This is the second in a series of posts concerning a survey that I conducted among some digital sewing pattern testers a few weeks ago. The initial post is here: https://fruitfrommyhands.com/2016/04/14/a-survey-for-sewists There was another post that prefaced this whole journey here: https://fruitfrommyhands.com/2016/04/11/what-digital-pattern-customers-want/.
My next question, Question #2, was posed to those respondents who printed any part of their patterns. The question was “If you print out the pattern, do you print all of the pages?” The choice of answers was “Yes” or “No, I select the pages I want to print.”
Again, I am in the minority. Clearly, 74% of the respondents preview the pattern in some measure and then select the pages that they wish to print.
Why? I can only wonder at this. I know I have had digital patterns that included the designer’s life history and the evolution of her business and designs that produced a pattern with a whopping 84 pages – eighty-four pages of text, not instructions, but pages of editorializing. I was not happy at this because it costs to print each page whether one is using a home printer or a print shop.
Points to ponder: Are users only printing the essential pages of the pattern? Are they weeding out the unnecessary things within the patterns and only printing the meaty stuff? Are patterns more easily viewed on a device as opposed to printing them? Obviously, where there is a pattern shape or template to be cut out, those pages are being printed. But does that account for all of the behavior?
Fruit From My Hands 
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