Festive floral dress

This little reversible dress is on its way to Maritzburg, with love from an overseas aunt. Perfect for Christmas day!

Holiday planning

How BEAUTIFUL is this fabric? It's for my holiday sewing – I have big plans, but can't give you details yet, as I''ll be making gifts for our family.

I'm so looking forward to having a holiday, and to having some time to do the things I've just not had a chance to do lately – hemming Marc's trousers, sewing a summer dress, a cushion for Barley and finally getting around to making cushions for our verandah chairs (which I need to scrape down and repaint, too).

The Crazy Aunt Company will close for the holidays on 16 December, and we'll open for business again on 5 January. I'll be checking emails through that time, but Crazy Aunt sewing starts again on the 5th.

Fab Fabric Friday

I spent last night cutting out Crazy Aunt dresses - have quite a few on order, and people are loving this sweet patchwork fabric. I've been pairing it with either maroon gingham or with denim. Just a few more orders to make up before we close for the festive season; I'm so looking forward to a break, and also to preparing Crazy Aunt for next year. Bring on the holidays!

Thank you, with love

I received a fab email from a client the other day - gives me warm fuzzies to know that all the time and work we put in is appreciated. "My friends in the US loved the baby grows you made for them," she wrote. "The one is planning on making it into a pillow after her baby out grows it. That is how much she loves it." Thank you for making my day!
That said, if you have any constructive feedback on Crazy Aunt gear - from what quality it arrives in in the mail to how it washes, how accurate the sizing is and what the fit is like - please let me know. It's really important that you're happy with what we do.

Inspiration board

I love pink and brown together – it's girly but not traditional girly, contemporary yet retro and just, well, cool. So I'm very excited to have had a client ask me to put something together for her in pinks and browns. Hope she likes my collection of fabrics!

Festive wrap-up

It's a beautiful 30-degree day in Cape Town today – summer's definitely here, and the festive season not far away. If you'd like to order Crazy Aunt clothes for Christmas or early January, could you please get your orders in by 3 December. Early I know, but it takes time to carefully put your designs together and make sure that each garment is special. Thanks!

Retro babes

Someone asked me on Friday to put something together for her little niece – something different, something funky, she told me. Rocks my world when I get requests like that!

Fab Fabric Friday

I found this fabric a few weeks ago, when I was up in KZN. It's so fab, I had to buy five metres. Marc and I are off on a yoga weekend this afternoon, and as soon as we're back I'll start cutting this for a few Crazy Aunt dresses. I can't decide which I'm more excited about!

PS Word from the parents of the little girl who test-wore my dress is that it's a perfect fit – and allows her to wriggle and run around. Happiness!

Qual-kitty control

Last night I worked til quite late on an urgent order that came in. It was really great to have some company – especially once she'd she stopped swatting my pins.

Fab Fabric Friday

So, cutting of the Crazy Aunt dresses will begin this weekend, and here's a little peek at some of the fabric I'll be using. While the colours are Christmassy, the fabrics are very definitely about summer. Tomorrow, I go shopping for buttons.

Dressing up

The very first Crazy Aunt dress – what do you think? I've been dying to make little dresses for ages and this weekend I had a few moments to get stuck in. I've sent this one off for a little girl to test – I need to make sure the design is perfect before making any more – and as soon as I have feedback and have ironed out the tweaks, I'll be making more.

These dresses will be from 6 months to four years, and all will be reversible. I have some gorgeous fabrics, and can't wait to put together more dresses.

Please send me your feedback – I'd love to know what you think of the style, what colours you'd like to see the dress in and any comments you have.

The wedding season

My little sister gets married in 10 days' time. She hates it when I call her that, but I remember with crystal clarity the day she was born – and the day my mum told us she was pregnant – so figure I'm entitled to call her what I will (she has to put up with a string of nicknames from me!). It's going to be such an incredibly special day; so much planning and dreaming and making has gone into what will be Shale and Shaun's wedding.

I fly up to KZN on Friday (with necklaces, ties, corsages and a few other crafted goodies packed) and will be there for the week before the wedding. I'm so looking forward to all the festivities, the final preparations and spending time with my family – but it does mean the Crazy Aunt studio will be closed during that time. I'll be back on the 24th to finish off an order and to prep for the Schoolyard Market at Elkanah, which is on the 30th. Happy days!

Bench Marc

Finally, a few pics from our Crazy Aunt studio renovation. My handsome Marc is restoring a battered old work bench I bought off Gumtree for R50 (with kitten Barley supervising). He's scraped it down, is redoing the work surface and will put castor wheels and maybe a rail or two on it. It's not complete yet, as we spent Sunday painting and putting up the shelves (pics of that tomorrow). This studio renovation is taking a little longer than expected, but I guess that's what happens when Crazy Aunt isn't our 9 to 5. Not yet, anyway.

