spring clean

...better late than never.

Six inches of snow outside so more of a winter clean but it's delightful not to be tripping over tissue paper, cellophane bags, patterns & rolls of cloth...not to mention stepping on pins. I've pulled out the sofa bed so friends can come and stay again, created a rack for all my patterns, dusted off Great Aunt Tomasina's bull-nosed rocking chair and rolled or rehung all my gorgeous Liberty prints.

But best of all I've sold nearly all my stock which means lots of space. Following the Sunday Times Style feature (Dec 13th) I've been inundated with requests for dresses so from the New Year I'll be making dresses to order and have a waiting list til the end of January.

as featured in Sunday Times Style

Check out today's issue of Sunday Times Style - Peak Princess' Liberty print romper (in Wiltshire print) and denim dress (in Liberty's paisley Mark print)

"achingly cool" and "ultra-girly"

liberty cufflinks

How gorgeous are these? Liberty cufflinks made by my friend Sue at SCS Liberty Cufflinks. Snap them up quickly - she's offering them in a Christmas sale at just £19.99 a pair with free postage. I've already bought these Mirabelle and Wiltshire prints for hubbie and father-in-law. (Don't tell Santa!)

spring/summer liberty pick of the pops

How on earth to choose between a dozen equally gorgeous Liberty prints? I'd love to know your top three choices - all the swatches and blouses can be viewed on my website - then email me to let me know what you think.

thanks! Lissa

we make london

The countdown to Christmas begins...

...and what better way to kick of present buying than at We Make London's Christmas fair at Chelsea Town Hall on Saturday 5th December?

Read more about Peak Princess in We Make London's Designer feature.

Free p&p for all Peak Princess orders of handmade Liberty print children's clothes taken on the day.

Liberty purses & notebooks

Lovely lovely purses and notebooks!

Now in stock at Peak Princess - courtesy of my lovely lovely sister-in-law at Jellycat/Catseye.

£4.99 for the Liberty print zip purses and £5.99 for the hardback notebooks.

Your choice of two gorgeous prints - paisley ('Mark') or berries ('Wiltshire').

Perfect stocking fillers or treat yourself.

And of course you can buy my handmade dresses & blouses in matching prints.

cabbages and frocks

Packing the van (I love our Mitsuibishi Delica - not pretty but practical) to head down to London for the Cabbages & Frocks Christmas Fair on Wednesday. Hubbie's come up with an ingenious way to hang my dresses using dowelling rods, climbing ropes and carabiners. I knew that adventure sports background would come in useful one day!

Do come along - the more the merrier.

PS I'll be selling frocks, not cabbages.

Peak Prince competition winner

I'm over the moon that more than 800 people entered Daisy Green magazine's competition to win one of my Peak Prince handmade outfits for little boys, sewn in lovely Liberty prints. Congratulations to Helen from Chipping Campden.

I've been busy making a romper in Grayson Perry's Philippa bicycles print (£29.99) & dungarees in Liberty's cars print (£29.99) for a customer who's just had a little boy. And then I moved on to 'Freya Bean' blouses (£24.99-£34.99) in the gorgeous, bright & warm 'Wiltshire' print - perfect for Christmas.

chaos kitten

This is Loki, my Nowegian Forest kitten, looking like butter wouldn't melt - but earlier this morning I found a pattern for my 'Samuel L' shirt in shreds on my sewing room floor!

At least he seems to have stopped doing his impersonation of an Andrex puppy/cheerleader - running in, stealing ribbons & dragging them down the stairs.

Perhaps we shouldn't have named him after the Norse God of Mischief. (We weighed him on Friday and he's already 5kg - nearly as big as Mr Enos Knibbs, our original Streatham street cat).

sample sale starts today

My sample sale of handmade Liberty print clothes babies, little girls and little boys starts today!
Liberty prints from £9.99 and other fabrics from just £2.99 (plus p&p)

And Angels and Urchins winter edition's features my Liberty print 'Phoebe' baby dress in their pick of the "loveliest dresses this winter."

I love the new website MumsRock - for mothers with attitude, to shop, share and rant. And I'm delighted they are featuring Peak Princess in their Shopping Bible. "Our newest favourite fashion crush (for kids) is Peak Princess who take the prettiest Liberty patterns and cunningly make them into cute-as-a-button dresses and tops for girls."

flowers for laura

Thanks to everyone who came along to the Hassop Hall Seasonal Fayre last week to raise money for the Derbyshire branch of Macmillan Cancer. It was a wonderful event in a stunning location. It really felt like coming full circle as the last time I was there I was a baby and my mother was making a dress for the then owner, Lady Stephenson!

