site.perrywinkleskids.com Blog

As featured on Secret Life Of a WAHM on July 24, 2009 (www.secretlifeofawahm.blogspot.com/2009/07/perry-winkle-kids-smocked-dress.html):

I love anything smocked!!! I can truly say I am an addict for smocked dresses, bubbles and pant sets. When I found out I was pregnant with my daughter I started buying them and buying them! Smocked dresses are so timeless and clothing work of art. My favorite is the bishop and angel sleeve styles. With these styles you can get 2-3 years of wear out of one dress. I like to buy mine long and then as my daughter grows I pair them with bloomers or pantaloons.

I was recently given the opportunity to review a smocked dress from Perry Winkles Kids. They make beautiful hand-smocked dresses. We received the Ursala smocked sundress. It is breathtaking. The quality is second to none! It is made of a gorgeous, super soft cotton in green with a fun plaid pattern and is completely lined. It has pearlized buttons in the back from the top to the bottom. We just love it!! The smocking detail is amazing!! I love the fact that I can dress this dress up or down. I can pair it with keds or sandals for a more casual look or with a pair of mary janes for a dressier look.

Here is a picture of Riley in her new dress. I took several pictures of Riley in her new dress but had my camera on the wrong setting. This is the only one I could salvage.

Perry Winkles Kids is a Canadian-based mother and daughter team. They are both moms that appreciate good quality and easy to care for clothing. They only work with natural fibres (like 100% pima cotton) and they place a huge importance in bringing you a high-quality and unique product.

They offer sizes ranging from 3 months to 6T.

Secret Burkheiser, Secret Life Of a WHAM

As featured on ‘My Organized Chaos’ (www.myorganizedchaos.net, June 22, 2009):

My daughter is such a girly-girl. No matter the day, or the weather – she can always be found in a dress. And the fancier the better. So, when I came across PerryWinkles Kids – it seemed like a match made in heaven. The dresses found here are simply divine, and made in a very special way…

Started by a Canadian Mother and daughter team, PerryWinkles Kids features elegant smocked dresses. What’s smocked? It’s a decorative feature that is made by sewing fine pleats. The result is very stunning, and very feminine. This company is unique in that their items are hand smocked and hand embroidered, using pima cotton in Peru. This cotton material is a very soft and luxurious cotton, it has a subtle sheen to it. Yet, is perfect for kids’ clothes because it can be easily machine or hand washed (depending on the item).

Isabelle received the Marian Sundress, a light blue dress which falls below the knees.
The beautiful dress is something that when taken out of the gift box, we both were speechless. Isabelle let out one big , “Wow” and hugged it tightly. (Yep, loves her dresses) I am most impressed that the entire dress is lined on the inside. She has had a couple of dresses in the past (with smocking detail) and they all itched so bad she never wore them. The inside lining makes it both comfortable and gives it some extra ‘poof’ and shape. The hand embroidery on the bodice is gorgeous, white rosebuds amongst the blue makes for a nice design. I have inspected this dress before and after washing and I must say, the stitching is superb. It is both a light dress to wear on a summer day, and exquisite enough for a special occasion. (or to the city market, as my daughter insisted) I can tell that it was made with much care and attention, I can see this being passed down for many to wear and love.

Tammi Roy

My Organized Chaos, June 22, 2009

I don’t know what came first – trying to be technology-savvy because I needed these skills to promote my budding small business in this age of social networking or because I want to make sure I can speak in the same language as my children in a few years.  Whatever the reason, sometimes I look back in awe at how much I have learned about technology in the past couple of years since I launched my business of little girls’ smocked dresses, PerryWinkles Kids.  Today, I am a regular in Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, , Skype, eBay and I consider myself somewhat of a novice expert in SEO (search-engine optimization). Oh yes, and I have a BlackBerry (something I never thought I’d own if you asked me about 6 months ago).

I have no background in technology and I am not an expert by any means (I have no clue what programming entails, for example), but I can now confidently post pictures and articles onto Facebook and Twitter, update my website and talk in the SEO-lingo some of the time, make a phone call and chat on Skype, and of course buy and sell on eBay.  I know that I will still be light years behind what my children will know about computers in a couple of years (my daughters are 5 and 3), but at least I feel I will be able to somewhat communicate with them regarding computer topics and ways to communicate in this day and age.  I will probably never be cool enough for my kids, but hey, at least I will know something about the means they are using to communicate with their friends.

Now, video games are a whole other story.  My 5-yeard old daughter is starting to ask me when I will let her get a Wii.  I personally think she is way too young to start getting into video games, but she has friends who have older siblings and has therefore been exposed to them.  I will try to delay that one as long as I can, but I already have visions of myself boxing or playing tennis on my daughters’ Wii.

Maria

PerryWinkles Kids – specializing in girls smocked dresses

PerryWinkles Kids has just added a new product to our line of fine children’s clothing – newborn and baby girl and baby boy knit sets in mercerized or “pearl” cotton.

This adorable 2-piece outfit is cuddly and soft. The infant baby boy and baby girl cotton knit set includes a short sleeves cardigan and shorts jumper and is made of 100% petal-soft mercerized pima cotton and is as soft as a little baby’s skin. The little cardigan has buttons all the way down the back while the the jumper opens at the top for easy on/off. The pants have a onesie design with buttons at the bottom for easy diaper change. The 2 pieces can also be worn separately for versatility. This baby knit set is the perfect baby shower gift for a special new baby boy or baby girl.

This is the perfect compliment to our line of little girls smocked dresses.

