Modern baby clothes

I've come upon this thread rather late but have just had the disconcerting experience of seeing my 12 week old first grandson's photo on facebook wearing a checked shirt, denim jeans and lace up shoes. My DIL is lovely and there have been few occasions when I haven't thought she is doing a brilliant job of looking after my gorgeous GS. I feel bad about feeling so disapproving and try to move with the times but these things seem so uncomfortable and restrictive as well as not very warm.

I know I will have to keep my mouth shut and be thankful it's not more serious, but it helps to know I'm not alone.

RE: clothkits - I too have many happy memories and used to get them posted to Hong Kong where I live for a while. I even kept a little dress as a happy reminder )

I also loved Cloth Kits and found their clothes quite reasonable. In their current re-creation however they are very expensive. My daughter still remembers with great affection the lovely knitted dresses they sold. I bought two and they lasted her for years, finally being worn as a top over trousers.

Jorj, Like you I love to see children in bright colours. My children were born in the early 1970s when clothes those colours were Designer Labels only. As both Grandmas were expert knitters I used to get them to knit clothes for me in the colours I loved. I remember in particular a lovely cherry-red knitted jacket both my children wore. We had our disasters, one sweater that was meant to have been knitted in a soft gold was knitted in a colour closer to day-glo orange. It was only worn when the relevant Grandma visited.

I also made lots of Clothkits clothes for both my children, including a hooded duffel coat and they were all then passed on to my niece and nephew. NanaAnna I also made a Clothkitty with sets of clothes too and when I offered to make one for my gorgeous GD my DD said she planned to give her the one she'd still got after all these years! But I'll certainly be making more clothes from their new site for the DGC.

Must admit I do prefer the bright colours used today for baby clothes , but do remember knitting loads of matinee jackets bootees and bonnets , things have much simpler designs nowadays I find..

Love to see so many other Clothkit fans. My 2 older daughters lived in it, and my youngest then got what I'd made for both the older ones
I made 2 of the padded 'jungle' jackets with several pockets, each with their own stuffed animal. What a lovely idea that was.
I also made the clothkit dolls - one blond one and one dark one. They had whole wardrobes of their own Clothkit clothes!
We also had the knitted winter dresses with matching tights. Brilliant, hardwearing outfits.
I've uploaded pictures of my girls in some of their Clothkit outfits on their Facebook page. I didn't realise the website had such a page too. Will have to go and investigate

Oh such nostalgia!! I have been looking out old pictures of youngest DD who is 30 tomorrow so that her sister could arrange to have badges and bunting made for her dinner tomorrow night and she is in Clothkits in nearly every single one!! 3 daughters all wore the cord pinafores or dungarees, the cotton "Paddington Bear" hats and those jacquard t shirt dresses with matching knickers , but my favourites were the little knitted dresses with matching/coordinating tights. They lasted forever, the colours were gorgeous - I remember there was always one sort of bright primary colour option, one pastel and one slightly funky colourway. I made things for myself too. I am slightly put off modern little girls' clothing - too much bright pink and mauve, but companies like Boden and White Company have some lovely things for little boys. I have always liked bright colours on my babies, eldest D had a stripey cardi when about 1 in stripes of crimson, beige, purple and brown - I know!! Perhaps because I never assumed all would be girls, I never went in for pastels or pink as all clothes were expected to do service as hand me downs for future babies - so all 3 girls had more than their fair share of dungarees (often made of Laura Ashley remnents!)

I love the pastel colours and am in raptures when I see a baby dressed all in white, especially when it's a hand-knitted jacket and hat. My daughters both love really bright colours and stripes on babies, so they tend to buy things from places like Baby Gap and Next as I don't knit enough modern patterns that they really like. Our local wool shop does try to get patterns for funky designs, and if they don't have them in stock, I find what I want on the internet.

I really really HATE the pastel handknits we used to churn out, and LOVE new bright colours and designs. I find it hard to get modern patterns, though. And I can see from lots of the above posts that the older-fashioned cardies are still loved by many. Sigh:-( !

Wiz i really don't think it matters. I am expecting first grandchild in March and am alternating sides with each jacket!

Our first grandchild is expected in April. I am busy knitting cardies etc (patterns chosen by my DIL!) but she doesn't want to know the sex of the baby until it is born. Which side do I sew the buttons on or doesn't it matter!

Re Clothkits: I loved them as theirs were the only things I could manage to make myself (on an old Singer machine). It was such an achievement for me I had to keep them all. They weren't cheap but so hard wearing they survived my 3 children and my grand-daughter. When she wears them they attract a great deal of comment - how lovely etc, I remember those & wish my mum had kept mine. They are still good for another few generations!They are such a change from the universal pink now and still look fresh and more modern than some of the current clothes.
The new Clothkits have an archive of pictures from old customers - but I haven't yet worked out how to down load my collection.

