Mrs Osborn's shopping spree: Broadway Market

Sunday, 3 February 2013

children's clothes by What Mother Made

I'm always on the look out for beautiful clothing for my four children. M&S and H&M are all very well - very practical, and cheap (which immediately rings those ethical alarm bells). But those high street brand don't really fit with Mrs Osborn's mission to find the very best of British designed and made products.
What Mother Made, based in London, is the perfect alternative - and well named too, as the clothes really do look like what my mother made for me back in the C20th. Clothes for girls and boys (woo! not always easy to find nice stuff for boys) from baby to 8 years old are handmade in a studio in Dalston. Everything is made to order, so if you fancy it in a different fabric, ask if they have it in stock.
Clothes are available to buy on line and also at the Saturday Broadway Market in London.

I'm very taken with these dresses, and the gingham boy's shirt

Saturday, 11 February 2012

Mrs Osborn goes on a spree to Broadway Market

I went to Broadway Market today - an early start, and back in time for lunch. What a beautiful morning, endless pale blue skies tinged with apricot.

Broadway Market is right on the Regent's Canal which was frozen over, the smell of woodsmoke in the air from the canalboats (oh, I'd like to sit by a log fire right now)

Time to dive in and get some delicious food: bread...

...and sausages

...fruit (very good bottled apple juice, just behind the grapefruits)

And there are stalls selling other goodies too, like this knitwear by Catherine Tough - blankets and hotwater bottle covers - just what is needed on a cold crisp day like today. Catherine uses soft lambswool and a range of soft colours: I am particularly taken with the duck egg blue, moss green and papaya red. To my delight I discovered she was also using my fav colour of the moment, mustard yellow. I bought a pair of her lambswool socks, in blue and mustard (natch), which are extremely cosy (size 4-7, and I am 7.5 and they fit perfectly). Thank you Catherine!

Hearts, rabbits, owls - filled with lavender

Scarf in papaya red

Sweetheart Knits - handknitted jumpers, tank tops, cardis and hats for kids

There are some great shops too - Fabrications - the studio for designer-maker Barley Massey who upcycles local waste into interior furnishings and craft kids (click here to take a look at what she makes). It is also a centre for creativity: learn crocheting, patchworking, knitting and other skills. Check out their calendar for events this month.