As parents, we all have favourite outfits that we loved seeing our little ones wear. When you become an adoptive parent, those clothes hold a lot more than memories. They’re a reminder of the journey you’ve been on to find each other.

The clothing worn on the first day of introductions is so much more than material. The outfit will have been picked and probably bought by the foster carer. The amount of thought that was put into the outfit choice doesn’t matter. What does matter is the memories it will hold for you. A reminder of the day you became a parent.

So, what do we do with all these clothes that hold so many life changing memories? Keeping them “safe” in a drawer seems a bit pointless. The whole point is they evoke memories whenever we see them. So they need to be seen.

One of the reasons I created We Made a Wish, was so that we could sell clothing keepsakes to help keep all those precious memories accessible. My favourite in our collection are our keepsake blankets. We have one for each of the girls made from the clothes they wore during introductions.

Seeing the blankets takes me right back to introductions. Eldest’s in particular brings the memories flooding back. Her foster carer used a strong smelling fabric softener and even though it’s six years since she washed them, they still smell of it. As soon as I smell the blanket, it reminds me of the wonderful foster carer. That’s a lovely memory to be able to share with eldest too.

We sell blankets / quilts, cushion covers, initials and bags. If you have one particular item that means the world, we can make it into you little one’s initial or a bag for them to play with. The bag pictured below is made from the dress eldest wore the day after she came home.

If you’ve got a few more items, a cushion cover is a lovely option. We have cushion covers made of the clothes both kids wore for their first Christmases at home. I put them on the settees every year. Eldest loves looking at the clothes and then finding pictures on my phone of her wearing them.

Keepsakes are also a great tool to use for life story work. If you have the clothes your child came home from hospital in, they could be made into a blanket or cushion cover. That’s then a great starting point to talk about their early life, particularly if you know which member of birth family bought them.

Eldest loves looking at the photos from our introductions. She also loves that she can touch and snuggle into the clothes whenever she wants. It often starts questions about introductions which then usually leads to a conversation about her tummy mummy and her brothers and sisters.

Another great way of preserving the memories special items of clothing have, is to get them made into a cuddly toy. Once Upon a Time Keepsakes make these gorgeous bears from eight items of clothing. They’re a great, child friendly way of preserving the memories special clothing items hold for us.

I hope this article inspires you to get your treasured items of clothing made into something special that can be enjoyed by all the family. I’d love to hear about it if you do.

So, with some help from my creative mum and sister, I designed a card and framed print which we gave to the foster family.  They loved it and We Made a Wish was born. Things have grown quite a lot since that initial design. All of the cards and framed prints were hand made by me. This proved to be time consuming and in terms of a business, not cost effective.

At the start of this year, I decided I needed a break to rethink how my business was going to move forward. Writing and the magazine are my passions. But with only so many hours in the day, something had to give. So, I’ve now re-opened the shop, with a reduced range. For the time being, the handmade cards and framed pictures are not part of what we sell. But there’s still plenty of loveliness from prints to clothing keepsakes. Here’s a look at some of what we sell.

One of the reasons I started the shop was because I wanted to create a record book of our journey to meeting the girls. Again, the only one I could find was American. I ordered it but didn’t feel that it did what I wanted it to. So I set about creating my own.

The record book comes as printed sheets of paper in one of four designs. You can then use them to create your own beautiful record of meeting your child, from the first photo you saw of them, to introductions and your first year together as a family.

We have a range of prints which come either as downloads or physical prints. They make lovely gifts to celebrate families, however they came together. The downloadable prints make perfect last minute gifts as you can print them yourself so no need to wait for the post.

I think my favourite range is our clothing keepsakes. My sister makes these from treasured items of clothing to help keep safe the precious memories they hold. We have blankets made from the clothes both children wore during introductions. Seeing them brings all the memories from that time, flooding back. Clothes can be made into a blanket, cushion, bag or initial.

New additions to our collection are reusable fabric products. We stock fabric kitchen roll, wipes and gift bags. The wipes can be made in your choice of colour using 100% cotton fabric. They are towelling on one side and patterned fabric on the other. Perfect for cleaning up your home and the kids in a way that’s kinder to the environment.

The reusable gift bags can be made from plain or patterned fabric with a Christmas or birthday theme. Perfect for reducing waste and mess at Christmas and birthdays. They also make wrapping presents much easier and hassle free. They come in a range of sizes and colours.

Let me know if there are any products you’d like to see us stock. I’m hoping to be able to create some printable cards which are less labour intensive than the hand made ones. Click here to have a look at our full range.