liberty cars

This is a sneak preview of my new baby romper. The boy's Peak Prince version ('baby beau') comes in this adorable Liberty cars print.

The Peak Princess version will be called 'baby belle' and will be available in the full range of spring/summer and soon autumn/winter colours.

technical technorati-ness

...this is an experiment to try and 'claim' my blog on technorati, the blog search engine.

Here goes...

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a Liberty print of Liberty of London

How wonderful is this? We went to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition for my Mum's 70th birthday and this was the first picture I saw. It's called Liberty of London by Samuel Hubbard It was serendipity and I'll hang it in my sewing room. I love it.

northern belles, liberty belles and baby belles

Saturday's school fair at Buxworth was a delight - sunshine all day and my friend Sally was up from London to help out on the stall. Her daughter Issy is the inspiration behind my Izzy Whizzy baby top and culottes set.

I also met Kate and her daughter Emily of Emily Pickle fame. Check out her range of handmade lovelinesses. She kindly invited me to blog on Northernbelles Crafts.

The little red headed dollies on the stall are Jellycat Liberty Belles wearing 'Ros' print dresses which match my spring/summer collection. My sister-in-law, Sophie, is the design brains at Jellycat. I also have Liberty Bunnies in 'Tatum' and 'Nancy Ann' prints which are super sweet. I used them during my photo shoot and the three sisters who modelled the dresses loved them.

And 'Baby Belle' is the name for my new romper suit that I'm designing for baby girls. I'll also be doing a 'Baby Beau' version for little boys in Liberty's new car print which is just adorable. Pictures coming soon.

peak princess on tour

...well the Met Office's predicted scorching summer's not yet arrived but nonetheless Peak Princess is off on a UK-wide tour...

Saturday 13th June - Buxworth Primary School Fair (High Peak, Derbyshire)

Sunday 5th July - Thornbridge Hall Charity Garden Party (Ashford-in-the-Water, Derbyshire). Also home to Thornbridge Brewery which brew my husband's favourite tipple, Jaipur Pale Ale which is perhaps why he's volunteered to help out at this one!!

Sunday 12th July - Three Shires Textile Fair, Quarry Bank Mill (Styal, Cheshire). £4 to enter the National Trust property & the fair is free. Antique & contemporary textiles & art.

Friday 28 - Monday 31st August - Chilterns Craft Fair, Stonor Park (Henley-on-Thames)

Thursday 15th October - Hassop Hall Seasonal Fayre, Derbyshire Committee for Macmillan Cancer

and last but not least Saturday 5th December - We Make London Chelsea Christmas Fair (Chelsea Old Town Hall, London). Please do come along - it'd be lovely to meet you.

local shops for local people (and Mrs Nighton's button bag)

I've just got back from a shopping trip to Glossop to buy supplies.

As usual I popped into the Sewing Box on High Street West which is a treasure trove. The owner Caroline was on holiday but I got some lovely pink cotton to cover my table when I'm doing fairs.

I also left some Liberty 'Wiltshire' fabric for her to cover some buttons for my autumn/winter collection denim shift dresses which I'm designing at the moment.

Another Aladdin's Cave is Wain Services on Arundel Street in the old Gas Works. For a stationery addict like me it's heaven. I buy my pattern card there (see previous post).

And last but not least is the Glossop Craft Centre where I get my 3mm ribbon from for my Liberty culottes and baby knickers. The assistants kindly brought up boxes of buttons from the basement. My husband cheekily calls it 'button porn' but I really can't ever resist rummaging through buttons.

It no doubt stems from childhood. Mum had an old, brown, drawstring bag full of all shapes and sizes of buttons, given to her by an elderly lady called Mrs Nighton. My sister and I used to play with them for hours.

home enterprise (and crushed fruit)

I've been really struggling to find business books that aren't totally terrifying or filled with mumbo-jumbo or management speak that doesn't have any relevance to someone working from home who runs the mini-est of micro-businesses.

Last week I discovered a gem that I wished I'd read six months ago. I stumbled across it via a recommendation on an American small business blog. Spare Room Start Up by Emma Jones is packed with practical advice.

It's really inspiring and makes you think you can do it. I emailed to tell her as much and she's done an interview with me about Peak Princess on her website called Enterprise Nation.

I'd also recommend Richard Reid's book about the creation of Innocent Smoothies. Again, it's full of good humour and makes business seem do-able and fun.

upgrading

...not tips on getting into first class on your next trip across the Atlantic.

I'm afraid this is the slightly more mundane job of making a pattern in a larger size. (Or downgrading to a smaller size).

I've been asked by a customer to make a little girl's version of my 'Bella Luella' puff-sleeve baby dress and matching knickers in Liberty 'Ros' print.

It's more time consuming than it sounds but the great thing is that once you've made up your pattern then you can keep it for next time so in the long-run it saves loads of time.

Mum's tip is to cut each pattern in a different colour card so you can easily pick out which dress you want to cut.

But as you can see, mine are a bit of a mish-mash....

When inspiration strikes I never seem to have enough of the same colours. (I usually use Daler-Rowney Canford card in 300gsm. My favourite is 'bubblegum pink').

I could go into much more detail on this but tonight's the Castleton fell race & I've got to be early to pick up my new Goyt Valley Striders running top so I must dash.

great aunt thomasina's bull-nosed rocking chair

This is one of my proudest possessions. Truth be told it belongs to my sister, Emma, but I'm rather hoping she never leaves her flat in London and gets a place big enough for it. It's a family heirloom of sorts and though I never met my father's Aunt Thomasina I imagine a generously proportioned lady rocking gently back and forth whilst knitting or darning socks.

The careworn teddy bear was my grandmother's. Nan Passchier as we all called her. She had Dame Edna style glasses and used to be a milliner. Teddy is more than 100 years old and sits on my shelf overlooking my machining table.

Behind that it my rack of Liberty sample fabrics (apologies for the Capel print not being hung flat but I'd just had it out).

Hidden just above the rocker are my bolts of fabrics rolled on long tubes which I store under the eaves. (From left to right are Liberty Wiltshire, Ros, Millie and Tatum). There are more details on each of the prints which make up my spring/summer collection on my website.

A friend came round the other day and peeped his head into my sewing room and said he thought it looked like something out of a fairy-tale. So from now on I'm calling it 'Peak Princess Palace'.

PS check out the link to Emily Pickle's blog...another High Peak handmaker.