We heart Olivia

How beautiful is little Olivia? Her crazy aunt Amelia bought one of our reversible heart dresses and sent it over to her in England. How sweet are those little legs? Too precious!

On a practical note, the dresses are great for both summer and winter – pull on a pair of leggings and a long-sleeve top, wear the dress either way, and you have a bunch of different outfits. The dresses sell for R195 - drop me a line at narina@thecrazyauntcompany.co.za to order.

A window on the Crazy Aunt studio

At The Crazy Aunt Company, we try to be as considerate to the environment as possible. So, when we needed a pinboard, I shopped around on Gumtree for something I could reuse - and was pretty stoked when I found this window.


I took it apart, scraped it down, removed some of the glass and gave it a coat of paint.


And voila - I put pegboard into the frame, where our labels now hang, left three panes of glass in the window, which I'll use for notes, and turned the rest into a pinboard. It's a little too Biggie Best for me at the moment, but hey - the window is a whole lot more useful than it was a few weeks ago!

Fabric for an autumn dress

I bought this fabric a little while ago, thinking it could be turned into the cutest autumn dresses. Now I know you probably don't want to think about autumn just yet, but what do you think of this fabric?

Bag this

It's been a while since I posted pics of the little bags we do - so here you are! I have a cupboard full of fabric scraps, organized according to colour, and I often sit staring at it, combining different pieces and colours in my mind before pulling the fabric out and putting it together on my work bench. These bags are the result of those happy moments.
The two sides of the bag are different, and no two are ever the same. They're lined, wash well and are pretty indestructible.
Price: R85

Special offer

Because this month is all about love, we're selling all dresses made from this red and white heart fabric for R150, not R185. Please email me at narina@thecrazyauntcompany.co.za to place your order.

Flower scraps

I found this fabric in October, when I was up in the Midlands for my sister's wedding and spent hours scrounging through trailers of scrap material. It's one of my favourite pieces of blue and white fabric in my cupboard, and is such a tiny piece that I'm saving it for something special. Not too sure what, yet. Think I might combine it with navy and white polka dots for a little onesie, and am toying with the idea of making a headband. Wish there was enough to make a little dress!

Twin onesies

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a twin. I'd dress like my brother, tell people we were twins - until a hairdresser cut my hair as short as his. These days I still love the idea of being, or one day having twins - and so I get really excited when an order comes in for onesies for twins. Here's what we did for little Dominic and Elliott...

Happy weekend

Here's a bright little dress to welcome a fab, funky weekend. (This dress is age 1 to 2 years, but I do have other sizes available.)

Price: R180

New prices for 2011

It's that time of year, unfortunately, and we have to put our prices up (eek!). From 1 March, the reversible dresses will be R195; personalized onesies and T-shirts will be R140, and onesies and T-shirts with just an Africa, number, letter or shape will be R110.
On the bright side, though, you still have a month to place your orders at 2010 prices!

Pretty Blue Monday

So, I think I might say it every time I put a dress up, but this really is one of my favourites. If I had a little girl, she'd definitely be wearing this delicate blue shweshwe dress today. I was only able to get the tiniest amount of fabric – enough for this dress, which is 6 to 12 months, and I have one more 6 to 12 months cut out, waiting to be sewn.

Price: R180

For Ruby

It's been so long since I posted a personalised grower, I thought I'd better put one up! This one is for - surprise! - little Ruby. Welcome to the world!

We heart dresses

I was so excited when I found this heart fabric - it's perfectly bright and appropriate for this time of year. This dress is 1 to 2 years, and the denim reverse has a white heart on pink.

Price: R180

Blue floral and maroon gingham, 6 to 12 months

This fabric combination is one of my favourite at the moment. I love the dark yet soft blue that contrasts with the white and maroon flowers. It's simple, pretty and playful.

Price: R180

A dolly (peg) for Crazy Aunt

My fab friend Amelia
spent her summer holiday having a winter, in London and New York. Being the kind, thoughtful person she is, she brought these retro dolly pegs for me, to use in the pics I take for this blog.
Thank you, Amy!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I heart new beginnings

Isn't it exciting when you open a new diary for the first time, crisp paper and sharp pencil, and know that you're about to plunge into a fresh, new year?

I started Crazy Aunt work today, my last day of magazine-world leave, and have cut so many dresses and so many designs, that I have blisters on my fingers. I have some gorgeous red fabric with white hearts all over it, which will become very special Valentine dresses, and metres of fabulously funky blue, purple, green, orange and mauve fabric, which will soon be reversible dresses too.

We're open again for business, so please send your orders through!