I am no fantasy geek at all and no Middle-Earth enthusiast either, I must admit that right at the beginning. Moreover, I am not a true Oscha-lover, even though I own one of these Scottish beauties (silk/seaweed foxes Zorro Maui) and have tried quite a few. However, Oscha surely knows how to make great wraps, as far as both functional properties and looks go (show me a “bad” wrap from Oscha! 😉 ). Regarding design, Middle-Earth collection is undisputably the top of all tops not only in Oscha’s portfolio, but in the whole wrap world, in my opinion. That I must say, although I have never been kissed by Hobbit or elven aesthetics ever!
A little bit of ‘history’ of Oscha for starters. As I already said, they are Scottish; a family company founded by a father-daughter duo, Mike and Zoe Masters, in 2010. According to their website, they are the first manufacturers of jacquard wraps in Great Britain – in the country that gave birth to such luxurious brands as Sling Studio, Woven Wings or Marisso, it is somewhat surprising that the ‘ordinary’ Oscha was the first, right? Well, ordinary is not the right word – there are many wraps in Oscha’s portfolio far from ordinary, with high-end composition (and, well, high-end price); however, they also offer affordable models in no less high quality.
As I mentioned above, Middle-Earth collection is inspired by Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings’ and Hobbit’s aesthetics. The first and probably the most well-known design is Ancients of Gondor – as the white trees of the eponymous fictional kingdom. Then, other 10 releases of Middle-Earth patterns came – Misty Mountains, Rings of Power, Legend of Frodo, Evenstar, Smaug, Rohan, Oakenshield, Doors of Durin, Shire and Galadriel; each one in several colourways and blends.
We had the opportunity to test these two gems – linen Legend of Frodo Destiny and tussah Smaug Desolation; at the first sight (and maybe also at the first touch) similar, but at the second sight quite different wraps.
Oscha Legend of Frodo Destiny
Composition: 84% combed organic cotton, 16% organic linen
Weight: 254 g/m²
Size: 6
Double hammock
“Even the smallest person can change the course of the future.”
I love this quote. It suites the wrap so fine – because you wear your tiny miracle that surely changed your personal future in it. 🙂 It is no wonder that ‘Frodo’ is one of the most popular patterns from the Middle-Earth collection. For me, it is quite strange in fact – as far as its looks go, there are several factors I should not like about it, but on the contrary – I love this wrap! I usually do not like wraps with inscriptions – and with inscriptions in horizontal lines even less, but the poetic elvish script covering the whole wrap is an honorable exception. Moreover, this red/orange is not my colour at all (even more “not my colour” than violet! 😀 ) – but Destiny is the most beautiful variant of Frodo in my opinion! It evokes the flames of Mordor itself, the ones in which Sauron forged the Rings of Power.
Okay, I am not that ignorant when it comes to Tolkien as I said at first. 😉
Frodo is a good summer wrap suitable for smaller and lighter children, in my opinion; it is rather thin and very smooth to touch. Although it was not perfectly broken-in when we had it for testing, I had no problem tying it – tightening was okay (and I assume that in a perfectly broken-in state it would be not only ‘okay’ but even great), it was sliding adequately and held in the carry without any problems, even in one knot. Emilka weighed about 8 kilograms at that time and carrying her in this wrap was quite pleasant, but it seemed too little elastic for my taste – which is not my cup of tea, to be honest (probably it is this type of linen). I would not choose it for a much heavier child. I certainly have other favourites in Oscha’s arsenal.
Oscha Smaug Desolation
Composition: 54% combed organic cotton, 23% wild silk (tussah), 23 % cotton
Weight: 235 g/m²
Size: 7
Shepherd’s carry, Rapunzel finish
Smaug is definitely one of my Oscha favourites! It is not only its looks – yellow, vivid red and black evokes the dragon flames and suits the pattern just perfectly. Moreover, it is probably the softest and the most pleasant tussah to touch I have ever held in my hands (the only tussah wrap that is probably as soft as Smaug is Dekka’s Michael).
The tying is easy – it slides just right, it is possible to tighten it with mathematical accuracy and holds in the carry without any problems. Compared to Frodo, it is more elastic and despite having lower declared weight, it felt more pleasant on my shoulders than its linen relative. It surely is a thin wrap in which you can tie a tiny newborn, but one would not complain much even with a toddler. Quite recently, we published an article about choosing the first wrap – in that article, I said that there is “no perfect wrap from newborn to pre-schooler” – but I must admit that this tussah dragon comes quite close.
The only flaw I need to mention is the large-scale pattern – it is quite uneasy to tie the wrap in a carry in which the whole dragon would be visible in the whole of its splendour. But this is only a tiny flaw, of course.
Our thanks for the opportunity to try these wraps go to their happy owners! 😉
