.com.

What we collect and why

We only collect what we need to run the site, answer you, and keep it free to read.

When you visit the site

• Server logs. Our web host automatically records technical details such as your IP address, browser type, and the pages you request. This keeps the site working, secure and protected from abuse.
• Analytics data. If analytics cookies are allowed, Google Analytics 4 collects information about how you use the site, such as pages viewed, time on page, approximate location (country or city level), device type and how you arrived. We use this to see which guides help readers and what to improve.
• Cookies and similar technologies. See the “Cookies and how to control them” section below.

When you leave a comment

• We collect your name, email address, website (optional), the comment text, your IP address and your browser user agent. The IP address and user agent help us detect spam.
• Comments are moderated before they appear. Once approved, your name, website (if given) and comment are public. Your email address is never shown publicly.
• An anonymized string created from your email address (called a hash) may be sent to the Gravatar service to check whether you use it and to show your profile picture next to your comment. Gravatar is run by Automattic, and its privacy policy is at automattic.com/privacy.

When you email us

• We collect your email address, your name if you give it, and anything you write. We use this only to reply to you. We do not add you to a mailing list.

Legal bases under the UK GDPR and EU GDPR

If you are in the UK or the European Economic Area, data protection law requires us to have a legal basis for using your personal information. We rely on these:

• Consent. For analytics cookies, advertising cookies, and saving your comment details in a cookie. You can withdraw consent at any time.
• Legitimate interests. For server logs and site security, moderating comments and blocking spam, showing approved comments, replying to your emails, and using basic tools that keep the site running. Our interests are running a safe, useful website and answering readers. We balance these against your rights and do not use this basis where your interests outweigh ours.
• Legal obligation. Where we must keep or share information to comply with the law.

Cookies and how to control them

Cookies are small text files a website stores in your browser. Sew Simple Joy uses these types:

• WordPress comment cookies. If you leave a comment and tick the box to save your details, WordPress stores your name, email and website in cookies so you do not have to type them again. These last for one year.
• Analytics cookies. If we use Google Analytics 4, it sets cookies to measure how the site is used. See “Analytics” below.
• Advertising cookies. Once ads run on the site, advertising partners will set cookies. See “Advertising” below.

How to control cookies

• Where the law requires it, we will ask for your consent before setting analytics or advertising cookies. When our consent tool is active, you can change your choices at any time using the privacy settings link in the site footer.
• You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings. Blocking all cookies may stop some features, such as saved comment details, from working.
• You can opt out of Google Analytics on all websites with the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.

Analytics

We may use Google Analytics 4 to understand how readers use the site. If we do, it sets cookies and collects data about your visit as described above. Google Analytics 4 does not log or store full IP addresses. You can read how Google handles this data on How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services.

We use Google Search Console to see how the site appears in Google Search, such as which searches lead to our pages. It gives us summary data and does not set cookies on your device when you visit our site.

We use the Rank Math SEO plugin to manage page titles, descriptions and search-related settings. Its analytics features show the operator of this site Search Console and Analytics reports inside WordPress.

Advertising

Sew Simple Joy uses, or plans to use, Google AdSense to show ads. Later we may work with other ad networks such as Journey by Mediavine or Raptive.

Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website or other websites. Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visits to this site and/or other sites on the internet. You can opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings, or opt out of some third-party vendors’ use of cookies for personalized advertising at aboutads.info.

These ad providers and their partners may use cookies, web beacons and similar technologies to:

• show you ads, which may be personalized (based on your interests and browsing on other sites) or non-personalized (based on the page you are reading and general location)
• limit how often you see the same ad
• measure how ads perform and prevent ad fraud

Ad networks may use a consent management platform to ask for and record your choices. Where required, personalized ads are only shown with your consent.

Your ad choices

• Read How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services.
• Manage or turn off personalized Google ads in Google Ads Settings.
• In the US, you can opt out of interest-based ads from many companies through the Digital Advertising Alliance and the Network Advertising Initiative.
• In the UK and EU, you can use Your Online Choices.

If we join an ad network that publishes its own privacy policy and list of partners, we will link to it here.

Affiliate links

Some posts contain affiliate links. If you buy through one, Sew Simple Joy may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. See our Affiliate Disclosure for details. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Our affiliate programs include:

• Amazon Associates
• Etsy
• Spoonflower (through CJ Affiliate)
• Creativebug (through Awin or impact.com)
• other retailers and affiliate networks from time to time

When you click an affiliate link, the retailer or affiliate network may set a cookie on its own site to record that you came from Sew Simple Joy. This is how the referral is credited. We receive reports showing that a sale or click happened, but we do not receive your name, address, payment details or other personal details as a buyer. The retailer’s own privacy policy applies once you are on its site.

