This week we sent our Dad up into the loft to bring down the Christmas decoration box because we wanted to share something really wonderful with you…

When we were tiny our Mum made each of us a really special Christmas stocking that we’d bring out every year and still cherish to this day.  Lovingly and thoughtfully made from mismatched scraps of velvet, brocade and floral fabric and trimmed with ric-rac and lace, she added patch pockets for tiny gifts and our nicknames in applique. They are the inspiration for the stockings that we design and make  today. We remember, so clearly, the excitement of hanging them at the end of our beds on Christmas Eve, and then joyfully lugging them down the stairs to take turns opening our gifts on Christmas morning. Two things were always to be found at the bottom of our stockings, no matter what, the biggest navel orange you’d ever seen and a net bag of gold foil covered chocolate coins. 

We do wonder if our Mum knew when she made them forty years ago, that we would still love these stockings and the memories they bring back to us. We were reminiscing together last night and laughing about the questionable sewing, but for us, this is just one of the things that makes them so special. To have something created for you with pure love in every stitch is truly a wonderful thing. 

We wanted to share this little story of joy from our childhood, perhaps it brought back a lovely memory for you or maybe inspired you to create your own heirloom stocking for a loved one. Our lovely friend Innes @aboderie has a wonderful free tutorial and pattern that you are welcome to use and we would love for you to share your creation with us on instagram if you found the time. We have some lovely organic cotton velvet and floral prints in our shop, they are perfect for craft projects such as this, you can browse them here.

And if you don’t have time to make your own then then our collection of stockings are made with just as much thought and love, we adore designing them every year and we always hope that they bring years of  joy to the families who choose them. They are crafted out of the last bits of fabric from our collection and designed to be brought out every year and to last a lifetime. All are made with 100% cotton, including the wadding inside and we love adding little sweet details like frills and pockets. Discover our stockings here, or by clicking on the images below.

We just love this special festive season here at Little Cotton Clothes. For us it is all about family and little traditions and we wish you all a special time with your families too.

With Love, 

Imogen and Leonie

xxx

Our favourite thing each season is to discover which of our designs you choose for your children - truly, it is the thing that keeps us going and enjoying this creative journey.  We design timeless, traditional children’s clothing to be worn & loved and pride ourselves on being a sustainable & ethical small business. We design our clothes here in the UK and if you have time to read on, we would love to share with you a glimpse into our creative process.

We work over a year ahead on our collections, and the very first stages of designing a season are arguably the most exciting! In the early stages we have little idea of exactly which way we will head, or how the finished collection will end up looking - we start with a fresh sheet of paper, and a clear head, always.

We spend time gathering together the colours that we love and these become the seeds of inspiration and the starting point for every new season’s designs. Creating the perfect colour palette is essential to us. We spend ages flicking through our big Pantone swatch books, whilst sipping coffee in our favourite cafe in Worcester. Because our clothing is always inspired by nature and everything old fashioned, faded and vintage we tend to lean towards neutral and muted tones. One thing that we've learnt over the years is that colour inspiration can come from anywhere, it could be from an autumnal leaf found on a walk, a pebble on a windswept beach, an old torn piece of wallpaper or an old leather bound book and its illustrations. Our eyes are always open and waiting for the next moment of inspiration.

Recently, we spent a lovely Sunday morning walking around our local flea market in Malvern and came across a stall selling piles and piles of French wallpaper illustrations from the 1830’s, we could have spent all morning looking through those sheets and choosing from them. We picked out maybe five of our favourite sheets and brought them home with us (truthfully we wanted to buy them all but sadly our budget wouldn’t stretch!). These hand-drawn and painted illustrations are so delicate and beautiful and so inspiring, we just wonder who painted them all of those years ago. It is little finds like this that inspire us and help us create something that we love, that is special, different from everything else, and bespoke to Little Cotton Clothes.  

In recent months I (Imogen) have been slowly teaching myself to design floral motifs and repeats using Illustrator, I love the freedom of being able to make our florals look exactly how we want them to look. I can tweak the scales, colours and spacing until they are just perfect for our clothing. I can spend days perfecting just one floral and enjoy the creative process so much. To see that floral design printed on our beautiful organic cotton, cut and sewn into a pretty little dress and then being enjoyed by you and your children is just the icing on the cake.   

We hope you have enjoyed discovering a little more about what inspires us and some of the processes involved in designing your children's clothing.

With love,

Leonie and Imogen

xxx

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