Day dreaming, 0 to 3 months

Right now, the Crazy Aunt studio is being painted. All stock is packed up, fabrics folded away and what just two days ago was a green room with bright hat boxes boxes piled up and fabrics draped over two desks, is now a glorious not-too-white canvas. This weekend we'll be putting up shelves, giving an old work bench and desk new life and, I hope, unpacking. Such exciting times! Can't believe I forgot to take a "before" pic, but I'll definitely be posting the "afters".

To celebrate the the beginnings of our new studio, here's a daydreamer grower.

Price: R100

Oh, the busyness!

Although it's been an age since I last wrote, it's been anything but quiet in Crazy Aunt land. My best friend got married two weeks ago, and I spent time making bridesmaids dresses; I spent a weekend doing yoga in the bush (absolute bliss); have been prepping and sewing growers and bags; and planning how to organise the Crazy Aunt room. This weekend I'll be sorting everything out, and will take a few pics of some of the growers we have in stock.

Brown grower, turquoise Africa, 0 to 3 months

I'm loving brown combos at the moment, and it seems you are too – I don't have any long-sleeve brown growers in 0 to 3 months left! Hope to get more stock soon.

Price: R120

Shirt for Karlee

It's my niece Karlee's birthday next week, so I made her this shirt, which will be on its way to Michigan tomorrow. Wish I could be there to celebrate, little pumpkin.

Blue (and brown) for boys

I've been playing around with combinations of fabric and growers, and dug up these pieces with blue and brown in them. What do you think? Not the best of light, but trust me - they're fab!

Blue for girls

I was putting together fabric options for someone who wants something a little different for a baby girl, and had to share this with you. Some of my favourite fabric!

The Crazy Aunt Company - PTY ltd

True story, I swear: just as I'd finished typing up this post's title, an ad came on the telly - the one for Nedbank, where a man wearing scrubs bursts out of a delivery room and shouts, "It's a [insert dramatic pause] PTY limited!"
And that, dear readers, is exactly why I'm writing. Today Marc picked up the registration certificates for The Crazy Aunt Clothing Company. All papers signed (in black ink), stamps stamped, registrations registered.
Crazy Aunt is now officially a company. Look out clothing world, here we come!

Fab fabric Friday

I'm putting together a cushion in some of these fabrics – will post a pic (taken in better light!) when it's done.

Born in 2010, pink Africa, 0 to 3 months

Born in 2010, on one of the new pink growers made specially for The Crazy Aunt Co. I have plenty of fab fabric to go with this pink – can't wait to get sewing.

Price: R120

Fab fabric Friday

This fabric will look incredible on one of my brown growers. Or turquoise, Or green. Please shout if I can make one up for you!

For Jessica

This white and red grower is on its way to little Jessica, who was born a week or two ago. I really like the simplicity of red and white.

The ultimate Football Friday grower

IT IS HERE! The vibe is UNBELIEVABLE. Not a moment goes by without a vuvuzela being blown; most people are wearing Bafana jerseys, and flags are flying everywhere. What an incredible, incredible day. How could I not put this grower up?

Price: R130

Something different

Don't know if it's a boy or girl? Let me put together a design that's a little different – how about chocolate brown and white?

Fab Friday fabric

If you're bold enough to dress your little girl in pink and black, please drop me a line. I have hot pink growers that'd look AMAZING with designs in this fabric.

Pink grower, pink Africa, 0 to 3 months

Here's the first of the dark pink Born in 2010 growers. The lighting's not too great, but you get the idea? (Oh- I got the first of my very own made-for-me growers last night. Expect to see pics of chocolate brown and stone growers posted within the next few days!)

Price: R120

In the media

And - it's out! A Crazy Aunt design on the cover of the June/July issue of FitPregnancy magazine, with exposure inside. Happiness.

Olive grower, cream Africa, 0 to 3 months

So, here's the first of the olive growers. What do you think? I love that it's not white!

Price: R120

Designer labels

Today was a big day for for Crazy Aunt. The fabric labels I've had printed arrived, just in time to send them on to the small factory where our very first custom-made growers (body vests, is the correct term) were cut. They'll be sewn tomorrow and on Friday, and I take delivery on Saturday. I'll have stock of some growers in chocolate brown, denim blue, pink, cream, stone, and a few polka and stripe ones too. Watch this space!

Colours of happiness

How exquisite are these colours?I've been looking for growers like these for over a year, and have such fab ideas for designs with the fabric I've collected. I have these growers in size 0 to 3 months, 3 to 6 months and a few 6 to 12 months. Anyone want to put in an order? I can't wait to get sewing!