My youngest GD is just 13 months and my DD (and I) still prefer pastels. She and I knitted lots of matinee jackets and a couple of shawls. We've had many compliments and the baby looks lovely. Modern fabrics and wools don't need hand-washing just a cool short gentle wash.

I am relearning knitting now that I have a baby GD. I love all the new colours. I did not like all those fiddly handwash white, pink and lemon matinee jackets that my MIL turned out by the score! So far I've knitted a jumper in a rust colour and a beanie hat in denim blue.

I have always enjoyed sewing - dressmaking, patchwork, quilting, embroidery, etc. etc. My younger DD gets married in a couple of months time and I'm making a dress for my GD as well as a bolero for my DD. The one person I rarely sew for is me!
And yes I used to Clothkit like a pro!

I can't resist a bargain, so have been stashing fabrics for years! some of them must come in useful for tots.

ff, a friend of mine, way back when the DSs were small, used to make clothes using material from garments she bought at jumble sales and washed thoroughly. I often see things in charity shops that I wouldn't/couldn't wear, but the material is really good and usable. However, sewing brings me out in a cold sweat! I am cultivating GD1 who is studying fashion.

I'm expecting (or should that be "awaiting"?) my first next Spring, and have been looking at baby patterns. They do look so different from the layette I prepared for my daughter. And the price of enough fabric and yarn to make for even a newborn!!!
And that's before you get to new-fangled prams, car seats etc etc etc ...

Oh thanks Annobel , I loved Clothkits, and made lots of them, I am a Klutz at sewing and making but I could do that.

I'm sure Clothkits disappeared but I heard that they had made a comeback and had a look. No cheaper than they were before; the website is www.clothkits.co.uk.

I don't remember Clothkits, perhaps they were a bit up-market for me as money was really tight when my children came along. I used to knit and sew all of the family's clothes using cheap market fabric and yarns. There was a lot of lightweight Crimplene-type material available - wouldn't consider it now- which was very easy to wash with no ironing (still important to me).I even made patchwork outfits with all the scraps.
I do cringe when I remember making myself a gingham dress and then one each for my baby and toddler daughters out of the remnants. We even wore them on the same day once!!!!
I liked to make matching pants with every outfit to cover the ugly, bulky terry nappies and plastic pants, I was always being complimented on them.
On my first grandchildren being boys I was amazed at the variety of clothes in the shops for them compared to 40-odd years ago,they are so cute, but I agree denim is a bit stiff.

goldengirl, Libradi, Em, Sook I used to love Clothkits and living in Switzerland, got so excited to receive my parcels. There wasn't much for my boys but I made lots of their toys, hobby horse, puppets, wall hangings with pockets, many of which I passed on to my nieces. One of my nieces who is now 24 still uses one of the little bags I made. I wore lots of Clothkits outfits myself - in fact my holiday videos are full of Clothkits dresses! I even made a pilgrimage to Lewes to check out their shop.

One of my pet hates for babies is jeans! They seem so tight and uncomfortable over nappies and it's not good to see their movements restricted as they crawl around.

I agree about denim for babies - not very nice, and not as comfy for the baby, I would imagine, as normal baby clothes.

When mine were first crawling I knitted very bright stripy all-in-ones ie leggings and bib n braces top. These were hard wearing and stopped them crawling out of their (cloth) nappies.

At our local shopping centre Jan Walton has a lovely display of new born &
toddler hand knitted jackets and pram set's all in traditional pattern's that
you will all be familiar with and love,she sells bonnets and helmets and little
booties and mittens,all the proceeds go to the new born appeal at Liverpool
Womens Hospital,I have bought many a nice piece from her and have alway's
had compliments from others people who remember the patterns.

Libradi, goldengirl I still have a clothkits quilted jacket which I made for my youngest son. It is in perfect condition just waiting for my grandaughter to grow into it. Most of my sons (I have two) clothes were handknitted or sewn by me. I loved the French knitting patterns by Phildar. The boys wore a mix of tradditional and funky colourful clothes. When my grandaughter arrived I had many cringe moments at some of the outfits my DIL chose for her.

I loved clothkits and still remember a lovely little pinafore dress in a fine printed cord. I wasn't at all confident about dressmaking but couldn't go wrong with this and both DD's wore it. I still have a little dress I later made for DD (Navy viyella with little red puppies) and she plans to put it on baby GD this winter with red tights! Looking forward to that.

goldengirl I remember clothkits. I didn't make any myself but my sister in law made two beautiful jackets for her girls when they were toddlers and they had lovely little stuffed animals in the pockets!