Soph4Soph

Well... Hello to all.. I'm here by (hopefully) popular demand! and raring to go with my 1st blog entry!

I thought I'd start off by telling you a bit about myself.. and what 'Soph4Soph' is all about...

I'm a Single (nearly 30yr old!) Mum to 4 kiddies.. I have 3 sons, aged 8, 6 and 4. then I have my Daughter, the wonderful and most amazing... Sophie-Isabella Syna! (yes her initials spell out S.I.S!!) She's 19 months old and Very very cheeky! (and Beautiful!!)

Soph4Soph (as I'm known my on Twitter account) is the name of my clothing Label, 'Sophie4Sophie' I started the clothing label in May 2008 and its been a slow but fun learning experience! which has in the last few months turned into a real business!! and selling Online!!

The concept behind Sophie4Sophie was to make clothes for babies/Toddlers that didn't have a 3 month size tag! I wanted clothes that evolved with the baby/toddler and that were super funky and adaptable!!

the 1st design we (i saw 'we' as my sister.. Sophie is the co-founder to the business! (also I'll come to the name thing in a min!!)) came up with was a pair of pants! or trousers.. i used to call them trousers, but prefer the word pants now!!

the pants fit from 6 months (approx!) all the way to 18 months and Beyond!... they are unique in design and unique in style! and almost unique in FUNK!! (but can't take the credit for the funk'ness.. that's down to the fabric designers... I love them!!)
here's a pic of a pair!!!

I haven't made any of these for a while, Because along came my 2nd creation, and the one I'm mostly known for... the Super funky.. totally cool... Sophie4Sophie Reversible Dress!!!

these dresses are my passion, they fit from 9 months (approx! as i know a few 6 month olds who fit in them!!) all the way to 3 years and beyond.. (don't tell anyone, but my 4 year old son fits them perfectly!!)

they are designed to be worn as a loose long dress whilst baby is young, then as they grow they turn from a dress, to a short swing dress, to a super cool swing top! they can be worn all year round, as in summer wear alone, then when the colder months come around, just team them up with leggings, jeans, tights and Tops, vests or really ANYTHING!!

here's a pic of my fave dress ever

I love the fabric on this dress, its so NOT conforming to a little girls outfit.. but who could resist the half naked workmen on this dress!! so funny and So cool!.. the reverse of this dress is a tad more suitable tho, it has manga fighting girls & flowers on! Still totally Cool... but less shocking for the little old ladies that see her as she's walking down the road! Ha ha! i love the looks i get when she's in this dress!!

You can see all of my work on my facebook page I haven't updated Facebook for a while, but soon you should see more of my most recent work.. and upcoming News, Events and special offers!

Right... so now I've kinda and Hopefully bought you up to speed on who I am and what Sophie4Sophie is, let crack on with Today!!.... Wasn't it blooming HOT!!

I was woken up this morning by my sister Sophie (yes.. will still come to the name thing in a min!!) at 9am! its Wednesday.. what was I doing in bed.. at 9am on a school day! didn't the kids know that they had to wake me up??

I said... "uhh... whats the time?? why are you ringing me?" (dribble still adorning my cheek.. why oh why do i sleep with the electric fan pointing towards my face!)

"where are you, you home yet" she said...

"um... I'm still asleep... whats the time... 9AM...... No way.. I'm still in bed... The kids... they're so going to be late for School!"

"I'll be round in a min.. put the kettle on" Sophie said! (from now on, Sister Sophie will be known as BIG Sophie! this is what the kids call her otherwise it gets confusing!!)

up like a shot, I thought 'Right.. time to get into gear' running down stairs, shouting.. "boys.... are you ready for school?"

(they always get themselves dressed in the morning, 8yo makes them all breakfast.. so when i do get up at 7am'ish they're pretty much set!)

"yeah mummy... we are..." this was 8yo!

walking into the living room.. they So weren't ready!! they were all on the sofa covered in blankets watching playhouse Disney!!

I shouted at 8yo to get his School clothes on, which he did and he left the house! We live on the same road as his school, its literally 4/5 houses away and i can see it from my living room window, so every morning he walks himself!

now.. only 6yo and 4yo to get ready.. i put the kettle on and thought... 'I really can't be arsed to rush about... can i just ring the schools and say boys are ill? heatstroke? up too late last night??

what a bad mum i am! YES.. i could say that.. i WAS up all night last night, It was hot.. they could have been up too?? the school won't know.. So i rang them!

" I'm sorry 6yo won't be at school today, he was up all night, didn't sleep very well in this heat, I think he may have have slight heatstroke?? best I keep him home all day indoors.. to recover!"

how bad is that!!! they accepted my 'excuse' and said, "i hope we see him tomorrow!"

as for the 4yo's school/nursery... I didn't bother ringing them! (another post there.. major issues!!)

So at home we stayed!!

BIG Sophie arrived, I had coffee (she had tea, YUK!) and we chatted... I'm trying to help her find a placement for work experience. She's at Uni studying BA Hons Fashion Design, and entering her 2nd year in September! She'd love to do it with River Island, but has quite a few others she'd like to go with too. (cutting this part of the day short.. as another post will cover this story soon!!)