Cover up

So, this is me. Hard at work in what was once the spare room at home. Marc took the pic yesterday morning – it's for FitPregnancy magazine. No, I'm not pregnant. But how's this for exciting: a Crazy Aunt design will be featured on the *cover* of the June/July issue of the mag! And there'll be a blurb and image of a grower or two on the shopping pages of FitPregnancy. How fab?

PS The fabric hanging up behind me in the pic is one of my favourite pieces. I bought it a few years ago and haven't come up with the perfect use for it (a skirt? Cushions? The lining of a winter coat?). So it's a wall hanging until I make up my mind.

Material possessions

Last night I got lost in fabric. Patterns and textures and colours – I had a fab evening! These three pics show off a few pieces I've collected. Am itching to put them together and create something fabulous. Watch this space!

PS We're working hard on completing a big order for Beluga Bear in Franschhoek, and are about to start work on a maternity shirt that a model will wear on FitPregnancy's June/July cover. Exciting times!

Chilled times and sunshine

Right now, two boerbuls are flopped around my feet. The sun is squeezing through higgeldy-piggeldy puzzlebush leaves and onto the long, smooth strands of clivias; hadedas are caw-ing their way overhead. It really is a beautiful place, this lush, fertile wonderland I grew up in.
I'm at my folks' house in Howick, my 'other' home, taking time out from the aircon and traffic of Cape Town. Yesterday I went to Elaine's, my favourite fabric store, and scratched through her baskets of material to find some exquisite pieces. I can't wait to match them up with ones I have at home. I have so many ideas, I'm not quite sure what to start with. Lampshades? Quilts? Growers?
No time to decide now; I'm off to have tea with Granny, then woodwork with Dad and pottery classes this afternoon with Mom. Happiness!

Maroon pattern grower, pink heart, 0 to 3 months

Rocking my world, is this little grower, and if I was a month old, I'd be *sooo* happy to wear this!

Price: R100

PS. Where have the sunlight hours gone? I've not had a chance to shoot any of the lovely little personalised growers we've made lately, and have had to send them off the the crazy aunts and uncles before taking pics to put up here.

Stripe grower, green Africa, 0 to 3 months

A fun, bright grower that's all about summer - perfect right now for a northern hemisphere baby.
Price: R100

Navy strip grower, yellow Africa, newborn

It's not often I come across growers made from such bold fabric – so lots of happiness when I found this!

Price: R100

This is us

Here it is - the Crazy Aunt logo. What do you think?

I'm loving it! We're just finalising the design of the new swing tags, and pretty soon everything that leaves the Crazy Aunt factory (aka the spare room in our house) will have a gorgeous tag attached. Happy, happy times.

(PS the logo was designed by Esthea, who's also working on our swing tags and stationery. Check out her site - www.estheadesigns.co.za)

Books and covers

I judge books by their covers. There, I said it. I find it very hard, when surrounded by shelves and shelves of paper and books and pictures, to muster up any enthusiasm to pick up the ones that appear, well, boring. I'm attracted to interesting things. It's as simple as that.
And it's for this reason that I've been staring at a single piece of paper for the past four hours: I'm trying to decide on a logo design for The Crazy Aunt Company.
Poor Esthea Gardner. She's designing the logo and has had to put up with emails requesting her to knock a word two spaces to the right, photographs of sketches that I've scribbled (and then scrapped), font changes, format changes, colour changes and a whole heap of indecision.
That single piece of paper I'm staring at? There are five logo designs on it, and I need to choose one. The problem? I love them all.

Watch this space - I'll decide before I go to bed, and the new design should be up here tomorrow.

A bag for Karlee

This little bag is on its way to my niece Karlee in Durango. It was made with lots of love.

Olive letter shirt, any age

Letter shirts are one of The Crazy Aunt Company's most popular items. We can make them in any size up to 10 years, and have a range of colours for the shirts (olive green, navy, sky blue, purple, pink, red or purple).

Price: R100

Little Miss Wood

This, quite possibly, is one of my favourite growers ever. It's for David and Aimee's little girl, who's due in just under four weeks. Exciting times for the Woodies!

A bag from Africa

Here's the first bag made with Africa on it. What I like is that there's not a zebra print in sight! What do you think?

Price: R85

Born in 2010, navy & green, 3 to 6 months

A Born in 2010 Tshirt – because it's Football Friday.

Price: R100

For Beluga Bear

This past week we've been busy with a big order for Beluga Bear in Franschhoek. We always supply them with Africa shirts – this is one of my favourites.