WINTER WARMING CLOTHING

Clothing can be seductive. Especially when buying for other people. Little people. And especially when there are so many brands now that produce clothing responsibly, by hand, or using natural or sustainable materials.

The world of childrenswear has come a long way since when our eldest son was born more than eight years ago.

But despite all of this beautiful temptation we try to minimise the amount of purchases we make. Generally, we only buy new clothing for birthdays or Christmas and when the children are in need of specific items at the turn of a new season. At the moment the girls have almost outgrown all of their tights, but I’m trying to hold off buying more until next year otherwise they will most likely be too small again.

This winter there were a few necessary purchases we had to make. And I wanted to share them as I’ve been really happy with the quality and the companies that have produced them.

Last year everyone was wearing Collegien slipper socks, which are great, but they are now too small and so I replaced them with wool felt slippers for the girls from Sew Heart Felt. They are so cute that they’re just as much decorative pieces as something to keep their feet warm.

The girls were also in need of winter jackets. As they wear them to school, I wanted something that was easy for them to fasten and unbutton. The quilted jackets from Printebebe have been great as they’re not only easy for them to wear, and go with pretty much everything in their wardrobe, but the pattern hides dirt and when the youngest has come home from preschool with paint on her jacket, it has washed right out.

They have also been wearing their desert boots from Poppeto almost every day. And they have survived life on the property and daily wear at school.

The main other winter purchases have been for the baby. He is almost three months old and fast growing out his newborn clothes. To keep him warm I have bought a merino knit cardigan from Nature Baby, organic woollen socks from Wollykins and booties and a hat from Misha and Puff.

As none of these items are overly bulky we should get wear out of them for the final month of winter, and also going into spring. But then my almost five-year-old daughter has grown out of her most of her summer dresses and we’ll start the whole process over again!

images the indigo crew

NATURAL WAYS TO KEEP WARM AT HOME

It feels like winter has been playing tricks on us this year. One day it's cold and there's frost on the farms lower in the valley and then we're walking around in short sleeves. 

We're also living in a completely different style of home to this time last year. Australian inner-city terrace homes are not known for being warm, although ours wasn't too bad. It was double brick which meant that once we got it warm, the heat stayed in for much longer than many other similar-style homes. But it wasn't an open-plan house so while we could get individual rooms warm, it took a lot more energy to heat the whole place.

And although we had a working fire, it wasn't a slow combustion fireplace so the timber burned off quite quickly and the heat didn't linger. As many other Australians who live in unrenovated homes, we had to rely on portable gas and electric heaters to warm our place. Then became the issue at the end of winter of storing them somewhere too. 

There were some strategies we used though to help make life a little easier though. One of them was devised by our son when he decided to sleep on one of our sheepskins. We thought he was being cute about it, but then we tried it ourselves and it's hard to go back. It really is a great way to sleep. And it's much more preferable to using electric blankets for us, as it's more economical and better for the environment. All of the children now sleep on sheepskins, including the baby, who has one underneath his cot sheet in his bassinet. The others lie directly on the sheepskin - our daughter says it's like sleeping with a giant (natural-fibre) teddy bear!

Not only does our current home have a large slow combustion fire at its centre, but the chimney stack runs up to the second level. This means that the bricks warm up throughout the house. Plus there are vents on the ground and first levels which disperse heat into open-plan areas on both levels. It's such a great way to warm the house. In fact, many times this winter we have had to change into lighter clothing when sitting in our office area as it gets so warm because it's right next to one of the vents.

For the baby we took one of the ideas that we used to use in our previous home - sheepskins on our chairs in the study - and placed them on his bouncer for when he's awake. This also gets placed on the floor for him to lie on during the hour or so he's alert in between feeds and naps.

Of course, we are big fans of layering our beds with wool blankets and swapping over our cotton cushion covers for woollen ones in the cooler months. And reindeer hides get placed on chairs, the sofa and on the floor in our bedroom. Every little bit helps.

Interestingly, after having such a hot summer in this house, winter has been a welcome season for all of us. It's hard to beat spending evenings in front of a warming fire. 

images the indigo crew