June highlights

We've had a great few weeks of summer fairs and the weather has been fabulous! We started off with the very lovely Wealden Times Midsummer Fair at the beginning of June. Always the quintessential English summer fair, it is one of my favourites. The three day event is host to beautiful craft and food stalls, everything you could possibly need for your garden and all set in the exquisite Hole Park gardens.

Hole Park

 Ready for afternoon tea

The Wealden Bunting all a flutter

Some of our lovely products all squeezed in to a 2m x 2m space

 Our pretty cotton nightwear is always popular at these events especially if the sun is shining!

 Blue skies for most of the 3 day event

Sharron Goodyear Photography

Last September I was invited to have a stall at the Fordcombe Village Fete near Tunbridge Wells in Kent. It is such a beautiful part of the world and this pretty village was the perfect backdrop for the very english tradition of an annual end of summer fete, complete with vintage car display, Punch and Judy, a dog show and some lovely stalls. My kind of event!

The sun was shining and there was a relaxed and happy buzz to the fete. It has been run every year since the 1950's and so there really is something for everyone, including a rather lovely tea tent, with tables groaning under the weight of homemade cakes. Unfortunately for me,it was on the other side of the dog show arena!

It is so exciting when someone comes along and completely falls in love with our vintage style nightwear, which is just what Sharron Goodyear from Lollipops and Little Ones did that afternoon. Lollipops and Little Ones is a family lifestyle blog with all kinds of useful info for Mums and Dads from healthy eating, beauty product reviews, photo, gift and activity ideas for all the family. Sharron is an accomplished, award winning portrait and wedding photographer and she happily offered to take some photos of her three beautiful children in our vintage pyjamas. These are just a few of the images we have used recently on our site. 

This pretty nightdress featuring this sweet little night owl is always one of our best sellers

I love the cheeky expression of her youngest here. He looks so handsome in these transport Pjs. All our Pjs from Powell craft are 100% soft cotton and suitable from age one. I remember being so excited when my boys were old enough to wear a proper pair of big boy pyjamas and left the baby jumpsuit designs behind.

Oh those were the days!

You can see Sharron's wedding photography here http://www.goodyearphotography.co.uk/weddings/

Janne x

Easter gifts

The sun is shining! It's official... Spring is well and truly here and so is the arrival of some lovely new items to our online shop. With a Facebook giveaway and 20% off until April now is a great time to take a look round some of our new gifts and children's nightwear ranges.

A bunny isn't just for Easter so if you have a new Spring baby due in the family, or perhaps looking for a christening or first birthday gift then look no further than Bo rabbit. He (or he can be a she) comes beautifully presented in a hat style gift box, making a lovely keepsake. Designed in England by toy company Ragtales he is soft enough to snuggle and handsome enough to sit on a bedroom shelf. There is even the option to kit him out in a pyjama or nightdress set too. He also has a little brother in the form of mini Bo who also comes beautifully packaged in a smaller keepsake box.

Joining the beautiful quilted mouse house play set , we now have a gorgeous home for bunnies! This lovely quilted and lightly padded rabbit house play set decorated with embroidered flowers and applique bunting makes a lovely Easter gift alternative to chocolate! It comes with two little sister mice just perfect for imaginative play. When not being played with, it makes a beautiful hanging decoration in a bedroom.

We have one of these adorable rabbit play sets in this months Facebook giveaway so please take a look and enter to win in time for Easter.

If you are ordering online this month then don't forget we have 20% off using code SPRING14

Have a great week everyone,

Janne

A good nights sleep

Who's had a good nights sleep this month? We've got the fan on, the duvet off, windows wide open, but each night is a challenge in this weather. We all want to stay cool during these hot summer nights and with little ones feeling uncomfortable and irritable in this heat, it's really important to choose the right nightwear for them to sleep in. All our beautiful nightwear is 100% cotton. We don't do polyester or manmade fabrics which can cause existing skin conditions to flare up. A cool breathable and natural fibre, cotton is probably one of the best options for sleeping in this heatwave. All our nightwear is machine washable and is easy to dry. If you want to skimp on the ironing then a light tumble dry is all that is needed. 

Loose fitting nightwear is best and as all our nightdresses are based on traditional victorian designs so there is plenty of room for movement. This Powell Craft Rosie nightdress is one of our best sellers in summer with it's vintage rose print design.

Loose fitting pyjamas or nighties allow for circulation around the body so slim fitting all- in-ones and tight fitting pjs are not ideal in our hot and sticky July!

We have lots of fun designs for boys too, but these classic lightweight stripe pjs are great for both boys and girls. 