BIG Sophie left and i thought.. I'll work on my new Idea for 'S4S'

I'd had this idea about making something for Sophie (daughter!) and today, I had no school runs, no work, no housework (miracle!) so thought.. lets crack on with it!

armed with my 2nd cup of coffee and some home baked bread.. I got out my fabrics!

on Twitter.. I've been teasing a few of my followers with what i was planning on making, said i had some PVC.. and they Questions came flooding in!!

"are you making a kinky outfit?!" umm.. no.. its for Sophie!

"is it a S4S dress but waterproof? like an apron??" umm.. no, but thanks for the Idea!! will use that one! lol

So.. what i was actually making was a Bib!! I wanted a bib for Sophie for when we ate out.. She is a very messy eater and I'm not a fan of the pull over head jersey plain or printed bibs!! so boring.... I wanted a funky bib! something that stood out.. and something wipe-able! not soak-able!

I have loads of funky fabrics which i could use for the bibs, (all co-ordinated and available to match my dresses!!) should someone want a matching dress & bib!!

I wanted it also to fit a large age range too!! just like everything i make (or will make!) it has to have a long life span!

So, no Velcro... no poppers.. these inhibit the longevity of the bib.. I chose to put ribbons on the bib! simple tie up at the back, making it available to fit, babies, toddlers and again the 4yo! he wasn't impressed being asked to wear a bib!!!

so.. your thinking.. OK... you've told me its a bib... you've told me how its done up at the back, but what makes this bib so special?? and where is this bib??

would you like to see pictures??!!... YES i hear you say!!.. so OK! here's the bib!!

Sophie looks bemused in the pic.. but she's actually pre-sneezing!!! I caught her at just the wrong moment!! but I love the picture!!

the bib was made from 3 layers... top: PVC, middle layer: Alexander Henry 'midnight snack fabric' and bottom layer: organic jersey cotton, bought from Gossypium
I bound it all together using black binding and for the ties... I put in eyelets on either side and used a ribbon to bring the sides together at the back, Here's a pic of the back!

looks so cute doesn't it! and very funky compared to the normal standard bibs available at the mo!!
I've added more pics of the bib and the making process on my Flickr account.. please take a look here
forgive all the other photos in my stream... I'm a Stokke Addict.. and am obsessed with taking photos of my daughter in her Xplory! (another future post... which will feature soon too!!)

Well... so what do you think?? do you like the bib? do you think it has a market?? I'm planning on selling them on request only.. which if you are interested in, please contact me on hello@sophie4sophie.com
I've deliberated on the price.. and have settled on £8 per bib! but.. as I'm always up for a haggle... Haggle with me!! LOL

well.. i think that's it!... Its taken me a good couple of hours of cut/pasting/editing & thinking to get my 1st blog post done!.. I hope you've all enjoyed the read!... i will be writing every evening (if i can..!) so please feel free.. to unfollow me at anytime! i waffle on like crazy, don't make much sense most of the time and so will probably bore you most nights!...

Speak again soon...
Natalie( that my name by the way!!!)

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Right... now for the explination of Sophie4Sophie, BIG sophie & Sophie-Isabella Syna!!

Sophie is my sister, she has a twin.. my other sister.. Isabel!
when my daughter was born, they both demanded i name her after one of them... so Sophie-Isabella it was! Isabella rolled of the tongue better than Isabel! Isabel who's known as Izi now liked that version, so phew, that was ok!!
Syna is my daughters 2nd name and its meaning is 'two together' whihc i thought was quite fitting.. seeing as her 1st name was the two names of my twin sisters put together!! and also... initils are important to me, I wanted her to have an 'S' name so hers would be S.I.S 'sis' because she was a Sis.. she was an only girl to my family of 4! and after having 3 sons.. My daughter was a god send!!
she was the inspiration behind starting Sophie4Sophie.. girls clothes are so much funkier than boys.. they can wear anything and they aren't inhibited by colour! (boys DO wear pink.. but not as a rule!!)
BIG Sophie was and still is studying Fashion at college (now Uni!) and she was making amazing things.. i wanted in on the action and decided i'd start making things for 'my' Sophie!
i've already told you about the pants and dresses, so i won't go on about them again! but they were the 2 things i made.. I was so proud and as Sophie was helping me so much and giving me tons of advice (i've never been taught to sew/design!) we thought we''d try selling our creations! we thought of a name and it just popped into my head, Sophie was helping/making clothes for Sophie.. So, Sophie for Sophie... became... Sophie4Sophie! it just sounded Right!!
so there's how Sophie4Sophie was created, named, and hopefully explained!!

I have a website, which ATM is still under construction.. I'm so useless at web design, that a friend has kindly said she'll create one for me! its in its process and i;ve seen a few Proofs! it looks amazing and I can't wait to show it off! but for now... my work/updates etc.. are all on Twitter.. follow me by searching @soph4soph! or through my Facebook page, which is linked higher up in this post!

once again. thanks for reading, thanks for getting this far without falling asleep! its just gone midnight and i still have 14 cupcakes to buttercream & glitter! (6yo's got a school Fete and i've been asked to do cakes!! YAY!!!)

signing off for tonight... so goodnight... toodle pip... goodnight!
Natalie! xxx