Another blast from the past…
This is a picture of our niece at her first birthday party wearing a dress that I had made for her for the occasion; I hasten to mention that she is now 21 years old so she has changed quite a bit since. Quite the sophisticated and beautiful young lady nowadays… I really enjoyed her company at our family Christmas lunch yesterday. It’s still a bit shocking to me how quickly the years have passed, of course I don’t feel any older today than since I took this photo of her and my sister-in-law together, but obviously this is a sad self-delusion… sigh…
Re the cute little dress; I don’t have any memory of the pattern I used to make this; but it’s highly possible it was a Topkids pattern. Does anyone else remember these excellent magazines? They were like Burda, but for kiddies; stuffed full of cute and very stylish designs. It was an Australian publication and the instructions were in English, but I’m 99% certain the all the designs and all the photography inside the magazine were Dutch in origin. I’m basing my theory on the following; apart from the fact that there was a line of rather cryptic and unenlightening very fine print, something about Amsterdam, on the title page; all the styling and clothing had a distinctly European air about them, that was very patently not Australian… this is my highly analytical summary. Hehe…
Does anyone else have more specific information about TopKids, and can enlighten me further?
The Dutch acknowledgement I’m referring to (and here I toddle off to haul out an old copy from the dusty archives…) was:
De Geillustreerde Pers BV Amsterdam
Thanks for your thoughts!
I remember the Topkids magazine! My mum made quite a few little outfits for me when I was little.
I think perhaps you're right in thinking that they weren't Australian in origin – I just flicked through my magazine and saw some kids on the beach wearing sandals and boots instead of thongs… Surely it must be European!
De Geillusteerde Pers (the illustrated Press) did publish some magazine in the 60's and 70's I think and among those was the magazine Madeleine, a pattern magazine for women. I couldn't find anything about Topkids, and De Geillustreerde Pers doesn't exist anymore, so it's hard to find information about it. But I think it is likely that they published a pattern magazine for children too…
Thankyou Karin! The Topkids magazines were being sold in Australia in the 90's, so not really that long ago…
So cute!
That's a really sweet dress.
I love your fabric choice for your Christmas dress. Can't wait to the see the completed dress.
As for the six different looks, my favorite is the office look with the black top.
As Karin van D mentioned, 'De Geillustreerde Pers BV' means 'The Illustrated Press Inc.'
I'm not familiar with this publisher, so I guess Karin is right about that.
However, there was, at least as far back as the 1980's, and still is today, a Dutch sewing magazine, dedicated to children's clothes called, Knippie. It used to be a monthly (now either 4 or 6 times a year) publication and my mother sewed a lot from it when I was little. It was the kiddie version of Knipmode (still going strong and often mentioned in the sewing blogosphere).
Awe, what a cute dress. My oldest is eleven and I think how fast those years went. The last seven, to official adulthood, is sure to go even faster! I'll have to write into our local news station and tell them to get their facts straight! Glad all is well.
awww, I like the scalloped collar (or pointy collar, whatever ..) Kids clothes are so fun …
I actually have two jade necklaces, the one I lost was an every day one, given by my mil, she had bought it with her first money from her first job as her first jewelry. i wore it every day too .. so glad I found it again. The one I wore sat is very very fancy – my grandmother in law had one made for me and for my sister in law. I keep it in the safe and have only worn it a handful of times – for my wedding, and a few other occasions. It's absolutely stunning but I'm afraid to wear it too often 🙂 Fortunately it has never been lost! I should have clarified …
Have a good day!
Beautiful little girl and dress 🙂
Yes time flies.. my little girl, now 25 is expecting in Jan..and even though we are truly excited and happy, we somehow can't believe it is happening.
There are people in my life that are "stuck" at a certain age in my memory too.
I was an avid collector and user of Topkids. It is no longer produced unfortunately. I made so many great dresses and things for both my kids. Recently sent them to another blogger in the states for her kids.