I've been making patterns since 2013, and over the past year I've realized I had a problem I never thought I'd have: Too many patterns!
Now, I (and plenty of you reading this) probably think 'more like not enough patterns!' and that is also true. There's always room for more. But like my overflowing fabric stash, there comes a point where 'a good, well-organized variety that always lets me find something I need quickly' becomes, well, an episode of Hoarders.
Pixels don't take up physical space, but over the last year I've been getting pretty regular questions from customers asking about a pattern that they can't find. The patterns are there, but they can't find them in the wall of patterns crowding their eyeballs. And those are the people who are so determined to find it they're sending me a message which means that a lot more people are having the same problem and just giving up!
So that's the problem I'm going to try and fix. It might seem like removing some patterns will do the opposite effect, but unless you're trying to make a very specific cosplay outfit, there are a lot of patterns that fill the same needs: we've got MANY different kinds of casual dresses, MANY different kinds of lolita dresses, MANY different...renaissance costumes (4. That's a lot for something so niche, yes?).
Therefore, for most people having a couple of options for something they like is more than enough to give them something to sew while waiting for other things they also want to come back into stock. I'm not sure exactly how often I'll switch out inventory--I'll rely on feedback from all of you to figure out the happy space between 'too often' and 'not often enough.'
There are also some patterns that are truly unique and don't really have any equivalents, like Basics Jeans & T-shirts and weird fashion fan favorite Kigurumi. Those won't be going anywhere! And new patterns, of course, won't be added to the rotation until they've been in stock for a while.
And finally, there will always be exceptions! A couple of times a year I'll put all the patterns back up for short periods of time. VERY short periods of time. And, if for example there's a customizing contest going on in the doll community that people can't wait for specific patterns to come into stock, I'll be willing to put together special orders if you send me an email. The whole point of this is to make things easier for my customers, so why would I not :P