Maria

PerryWinkles Kids – specializing in little girls smocked dresses

As featured in Upscale Baby Blog (April 4, 2009):
“Perry Winkles Kids is the joint effort of a Canadian mother-daughter design team. They make a wide variety of dresses to suit any occasion. Their new spring and summer line includes this great Smocked SOL Dress. I love the simple elegance of this look. It would be perfect for Easter, or any other big day. It is fancy enough for dressy occasions, but I can also see it being dressed down for a stroll through the park or a romp on the beach.

It is made from soft white cotton and the hand embroidery is in pink. Best of all, it is machine washable. You can purchase one for $80 at perrywinkleskids.com. While you are there, check out the rest of this up-and-coming line. It is available in sizes from 2T to 6.”

Maria

PerryWinkles Kids – fine girls’ smocked dresses

http://www.urbanmoms.ca/marketplace/2009/03/perrywinkles-kids.html

PerryWinkles Kids has just launched its new collection of little girls’ smocked dresses and we are very excited about it.  The new collection is full of lively, girly and adorable new creations that are perfect for every little girl’s special occasions this Spring and Summer.  And as always, all of our little girls’ dresses are hand-smocked and made of 100% high quality pima cotton, which makes them machine-washable.

Choose from some of our new floral cotton print dresses, like the Alesia or the Rose dress.  Or if you like the classic styles more, you will love the pique cotton Tatiana dresses and the gorgeous Linda collection.  Pair up one of our beautiful dresses with one of our new for an even more polished look.  Our smocked dresses are perfect for special occasions like weddings, anniversary parties, birthday parties, religious events, or when you want your little girl to look a little bit more dressy in an age-appropriate outfit.  We have styles for little girls from newborn to toddlers to size 6.  All our dresses up to size 12months/1T come with matching bloomers.

As always, enjoy free shipping on orders over $150.  All our orders ship within 24 hours.

Maria

PerryWinkles Kids – fine little girl smocked dresses

It is amazing how much knowledge children can absorb from their surroundings.  I know that my children will probably know a lot more about computers than me in a few years as a more digital world surrounds them.  But I have found it very refreshing to find that my two young daughters are teaching me to be more ‘green’.  From shutting the lights behind me when I leave a room, to closing the tap when I’m not using the water, to just name a few things, my kids are making me even more aware of the need to conserve energy and care for our planet.

We try to be environmentally conscious at home, trying to recycle as much as we can in the kitchen and just in general around the home, to trying to walk whenever we can instead of using our car (we are lucky we have all the conveniences we need, including my children’s school, very close by).  But it is so encouraging, for the health of our planet, to see that the youngest generations are adopting a ‘greener’ way of life in strides.  A lot of the credit I must say goes to my daughters’  school teachers, as our young kids are being encouraged to adopt a ‘green’ way of life by their teachers at school, without the kids even realizing they are learning.  Bottled water is a big no nowadays, their schools also don’t waste any paper anymore and they are encouraged to bring no-waste snacks (only recyclables and reusable containers).  They also hold an Environment Week when all the school’s lights are either turned off or dimmed.  And it is great to see that these little people are absorbing all this knowledge and actually making it just a way of life.  It is definitely encouraging for the health of our planet in the years to come.

Maria

PerryWinkles Kids – fine girls’ smocked dresses

I’m not bragging….I am just truly amazed at my 5-year old little girl…and I’m sure most 5-year olds are showing the same ability.  She is learning to read.  5 seems young, just because she still seems like a tiny person and I guess I can’t remember when I learned to read, but I always pictured this to be later in life.

My eldest daughter is in Senior Kindergarten (at an amazing little school in Toronto) and I am just truly amazed at the progress she has made from September to here.  She is a late October baby so she is the youngest in her class (literally this year actually).  Back in September, all she could recognize from the alphabet was pretty much the letter ‘K’ (the first letter in her name, Keira), M for mom, D for dad and S for Sara (her little sister).  Only 4 months later, she is able to recognize pretty much every letter in the alphabet – she can read them and write them.  And she can read basic children’s books – even though these only have one sentence per page and the words are pretty basic, they are books.  But the best part I think is that she’s starting to recognize words on the street, on the newspaper and on food items that we have at home.  She is amazed herself that she can do this I think and it’s changing her surroundings.

Learning to read – it seems like such a trivial thing as an adult, as we just take it for granted, but seeing the process in a child makes me realize how a truly amazing feat it is…but more importantly, how amazing and sponge-like little kids are.

Maria

PerryWinkles Kids – fine smocked dresses for little girls

It’s that time of year again – the time when it seems like my family and I are constantly battling against all kinds of flus, colds and viruses….it seems like it’s us against all of them every week!  Ever since the beginning of November, someone in my household has had some sort of cold or flu, including this weekend – I battled a stomach flu yesterday and my husband was hit with it today.  We consider ourselves a pretty fit and healthy household – we try to eat healthy, gets lots of sleep and exercise on a very regular basis.  But it seems like every time November hits, no matter how ‘ready’ we think we are to battle all these flus and colds, we get hit.

I have two young daughters, 2 and 5, who go to school and spend most of their day with other small children.  I am sure their schools are the source of most of our ailings, but I also know there is nothing I can do about this.  We try to boost up the vitamin C intakes during the colder (i.e. closed windows) months, we try to make it an even stronger point of washing our hands constantly….but still, we are hit!  I never used to get sick before I had kids…it seems like the flus and viruses that roam in children’s environments are just stronger and are here to get us all.  And of course, are bodies are already worn down from all the running around that comes with the holidays, not to mention the stress that the stock and housing market weaknesses have brought.  So I think we are just easy targets at this time of year…and these viruses are relentless!!  So after another weekend of chicken soup, I’m hoping that we can finally shake off these ailments and enjoy some winter fun…after all, I would think by now we’ve built up our immune system against some of the strains of flus this season!

Maria

PerryWinkles Kids – fine girls’ smocked dresses