Is Anyone Still Buying Online Sewing Classes?

(logos courtesy of each company represented...)

On a blustery day in the third week of April, I hunkered down in front of the computer with a sudden urge to check in on what was new with Craftsy.

Yes, you probably thought I'd said my last piece about it here, but this entity is like an old relationship that's hard to shake... I often find myself wondering how it's doing.

Is this a crazy discount or what?

The short answer is, not well. Maybe even pretty badly.

From brief peeks at discussions on their Facebook page as well as on the last article featured on the Craft Industry Alliance, the percentage of those satisfied with their Craftsy experience is definitely less than 10%. (Of course, you have to factor in the reality that those who are satisfied aren't extremely likely to report that, but there you have it.)

Is it a result of bad management or has the basic viability of online crafting/sewing classes — particularly those that are subscription-based — simply waned?

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Craftsy first appeared on the scene in 2011. It's now ten years later. My belief is that everything has a discrete lifespan, so it may well be that Craftsy is just nearing its end date. One might legitimately argue that the changes in format and ownership over the last few years has speeded up the ride to the end, but when examining other similar online services that haven't faced the same tumultuous events, the outlook doesn't appear to be much rosier.

For example, I became a Creativebug affiliate six years ago. My experience with it at the time (as an affiliate) was middling, but I was intent on giving it time to improve and grow. The first price point I encountered was $9.99 per month, which I found rather high overall. Still, I felt it had some good stuff to offer in terms of sewing classes; I used my free trial to make this (Betz White) flight bag.

What I made during my Creativebug free trial...

Six years on, however, I'm not impressed by what's been added. My opinions are my own and yours may differ greatly, but in six years I would have expected much, much more content to have been added, aimed at different skill levels.

Then again — and this is what happened with Craftsy when it was briefly Bluprint — perhaps the majority of new content that was added was in areas not associated with sewing.

These days, Creativebug is offering essentially dirt cheap pricing to attract membership sales. This is what I'm talking about (and for full disclosure, these are all affiliate links for which I will be compensated if transactions occur).

affiliate ad from Creativebug...

So in six years, has the cost of these "all you can consume" craft subscription services dropped 90%? Actually no, it's only the first month that's offered for a buck; each subsequent month afterwards is $7.95. (Although you can also get a three month subscription for $5 by clicking here.) But they are offering insane affiliate commissions for signups, which tells me they are wanting for business. If you're interested in just checking them out, look further below for the free trial ad. 

In 2016, I joined the affiliate program for CreativeLive. I remain impressed with its content (and its free streaming of it), but have the same issues with its progress on that front as I do with Creativebug. There is not much new under the sun in the category of sewing.

Instead, it has made inroads in presenting classes on topics such as self improvement and business, which I wouldn't necessarily lump under the heading of being "creative". But it does highlight the challenges of these online course providers. They need to be constantly anticipating and changing. (By the way, among those changes during the pandemic is their free — on demand — offering of all of their Health and Wellness classes.)

affiliate ad from CreativeLive...

CreativeLive's price point is considerably higher than either Creativebug or Craftsy (which right now is about $8 a month unless you score one of those crazy "one year for $3" deals) at $12.42 per month, but only when billed on an annual basis of $149. Month by month cost is a hefty $39. If they're still thriving, it may well be because they've resisted reducing prices by too much and have gained corporate clients through their expansion beyond purely "creative" content. But the truth is, I really don't know how they're doing.

I only have one set of data to look at, and it only reflects my personal situation. As an affiliate for Craftsy, I did make money, especially in the early days when they paid us for simple account signups. When Bluprint ended their affiliate program last year, I checked my overall earnings to how the three companies compared. I earned 97% of my affiliate income from Craftsy, 2% from CreativeLive and 1% from Creativebug.

affiliate ad from Creativebug...

In the ten months since, my affiliate earnings have been zero. Granted, I haven't actively promoted either brand (apart from the static ads on my sidebar and in my posts), but it begs the question: are people still buying online classes? More specifically, is that still a thing when it comes to learning how to sew? Have people been burned by subscription services — and the Craftsy fiasco — in general?

What this discussion naturally leads to, of course, is YouTube. Yes, I know, it's the great untamed abyss with ads galore, but it's free... which to me means you can't be too critical about it.

What's more, while I may lament the lack of new sewing content in all of the above subscription services, there is literally no end to the amount of sewing related "classes" that one can find on YouTube. And to be sure, while quality varies, I have found many, many more winners than losers among the offerings. Even though virtually every project that you see is given the "now it's my turn to make this" treatment by different crafters, it's not a bad thing to see alternate approaches to similar ends. 

What's your take on all this? Is YouTube becoming the default solution for online crafty learning? Or are you now buying classes directly from independent crafters who may also have been burned by the big corporates?

I recall that some of you used to be Craftsy learners; if you're reading this, perhaps you can let me know how (and perhaps to where) you've moved on?

'Til next...