Patricia Smith, established in Hampshire in 1981, produces English children's clothes, retaining traditional values whilst introducing a fashionable twist each season.

Natural fabrics are used as far as possible, i.e. cotton, wool, silk, and linen, all sourced from the UK and Europe.

Attention to detail in construction, exquisite hand smocking and embroidery. Each garment is meticulously made by skilled seamstresses or knitters here in the UK.

Many, including special orders, by Patricia herself. Special efforts are made to co-ordinate the different age groups, particularly for important family functions.

These are clothes that will be passed from child to child. There are two main collections a year; sold through mail order and own website worldwide.

Patricia, herself, was trained by a Swiss couturier in design, pattern making, fitting and hand sewing techniques.

Later, taking a position with "Kangarou", a French baby carrier company, where she trained and advised both outworkers and factories on production methods.

Thus combining couture and factory skills, having experience of the baby market and a passion for tiny clothes, she set up her own business.

A few years later her own children were born, work and motherhood combined harmoniously in their hilltop home and workshop studio in west Cornwall, near St.Ives.