I met a lovely lady there called Sarah who runs a very special florists in Sheffield. Flowers for Laura is named after Sarah's baby girl who died very suddenly aged 19 weeks from Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. For every flower order they make a 10% donation to PACT, to help children with cancer receiving treatment at Sheffield Children’s Hospital. So by ordering flowers from flowersforlaura.com, you will be helping to support these children and their families. They deliver all over the city and surrounding areas.

Their arrangements are truly scrumptious at more than reasonable prices, like gorgeous this bridal bouquet and bridesmaid's rose flower wand they designed for the Sheffield based eco couture designers, Hope & Glory.

win a Peak Prince outfit for your little boy

So many people entered Daisy Green's competition to win a Peak Princess dress that I'm offering another prize - this time your choice from my new range for little boys - called of course 'Peak Prince'. It'll be launched at the end of October. Click here to enter and click here to take advantage of my preview prices on Liberty print culottes, dungarees, shirts and rompers.

Daisy Green is all about sustainable living without preaching. The magazine's staff describe themselves as a cross between The Good Life and Sex in the City! What more could you want? It's all online and well worth signing up to their newsletter.

we make london

......offers designers the opportunity to sell directly to buyers and offers buyers something unique and timeless in today’s fast-paced, throwaway world of mass production.

Their blog's currently featuring a behind the scenes peek into Peak Princess Palace.

Their next event will be in London on the 5th of December, 2009. So please come along for some handmade shopping.

when: SATURDAY 5TH December 2009 11.00am- 5pm

where: Chelsea Town Hall,
Kings Road, London, SW3 5EE

buy Liberty offcuts

I've put my snippets of Liberty tana lawn and kingly cord on the website so you can now buy bags of mixed prints from £2.99 plus p&p. Great for craft projects, covering buttons, patchwork and dolly dresses.

Thanks for the feedback from the Northern Belles bloggers!

harvey moonbeam dungarees

I've been putting the finishing touches to my new Peak Prince range this afternoon with the last item in the range. These cute Liberty print dungarees are named after my friend Lisa's little boy Harvey.

I'm also doing short-sleeved shirts (named after my godson Sam) and culottes (named after my friend Angela's little boy Charlie) as well as a cute baby romper.

All soon available online from £19.99 - £34.99

peak prince meets peak princess

If you're lucky enough to live in Leeds or Sheffield you might already have received your copy of the new free lifestyle magazine called Boo for parents and children (0-12). It's glossy and a perfect handbag size and packed with ideas about places to go.
Their debut autumn edition features my forthcoming Peak Prince romper.

tatum's arrived!

The lovely people at Liberty have just delivered a bolt of beautiful Tatum print tana lawn cotton. It's deep chocolate brown with pink garlands. Scrumptious.
I'll be using it for all my autumn/winter designs.

heave charlie mouse!

I've been busy this afternoon making a denim version of my new 'Charlie Mouse' culottes using Liberty's cars prints.

And congratulations to Carole Denney who's won a Peak Princess puff sleeve baby dress in the Daisy Green magazine competition! She's chosen the gorgeous red floral check Liberty Millie print.

THE dress of the season!

I'm hugely flattered that the lovely people at Angels and Urchins magazine have called my 'Anya Rose' denim shift "THE dress of the season" in their weekly newsletter.



The dress has an inverted box pleat, pocket trims, lining & covered buttons in a range of Liberty tana lawns including this fab pink paisley. (£34.99 for 6-12 months up to 2-3 years and £39.99 for 3-4 years up to 5-6 years).

If you live in the London area it's well worth signing up to their weekly email with loads of ideas about what's going on and the glossy magazine's packed with fab articles on fashion, days out and having fun.

last of the liberty jellycat belles!

...just doing a stock check ahead of Saturday's Bump to Baby fair at Alexandra Palace and realised I have just four lovely Jellycat Liberty Poppy Belles left!

autumn/winter collection now online!

The autumn/winter collection's now available online with lots of lovely new Liberty prints including this golden meadow ('Phoebe') and this hippy chick pink paisley ('Mark').

I'm continuing the 'Wiltshire' berry & leaf as it's been so popular and introducing this lovely Delft blue peacock feather design ('Little Mari') as modelled here by my gorgeous god-daughter.

A divine chocolate brown/pink version of the 'Tatum' print that I used for the spring/summer range is being delivered from Liberty soon. I also have velvety soft Liberty baby cord shifts and denim dresses with Liberty trim.

The Peak Prince collection's coming along with cute little boys' shirts (up to age 7 at the moment) and I'm working on little demin shorts with Liberty trim for baby boys.

And I just have a few Jellycat Belles and Bunnies left in stock.

Either order online or email me direct for discount postage deals for multiple orders. And don't forget to sign up to my newsletter if you'd like to get preview offers and sample sales.

win a Peak Princess dress

Daisy Green magazine are offering readers the chance to win one of my dresses. Described as a cross between Sex and the City and The Good Life it's a great read full of eco-friendly and ethical ideas for sustainable living.

