Some of you have already pointed out the changes we’ve made to our packaging this season. You may have noticed that the paper dolls are no longer on the envelopes for our new patterns, and instead we’ve transitioned to photos of children wearing the clothing.
As much as we love the paper dolls and we’re really sad to see them go, we understand that many of you were having trouble envisioning the finished clothing that could be made from the patterns when you looked at the illustrated paper dolls. Additionally, we’ve learned over the years that people who aren’t familiar with Oliver + S see our packaging and assume that the product is either a set of paper dolls or a sewing pattern for doll clothes. They didn’t understand that the patterns were for children’s clothing. I hope these photos will help you and others picture those cute little dresses and outfits more easily.
When your order arrives you’ll notice that we’ve changed the envelopes themselves as well. The new envelopes are made with a heavy, sturdy cardstock to help them last longer. And in the process of changing the envelopes and making them more sleek and durable we also did away with the “belly band,” as we’ve always called it, and added a hole for hanging the envelopes so they can be displayed more easily in stores.
We spent a lot of time developing this new packaging and agonizing over the details, and we hope that these changes will make the patterns more saleable in stores and more durable when you get them home. (Does your local fabric store carry our patterns? We would love it if you would encourage them to do so!)
I would like to think that we’ll do more with the paper dolls someday, since they’re such a vital part of the the Oliver + S experience, but for the time being it seemed that photos are more important to many of you, so we’re focusing on those images right now.
I hope you’ll enjoy your new patterns and their new look! We’re always working to improve your sewing experience and hope that these changes will be part of making sewing more fun and memorable for you.