Back in October, after many requests and much consideration, we decided to do a little test. We re-released our out-of-print Puppet Show pattern as the first Oliver + S digital download. Your response was so positive that we released a few others in the following months. And the positive response continued.

Today we’re releasing our next two digital patterns: the Tea Party Sundress & Playsuit and the Sailboat Top, Skirt & Pants. These early Oliver + S styles were very popular while they were in print, and we’re happy to be able to make them available again in digital form.

Over coming  months, we will be releasing two additional styles each month until all our out-of-print patterns are available again as digital downloads.

This doesn’t mean that we’re giving up on paper. We plan to keep all the styles that use our current size ranges (6M-4 and 5-12) in print for the foreseeable future. And we’ll be releasing our new Spring-Summer 2012 styles as paper-only patterns in April as we always have. But we like giving you a way to access items from our deep back list that we have decided not to reprint.

We hope you enjoy sewing with these styles!

Every so often, we make an announcement about our children’s sewing patterns that are due to go out of print. It’s been a while since we’ve done that, so here are our current plans.

Over coming months, we will be retiring these girl’s sewing patterns from the line.

• The Tea Party Sundress
• The Bubble Dress (the large size range of this pattern is already out of print)
• The 2 + 2 Blouse & Pleated Skirt

If you are interested in any of these patterns, here’s your fair warning that they won’t be available for much longer.

Over at my personal blog today, I have a post up about making Tsia an Oliver + S Tea Party Sundress using Natalie Chanin’s techniques. Here’s the result.

See the details, and some spreads from Natalie’s new book on disdressed.

The newest Oliver + S trunk show has been booked for the remainder of the summer. If you’re in the area, stop by one of our retailers to participate in the activities they will be hosting in conjunction with the show.

You can see the trunk show at the following locations:

• Waechter’s Silk Shop Asheville NC, June 2-June 15
• Seams Like Home Quilt Shoppe, Anchorage AK, June 19-July 3
• Colonial Quilts, Savannah GA, July 10-July 24
• Bay Window Quilt Shop, Perham MN, July 30-August 13
• The Stitchin’ Post, Sisters OR, August 18-September 7

Tiny rickrack also adds a feminine detail to this Sailboat Top where it was applied to the topstitching. April used a special tool for this step, but you could also apply the rickrack over topstitching or by using basting as a guide. I think the miniature rickrack enhances the sweet Little Red Riding Hood fabric and, again, adds some visual interest to a pattern that can be made for boys and girls.

The new Oliver + S spring trunk shows have started making their way across North America. Here are a few photos of the garments traveling in one of our shows.

The first four stops scheduled are:

• Cloth & Bobbin, Narberth PA, March 28-April 7
• Bobbin’s Nest Studio, Santa Clara CA, April 15-April 23
• Olive Juice Quilt Shop (formerly A Stitch in Time), Onalaska WI, April 27-May 7
• Hip Stitch, Albuquerque NM, May 12-25

We’ll be adding to this list over time, so stay tuned for more locations and dates.

If you are a retailer and would like to book a trunk show for your shop, please email us for details.