They've also published my guide to making your very own mini Peak Princess creation for dollies.

I'm starting to sell little "make your own Liberty dolly dress packs" including enough tana lawn cotton & ribbon for 2 dresses plus pattern & instructions. If you're interested in buying one just email me (mail@peakprincess.co.uk).

love hearts

I'm off to the Chilterns Craft Fair at the beautiful Stonor Park tomorrow. The show runs from Friday through til Monday so please do come along.

I'll have a big bowl of Love Hearts on my stall - made by the High Peak's answer to Willie Wonker's Chocolate Factory, Swizzels Matlow in New Mills.

Fortunately my velvet ribbons arrived this morning so I've been finishing off my autumn/winter 'Anya Rose' shift dresses. I'm doing them in denim with Liberty lining & trim and also in super soft Liberty cord prints.

pins and needles

A day that got off to a bad start but ended happily...
This morning at 8am I broke my last size 9 needle. It's the slender size that's perfect for sewing Liberty's Tana Lawn cotton. I was stupidly using it to sewing the inverted box pleat of my new 'Anya Rose' Liberty Kingly cord baby dress. Even though it's super soft, three layers of baby cord was too much and it snapped off. Disaster was averted by a trip to Sew-In in Buxton.

Cake and coffee and my first order from the United States for a 'Tilly Toadstool' pinafore in Liberty's Wiltshire print cheered me up enormously.

There are few greater pleasures in life than sewing on buttons to the gentle rhythm of Test Match Special - especially when Australia's collapsing. I mused about the wonders of my 'no need to thread' needles which have an ingenious little gap through which you snap the thread. It saves endless hours poking ragged ends through tiny holes, giving up, looking for my scissors which are always on the other side of the sewing room. (You can get them at Tesco in Whaley Bridge).

The pinafore has a lovely full gathered skirt which requires lots and lots of pinning. This is a photo of my wrist-band pin cushion. This one broke but I bought a new one from the wonderful Manchester wholesaler, Taylors (who are sending me a supply of Berisfords of Congleton's lovely velvet ribbons for mu autumn/winter collection).

I also have a sweet little iced bun pin cushion that I bought from clever Kitty Eden who makes all sorts of handmade lovelinesses.

PS I'm always slightly wary of swallowing pins so I always have a pin cushion to hand to try and avoid holding them between my lips. We had a lovely golden retriever called Leah when I was a little girl. She swallowed one of Mum's pins. Luckily Mum knew to feed her buttered cotton wool balls which coated the pin long enough for the dog to get to the vets. (The only downside was that from then on Leah used to eat the cotton wool off the Christmas tree every year!)

Peak Prince shirt

This is my new Peak Prince shirt - called "Samuel L." in honour of my godson Samuel Lawrence. In Grayson Perry's new Liberty bicycle print called Philippa (after his wife I believe). I'm sure Sam would prefer Liberty's car print as he's adores anything with four wheels.

It's still in sample stage but if anyone would like to buy preview samples just email me.

learn to dress dolly

I borrowed a doll from my friend Hayley's little girls, Caitlin and Freya, after we spent an afternoon making dresses for their Jellycat Liberty Belles.

I was inspired to try and design my own 'Peak Princess' Liberty frocks for dolls - with a little help from Mum (who came up with the great ribbon strap idea).

This is dolly wearing a Liberty 'Phoebe' print tea dress with gold ribbon straps and belt, followed by a Liberty 'Ros' print prom dress with matching pink straps and belt. (Hair cut courtesy of Freya!)

Can't wait to try the new pattern out with the girls, especially as Mum's bought them a mini-sewing machine to practise on.

tweet tweet

I'm feeling quite proud of myself for having managed to put my twitter updates on my homepage as well as on this blog (see bottom right). How integrated is that!!

I've also started creating my autumn/winter Liberty print collection web boutique so my 'Freya Bean' blouses, 'Anya Rose' Liberty cord shifts and denim with Liberty trim shifts and 'Bella Luella' long sleeve baby dresses will be available online by the end of the month.

And I'm delighted that my 'Martha Grace' baby cord dress is in this month's Baby Hampshire and Baby Surrey magazines.

...got to go back up to the sewing room now.

ribbons and bows

Just discovered this gorgeous collection of bows, hairbands, clips and alice bands in every colour of the rainbow...there's loads more on Miss Gracie's site.

I've got ribbons on my mind at the moment and I'm in the middle of matching up sumptuous velvet ribbons to my lovely new Liberty tana lawn and baby cord autumn/winter prints.

I'm buying them from a local firm called Berisfords who've been making ribbons for more than a hundred and fifty years.

The only problem is that my kitten, Loki, runs into my sewing room, steals them and runs downstairs doing a bad impression of the Andrex puppy.