Embedded content

Some posts include content embedded from other websites, such as YouTube videos or Pinterest pins. Embedded content behaves exactly as if you had visited that other website.

Those sites may collect data about you, use cookies, add their own tracking, and monitor how you interact with the embedded content, especially if you are logged in to an account with them. Their privacy policies apply to that data.

Who we share data with

We do not sell your personal information for money. We share it only where needed to run the site, with:

• Our web host, which stores the site and its server logs.
• Google, for Google Search Console and, when we use them, Google Analytics 4 and Google AdSense.
• Automattic (Gravatar), to show profile images on comments.
• Ad networks and their partners, such as Mediavine or Raptive if we work with them, to show and measure ads.
• Affiliate programs and networks, through cookies set on their own sites when you click a link.
• Embedded content providers, such as YouTube and Pinterest, when you view their content on our pages.
• Authorities or advisers, if the law requires it, or to protect our rights or the safety of others.

International transfers

Your personal information may be processed outside your own country. The operator of this site is based in Pakistan, and service providers such as Google may process data in the United States and other countries.

These countries may not have the same data protection laws as yours. Where our service providers transfer personal data out of the UK or EU, they use recognized safeguards, such as Standard Contractual Clauses, the UK International Data Transfer Addendum, or the EU-US Data Privacy Framework where it applies. You can ask us for more information about these safeguards.

How long we keep data

• Comments: kept indefinitely, so approved comments stay on the post. You can ask us to delete your comment and the data linked to it at any time. Comments marked as spam are deleted.
• Server logs: kept for as long as our web host’s policy allows, then deleted by the host.
• Analytics data: kept for the period set in our Google Analytics 4 data retention settings, then deleted automatically. Summary reports may be kept longer.
• Emails: kept only as long as needed to reply and deal with any follow-up, then deleted.
• Cookies: each cookie has its own expiry date. Comment cookies last one year.

Your rights under the UK GDPR and EU GDPR

If you are in the UK or the European Economic Area, you have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you and get a copy.
• Correct information that is wrong or incomplete.
• Delete your information in certain cases.
• Restrict how we use your information in certain cases.
• Object to our use of your information where we rely on legitimate interests.
• Data portability, which means receiving information you gave us in a common, machine-readable format.
• Withdraw consent at any time, where we rely on consent. This does not affect anything we did before you withdrew it.

To use any of these rights, email hello@sewsimplejoy.com. We may ask you to confirm your identity, for example by writing from the email address you used for a comment. We aim to reply within one month.

You also have the right to complain to a data protection authority. In the UK, this is the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). In the EU, you can contact the supervisory authority in your country, listed by the European Data Protection Board. We would appreciate the chance to sort out your concern first, so please email us before you complain if you can.

Your rights in California and other US states

If you live in California, the California Consumer Privacy Act as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CCPA/CPRA) may give you these rights. Residents of several other US states have similar rights under their own laws.

• Right to know what personal information we collect, use and share, and to get a copy of it.
• Right to delete personal information we collected from you, with some exceptions.
• Right to correct inaccurate personal information.
• Right to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information, including sharing for targeted (cross-context behavioral) advertising.
• Right to non-discrimination. We will not treat you differently for using any of these rights.

Sale and sharing. We do not sell personal information for money. However, when advertising cookies run on the site, ad partners may collect identifiers such as cookie IDs, IP addresses and browsing activity to show targeted ads. Under California law, this may count as “sharing” or, in some cases, a “sale”.

How to opt out. When ads with targeted advertising run on the site, you can opt out through the “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” or privacy settings link in the site footer. Where our advertising partners’ tools support it, we also treat a Global Privacy Control signal from your browser as a request to opt out. You can also email hello@sewsimplejoy.com.

Categories of information. In the last 12 months, the categories of personal information collected through the site may include identifiers (such as name, email address, IP address and cookie IDs), internet activity (such as pages viewed and interactions with ads), and approximate location. The sources, purposes and recipients are described in the sections above.

To make a request, email hello@sewsimplejoy.com. We will need to verify your identity before acting on it, and you may use an authorized agent. We aim to respond within 45 days.

Children

Sew Simple Joy is written for adults and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13, or under 16 in the UK and EU.

If you believe a child has given us personal information, for example in a comment, email hello@sewsimplejoy.com and we will delete it.

Security

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information, such as keeping WordPress, its theme and plugins up to date and limiting who can access the site’s admin area.

No website or internet transmission is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee the security of information you send us.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy when the site changes, for example when we add a new ad network or tool. The “Last updated” date at the top shows when it was last changed. If we make a significant change, we will make it clear on this page.

How to contact us

For questions about this policy or to use any of your privacy rights, email:

hello@sewsimplejoy.com, or use our contact page.