One of the very first pieces of clothing that I bought for Wren was a cute little printed romper from a small label called What Mother Made at Broadway Market. I was immediately drawn to the traditional shapes and colourful prints on the stall and thankfully, I wasn't the only one. What Mother Made have continued to grow, and they now produce a large collection of handmade kid's clothes that look like your Mother could have made them. Their new Autumn/Winter collection has just launched, so I chatted to founder Charlotte to find out a little more about the brand.
What inspired you to start What Mother Made? My grandmother used to make my Mum's clothes, my Mum used to make my clothes, so this passion for making garments is in our family and has always existed. I really wanted to carry on that tradition, it's something I feel we've lost in recent years. What Mother Made initially started as a hobby, then for the Royal Wedding we made a few pieces to sell at a local craft market. Everything sold out and since then we haven't looked back. What are the ideas behind the most recent collection? We were looking through family photos of when we were children, reminiscing. The clothes we were dressed in gave me food for thought. The shapes and textures were amazing and so it inspired us to create our own 'heritage' collection. What materials do you use and where do you make the clothes? We hand-make everything from a studio in Dalston, East London, and we're proud that we have been able to keep the process British. We use a lot of different fabrics; cottons, herringbone wool, African prints and fleck tweeds. Texture is really important to the new collection and the extra dimension it gives to the clothing. Where do you sell? We're stocked in a number of places across London at the moment (In With the Old, 57 Amwell Street, EC1R 1UR, Archie's Boutique) as well as through our website www.whatmothermade.co.uk. We've also kept the original stall we had when we first started the business over 2 years ago at Broadway Market, Hackney, every Saturday from 10am - 5pm. Do you have any children? If so, what is your favourite thing to do with your kids? Yes we have two. Madison who is six, and Arlo who is about to turn one. At home with the children we love making things; cars, magic telescopes, treasure boxes out of cereal boxes and bottle tops. If you can glue it or cut it, they'll be making something out of it! What is your favourite children's book? We recently bought the entire Roald Dahl collection at a car boot sale and are currently reading The Witches with Madison. They are absolutely timeless those stories and reading them to Madison is like being transported back to your youth. They're just brilliant to read. Do you have any exciting plans for the future? Lots, we're in the middle of planning for next year's seasons and we're looking to take the brand to Australia and Scandinavia towards the end of the year. We're also looking into British collaborations so watch this space...