Anyone know about "Clothkits"?

[Wallace]

My mum was telling me about Clothkits. She used to get them mail order when we were children. They were basically sewing kits which had everything you needed to make items of clothing - the pattern to cut out was actually on the material.

I am interested to find out if they still exist. I have been trying, and failing, to find the perfect dungarees for ds2 who is in cloth nappies, and thought it may be easier to make my own.

no they don't....

No, they don't

They expanded hugely in the 80s, shops in places like Covent Garden, and their bubble burst. Very sad.

Try ebay for 2nd hand maybe (I have never looked!)

\link{http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VINTAGE-CLOTHKITS-Childs-Dungarees-Kit-EggshellBlue_W0QQitemZ230106430605QQcategoryZ3119QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItemhere you go!}

(ebay is fab)

God I lived in clothkits stuff ... with matching outfits for my sasha dolls! We've got loads of it passed down for ds/dd ... I thought they were no longer around - but tell me if you find them!

oops!

try again!

we loved clothkits! i had a beautiful party dress and some lovey red toweling pyjamas with owls on. 25 years later and living in another country my best friend told me all the kids in the catalogues were friends of hers!

I did look into the idea of doing something similar as a busines venture but concluded tht people didn't have the willingnes to sew or the every house has some sort of access to a sewing machine which was the case 25 years ago

I remember them- they used to do a pattern for a rag doll I think, all printed onto the cloth already. Sweet clothes.

Thanks janH, too big for my ds unfortunatley, but I must keep an eye out on ebay.

I had a lovely brown pinafore with a sort of garden scene along the bottom of a the skirt. When I out grew it my mum turned it into a skirt. Ah, those were the days...

Clothkits

My kids had lots of the ready-made clothes, which were lovely, and my MIL used to kindly make the padded jackets (with attached animals in pockets) for us.

They're all long gone now, sadly.

Here are the dolls . I remember seeing pictures of those animals in the pockets, Janh. Someone gave me an old Clothkits changing bag when ds was born.

Oshkosh toddler dungarees are pretty baggy.

Can you still get them new here? (They are expensive new though)

oohh, yes, I had animals in my pockets. And lots of matching bags...

Oh, lovely

I'm sure they are due a revival...

come on Zippi!

My two (b 1987 & 1990) had quite a lot of the clothkits ready made stuff, and some of the kit ones 'inherited' from their cousins (ie that my sis had made up!)One Christams they both had spotty pyjamas with matching ones for their teddies - we still have the teddy pjs.

I would buy them Zippi - especially if they could be cut to fit over cloth nappies better.

Was that clothkits or Kids Stuff, Rusty? My kids (82, 85 & 88)(+93 but he missed out!) had the spotty pjs and teddy outfits from there.

(Another one gone with the wind...GLTC took them over and buggered them up)

Mine had the matching PJs from Kids Stuff too, and they were 94 and 98. Completely agree about it being a shame that they're defunct, I liked their stuff a lot.

The owners of Clothkits sold out in the 1990s to a mail order firm (Great Little Trading Co?) and the shops closed. I don't think the brand lasted long after that. I bought my two DSs (born 1987 and 1991) ready made stuff and bought ready made and kits for myself. As far as I remember the instructions weren't always easy for a not very competent person like myself (at least in comparison with paper patterns). There were shops in Covent Garden (Neal St?) and Oxford (Gt Clarendon St) and Bath - and probably some other places. The mail order catalogue featured the owners and their friends and children.

JanH is right, OshKosh Dungarees are perfect. You can get them on Ebay...I have many many pairs, but mostly girls' styles/ colours. How old is ds2? I can look and see if we have any unisex ones, if you like....

Boots round here (Scotland) sell OshKosh

does anyone remember Pollyanna clothes from the seventies? We all had boiler suits, which we lived in, a lot of the time. Very practical!

noolibird.co.uk

Just found this after some intensive googling - noolibird is run by Nula, the daughter of Clothkits' founder, and this message is from her!

Have tried to find the Telegraph article but no luck.

Think you're right JanH - the pjs probably were KidsStuff [fading memory emoticon] - I got so much stuff from my sis I've got mixed up