Wishing you all a good nights sleep this summer!

Janne x

Little Red Concept Shoot

I was delighted when Mel from Mel Wilde Photography approached me last month with the view to collaborating on a concept shoot to tie in with World Book Day. Mel is one of SW London's leading wedding and lifestyle photographers and I'm a big fan of her themed shoots so it was lovely to meet her at last. Previously, we had communicated via the odd tweet and face book post.

Mel had the idea of Little Red Riding Hood, an iconic fairytale that we all know and love and had found the perfect model in Mia to act the part. The most stunning red cloak was conjured up by Libby from the Dressing Up Chest and my very small contribution was the pretty and traditional Giselle nightdress and the Little Red Riding Hood rag doll.

I love this shot. Little Red snuggling with her friendly rag doll, basket at the ready full of goodies for Grandma. A get well card and spring bouquet from Karen Woolven floral design.

And she's all set to begin her journey through the forest...or in this case the beautiful grounds of Warren House in Kingston. A beautiful wedding venue which despite having lived here for 25 years, I have only just discovered. Can't wait to try afternoon tea there!

I think Mia was an absolute super star modelling in this shoot. It was such a freezing day in February and walking out and about on a frosty morning in a cotton nightdress is not to be recommended!

I love the dark gothic edge to the forest walk scenes. Little Red please be careful!

Well, like all good fairy tales there has to be a happy ending for our heroine and Little Red arrives safely at Grandma's house.
Thank you so much to Mel for including us in her collaboration of local businesses. You can read more about the shoot on her blog here.

Nighties and Wellies

There is something rather appealing about waking up in the morning, sun streaming through the windows, early morning dew still on the grass and rushing outside to gather eggs and feed the chickens........all this whilst still in your nightie! This was the atmosphere Vicki and I were trying to recreate in this photo shoot named 'nighties and wellies'. Wellington boots go with absolutely anything don't they? And just lately, they are the only thing we've all been wearing!

Many of the nightdresses on my site are taken from original Victorian designs and hark back to a time of childhood innocence when we like to imagine life carefree, relaxed and happy. Summer days stretched out forever and adventures were to be found at the bottom of the garden, in the vegetable patch...secret gardens were created. Who needed to get dressed? 

We had The Medicine Garden all to ourselves when these photos were taken in the hazy, sunny days of late last summer by family lifestyle photographer, Vicki Knights. These girls certainly ran around enjoying the attention and the pretty nightwear.They were amazing little models! We were allowed to sneak into this derelict green house, (now restored and transformed into the most beautiful cafe) and as you can see the light was stunning when these were shot at about 6pm.

The Victorian walls of The Medicine Garden were the perfect back drop for the white cotton nighties. I love the contrast in colour and texture.

I'm often asked what length the nightdresses are meant to be. That is entirely down to choice. I quite like them full length so there is still plenty of room for growth. If you are buying for a three year old or younger then I wouldn't go that long You can see more nightdress styles on my site here.

You can read my first blog about this shoot, 'The Secret Garden' here. 

Janne x 

A Secret Garden

The Secret Garden photo shoot

Frances Hodgson Burnett's novel, 'The Secret Garden' was the inspiration behind this very English of photo shoots taken late last Summer by Surrey family lifestyle photographer Vicki Knights . I wanted to show the children's nightwear range in an alternative way to the usual indoor scenes and loved Vicki's work and use of natural light in her photography.   

Children seldom rush to get dressed first thing in the morning and I loved the idea of photographing the girls still in their pjs and nightdresses outside, natural and free, exploring the vegetable plot and feeding the chickens. Vicki and I put our heads together and came up with a number of styling ideas, props, our four gorgeous models and kept fingers crossed that it didn't rain!

Many of the girls  nightdresses and pyjamas  are inspired by original Victorian designs. Designed in England and made in beautiful soft cotton, they all have pretty hand finished detailing. The 'Secret Garden' theme was perfect and I could just imagine Mary walking the walls of the Misselthwaite Manor in one of these nightdresses.

The rose garden plays an important theme in the novel and these are some of my favourite images from the shoot. This nightdress is guaranteed to make even the most boisterous little girl look angelic!

The Medicine Garden in Cobham, Surrey was the perfect setting, with it's Victorian walled garden, beds of lavender and vegetable plots bursting with cabbages. Vicki runs her photo workshops here and I love the nursery and the delicious cakes in the cafe! 

As you can see the caterpillars have got the better of the cabbages!

You can read more about this photo shoot on Vicki's blog here

I can't wait to share more photos from this shoot including a very whimsical tea party!

Janne x