In order to help our clients create genuine connections with today's crafters, we continue to learn more about makers every single week. While secondary research is an important supplement to our knowledge of maker audiences, we've found truth and consensus in many of the anecdotes we collect from real makers that we're talking to face to face. In addition to 1-in-1 interviews, we've found that one of the best ways to get to know maker audiences is by assembling focus groups of makers to discuss the topics that matter the most to your brand.

Last month, we decided it was time to dive deeper with makers who sew. So we assembled a panel of some of our favorite sewists (along with some new faces) to ask more questions about who they follow and what catches their attention online. Click here to watch the entire focus group video. Here are some of the highlights we picked up from the conversation. (You can check out the highlights from our previous sewing focus group here.)

Top 3 Highlights from Our Conversation with Sewists

1. Our panel unanimously agreed that it means the world when brands show recognition of their work by liking, commenting, and sharing the content they post for everyone to see. Whether you're one of their favorite brands or one they haven't discovered yet, the sewists on our panel said your enthusiasm about their projects boosts their confidence and increases their affinity for what you make and what you stand for. "It's a huge pat on the back," said panelist Linda Lackey. (Read our entire interview with Linda right here.)
   
   
2. We learned that the more often our panel sees your products, the more they aspire to buy them and become a part of the community you're creating. Panelist Andrea Howell says that she follows hashtags to see what other sewists are making with certain fabrics or prints from brands she loves. These posts, along with email newsletters, sponsored and non-sponsored Instagram and Facebook posts, and even direct mail (!) keep your brand top of mind and inspire sewists to imagine what they could make if they give your products a chance. If they want to be "part of the club," so to speak, they're inclined to make a purchase.
   
   
3. Finally, the sewists on our panel use social media to envision the makers they'd like to become. Panelist Larrie King says he follows designer Nate Berkus, one of his biggest inspirations, to see how close he is to "meeting the mark"— that is, designing and sewing products that capture the same quality and aesthetic. The rest of the panel agreed that influencers big and small, as well as well-produced content from their favorite brands, give them benchmarks to look up to, and that they trust the recommendations these genuine influencers dish out.

Getting to Know Makers Who Sew

Every conversation we have with today's makers opens our eyes to more insights and ideas that we use to help you connect with them. That's why we continue to invite makers over to our office for focus groups where we can ask the questions that matter that most to your brand. The insights we've learned from makers who sew this time around have given us an even better look into their online habits than we had before. And while these highlights are just the tip of the iceberg, you can watch the entire focus group video right here (or just check out the chapters that matter most to you) to learn even more about these passionate makers.