I ran a survey on my blog a week and a half ago; first off, thanks to everyone that took the time to fill it out! I had 1,120 people complete the survey. I thought that the results were very interesting, and I wanted to share, so hopefully these charts will help you see at a glance about what kind of results came in!
The first question was about sewing skill level; of course this is objective, and thinking about it, it’s kind of a broad definition…I’m assuming those that are advanced at, say, quilt-making, would not be advanced in all fields (garments, softies, etc.). I think I’d probably rate myself as intermediate, just because I have a lot to learn, especially with quilts.
The next question was how often you sew a week, based on the hours. Of course, lots of things in life happen, and maybe this varies for you week-to-week. I think I’m in the 20+ hours of sewing per week category, but some weeks it fluctuates depending on if I’m writing a sewing pattern, etc. In that case, a lot of those hours are spent on drafting pattern pieces or writing instructions. The more business-related things I get in to, the less time I spend sewing. I suppose this is a good thing, but sometimes it’s just fun to sit and sew.
When looking at this question about social media, I think you have to take into consideration that, because you found my survey on-line, on my website, that you are most probable to be using other outlets of social media. I found it interesting that Instagram and Flickr are almost neck-and-neck. Twitter is the smallest. Do you have any thoughts about the rise or decline or particular social media?
Me personally, I get the daily feeds from Bloglovin for my favorite blogs. It’s a fast and easy way to stay up-to-date. I noticed from some of the comments that a lot of people are still using RSS or Google Reader.
I was talking about this next question on Facebook (about what types of patterns you use), and I think, again, since we’re reading this survey on-line, that we have to take into consideration that the data for pdf sewing patterns is higher than brick and mortar stores because that’s where the audience is; if I asked this same question to someone in real life, in a quilt shop, I’d guess that they’re probably buying more paper patterns.
This question was hard to chart since I asked for comments, but reading through all of the comments, I noticed that it was more or less split down the middle. I gave you a view of some of the more common types of answers.
Of course the #1 answer was quilts, but I was very happy to see that bags were not far behind. 😉
For this question, the charts were too large to post – just to re-cap, for this next question I asked people to rate their favorite sewing project, with 1 being most favorite and 7 being least favorite.
When I drafted this next question, I forgot to add a popular manufacturer – Moda – which you all were quick to add to the comments. 🙂 I’d say about 200 people added Moda in the comments, although it’s hard to say how many people would have checked Moda (or Cloud9 for that matter) if I had originally had it in my survey question.
Nice to see such a large range in the age groups!!
Other questions that I had, which had no chart for…
Favorite fabric designer – lots of variety, but the most common answers were Tula Pink, Anna Maria Horner, Pat Bravo, Kate Spain, had a bunch of Joel Dewberry and Amy Butler as well. Again, too many to mention.
Tools and specialty items, a lot of people said thread (most people mentioned Aurifil specifically); also rulers and Pellon were heavy favorites.
Did any of the results to any of my survey questions surprise you?
thanks for the summary. it’s fun to see where I fit in! as for social media, I think twitter has fallen off for us sewists because we love pictures! instagram & flickr are much more fun in the picture category. And pinterest of course!
Hi Sara, LOVE your blog, your book, bag of the month club, etc! I took your survey and it was so interesting to see the results. One thing I wanted to add is that Annie’s Soft and Stable has changed my (sewing) life! I absolutely LOVE this product and never would have tried it without reading about it on your blog. My favorite thing to sew is bags and Soft and Stable really takes them to the next level and gives them an extra professional look…fabulous! Just wanted to let you know how awesome I think your blog and Annie’s is…all the best! 🙂
Interesting results, as I age, I move out of the majority bars on the graphs. As a blogger and beginning designer, it lets me know more about the people out there who sew. Thank you for the survey and post.
Very interesting! I was most surprised by the social media question. I hear alot of folks (on IG) saying they don’t blog anymore because they love IG so much. I was relieved to see ALOT of folks still read blogs. Though I love other social media, the blog is the truest ‘me’. I was also surprised how many people read their blogs via email. I use bloglovin but it would be ALOT of email if I did it that way…
I love the fact that the age ranges were so much! Truly surprised by that and pleased to see it wasn’t just the 30 year olds!
Interesting survey and results! Although at the older end of bloggers, I love modern quilts and vibrant colours. The very many younger bloggers keep me interested and challenged!! Love it!!
I’m so glad you shared the results, I already forgot about taking the survey! I am glad to see the results, I think I’m more surprised, as a newer quilter, that a lot of the answers I chose were the “norm”. Pretty cool!
The graph about age surprised me the most. I suspect if you do the same survey in a brick and mortar shop, there would be more elderly quilters. Right?
Esther
esthersipatchandquilt at yahoo com
ipatchandquilt dot wordpress dot com
Cool Survey. I was surprised about the Age too… I thought, there are much more younger ladies than me (48) – I am glad we are so mixed from the Ages!!!
Love the age range span too!
I am surprised that Twitter wasn’t higher. There is an active and, quite frankly, hilarious community of quilters on Twitter (#twilter) and those of you who aren’t participating are missing so much fun.
The other surprise to me was Feedly. I love it and find it the easiest to use. I do not need one more thing in my email. Luckily we have plenty of choices for everyone’s individual preferences.
Thanks for sharing. This was really interesting.
Interesting Sara. Thanks for showing us the results of your survey. Reading Esther’s comment above I agree that the older ages would have gone way up if you hadn’t done this survey online. I know so many women in the 60-90 age range and barely any of them even go online except to check email and even then that’s a challenge for them. So many people that didn’t grow up and learn all this new technology just don’t want to be bothered with it either. While I blog and email and surf the net, I don’t do all the other social media like Facebook, Twitter, etc. I spend way too much time online with my blog and following other blogs (like yours) that I wouldn’t have time to sew anything if I spent all day online.
I’m surprised so few people use feedly. I love my feedly account for keeping up to date with blogs. Of course, I’ve never tried Bloglovin’ so maybe I would like it better. Who knows? Either way, I’m glad that you got so many responses to your survey. I hope you find them helpful in your journey forward.
I’m not the only oldie who likes Tulah Pink then?
I somehow missed your survey (I get your blog entries via email, I work full-time, and I’m 52 in Dallas, TX) but I wanted to answer the question about if I was surprised by the answers. I honestly was surprised by the answer that people use a lot of free tutorials. When I first started quilting almost 3 years ago (after I took a beginner’s class), I discovered blogs. I tried two free tutorials and both of them had major mistakes. One called for 3″ less fabric than needed. When I emailed the blogger, she said she was sorry and went on to say that most people buy extra fabric. This surprised me. Recently I excitedly offered to pattern test a pattern. I bought all of the fabric $85 on sale and found numerous math errors. It then dawned on me that’s what pattern testing is for – to find the errors. However, I had already cut my fabric and there was no way to fix the third problem. So I think I’m in the minority in some ways. I now have learned some lessons (check all the math!!!) and am a better consumer and quilter. Thanks for blogging. I read numerous blogs while I eat my lunch (and get way too many ideas).
Well go to the 6 over 75 year olds!
I thing the ages surprised me. One thing I love about quilting is the diversity of quilters. And everyone brings tips, hints, etc. Thanks for sorting through all that data and presenting it so clearly.
the summary of the survey is great! thanks for sharing