Being older than my little sister Emma I didn't have to wear too many hand-me-downs - though she'd be quick to point out that now we're grown up I'm forever raiding her wardrobe!  (She's a shop-a-holic and has much better taste than me).

Nowadays I think handing clothes on has a much more positive image as we're all accustomed to seeking out vintage bargains and upcycling.  And particularly as we make everything by hand I love the idea that my clothes have a second (or even third?) life bringing pleasure to another little girl so I was delighted when Delphine sent me this pick of her little girl wearing one of my very first Mia Rose shift dresses handmade in Liberty's classic print Tatum which Delphine bought for her cousin Esmay more than three years ago (you can read the original blog post here).

If you've passed on any of my clothes, I'd dearly love to know.

Esmay in 2009

Johanna in 2012

Just a quick one - my sister's friends Nathan and Kate kindly sent these adorable snaps of their little boy Reuben wearing my Peak Prince Finley Oskar shirt in Toms Jets prints.

I was over the moon earlier this week when Jim and Amy sent me pics of their wedding which was featured on the wedding blog Love My Dress.  I admit I shed a tear or two over my morning coffee.  I made six ties in various Liberty prints for groom Jim and his ushers.  Photographer Andrew JR Squires has kindly given me permission to reproduce them here. 

Photography courtesy of Andrew JR Squires (copyright) - please do not copy or reproduce without permission

Often new product lines come from customer requests.  I was rather daunted by the prospect of making ties and could find little advice on this specialist art.  So last summer I set about tearing up my husband's favourites including a lovely one by Daks that I bought from Simpsons on Picadilly, long before it became Waterstones.  Once I had a pattern I was happy with I product tested it on Nik and his friends.  Rory O'Curry and his Dad were adamant my ties weren't weighty enough.  Back to the drawing board.  In addition to the Liberty lawn lining I needed to find suitable interlining.  Trickier than you'd think.  I finally found a roll of suitable weight wool interlining at the marvellous Abakhan on a trip back from my sister's in Wales with my Mum.  MacCulloch and Wallis also sell a good weight alternative.  Still Rory wasn't satisfied so I doubled it up.  Voila - it passed Mr Cook's full windsor knot test.

The other issue with ties is that they are cut on the bias (diagnonally to you and me).  If you take a piece of cotton fabric and pull it top to bottom or sideways there is very little stretch but pull the corners and you get a lovely give.  It's what gives a lady's bias-cut dress that lovely drape over curves and it's what allows a tie to tie.  Think about the curves of the neck and the way a tie needs to move to be neatly knotted.

In practical terms it means the simple looking tie is actually a terribly time consuming to make.  First I cut and mark the lining fabric (I use white cotton lawn) including roll lines.  Second I cut the Liberty print.  Then I cut two lots of interlining and finally the contrast end linings.  Once linings are joined and the tie rolled and pinned the final step is hand slip-stitching the 1.5m length of the tie.

I love the way Liberty prints transform depending on how you use them and the diagonal cut of the tie on the narrow tie is a case in point.  A plain stripe looks much more interesting.  Add in the possibilities of using contrast colourways or plain end linings and suddenly the boring old tie takes on a whole new life.

This week I've added slim width ties to my range.  I was first asked to make one in the autumn for Matt Day's wedding to complement his handmade Liberty Glenjade waistcoats.  Wedding photographer Vicky Dawe asked me to make two for her fiance Oliver in a beautiful feather print to match her bridesmaid dresses and page boys' waistcoats.  And my god-daughter's Uncle Ben will be wearing one later this summer.

Click here to browse pictures of all the handmade Liberty ties I've made and to order.  Ties are £74.99 or £64.99 if you prefer to buy and send me your own Liberty print.
 

Huge thanks to Rachel for sharing these pics of her gorgeous wedding.  I made her a Grace Kelly pleat pinafore, a Bella Luella puff sleeve dress and a Finley Oskar Shirt (see below for sewing room pics). 

Rachel kindly writes:  "Dear Lissa thank you so much for the beautiful flower girl dresses and little best man shirt you made for our wedding.  We wanted to create a vintage themed country fete at our rustic wedding and your designs and fabrics couldn't have been more perfect.  Our 4 year old son Barney looked adorable in his shirt, with matching pale blue Converse pumps, while the image of our 2 year daughter Molly in her dress still brings me to tears!  The clothes fitted beautifully and were so appropriate for our vintage/country theme.  Thanks too for the Liberty off-cuts for our home made jam jar favours - we made pounds of plum jam from our trees and topped each one with your pretty fabric, so every guest had their own souvenir of the day.  Your service was very professional and friendly, and so many people commented on the lovely outfits, thanks again." 

The beautiful pictures were taken by Javan Liam

Lucy's just sent me a lovely email and gorgeous pics of her wedding day:  "I wanted to send you some photo's of my niece Celia in the beautiful dress you made for her to wear at our wedding!  She looked amazing and so many people commented on her dress."

The dress is a full length Bella Luella handmade in Liberty's limited edition Paulie's Parrots print.  I have just a couple of metres left.  It's divine but I have to admit I'd never have thought of it as bridesmaid dress material but Lucy's judgment was obviously spot on.

It brings an understated, playful touch to the formal occasion and what's more it suits Celia's colouring perfectly and I adore her choice of a Liberty purple bow to match the groom's tie.  (I also love Lucy's dress with its sophisticated little bolero).

The best days are the days that pictures of little girls and boys wearing my dresses pop into my inbox...and today was a real treat.  Elaine kindly sent me these pics of her bridesmaid Maddie wearing my Lily May twirl pinafore bridesmaid dress made in a limited edition Liberty print called Plum Dog (now sadly out of stock).  (There's more about how I designed this dress on an earlier blog post).

I adore Elaine's dress - turns out it's from Abigail's Vintage Bridal, described by Elaine as "a fabulous, very clever girl in Rutland who does vintage dresses from home".

You simply have to check out her website - it's vintage heaven.  Abigail sources the finest original and unique vintage gowns from around the world from the turn of the century to the early 70s and meticulously cleans and restores them to their full glory. Dresses are available from the turn of the 20th Century to as late as the early 1970's.  And what's even better is that she offers an in-house alteration service.  What more could a girl want?

...which is rather unusual as here at Peak Princess Palace it's usually girls clothes which make up the bulk of my business.  I started off only making girlswear, then responding to demand I designed a limited capsule collection of little boys' clothes.  This is my friend Jane's little boy looking super cool in New York in an Eliza's Owls print short sleeve shirt --> But over the past couple of months I've branched out into handmade Liberty print men's ties and most recently have started experimenting with patterns for handmade Liberty print men's shirts.  (More on the shirts in a future post). A month or so ago I got a last minute request from a bridegroom who needed ties and waistcoats to go with tweed suits for a glamping wedding being held in a Welsh field.  Sounded fun and the gentleman in question was very charming*. Now, last minute in my books is anything under a month.  I normally like to make for weddings with at least 6 to 8 weeks to go in case exchanges are needed.  This was really cutting it fine...but as a former Radio 4 news producer I'm a sucker for a the adrenaline hit of a deadline.

By the time the fabric (Liberty Glenjade with plain biscuit lining) arrived we had two weeks and the order by this time had increased to 6 junior ushers waistcoats and 5 adult ushers, plus a handmade tie (narrower cut than my usual pattern) and 6 hankies.  All told about 2 weeks' work that I'd scheduled in 2 days for.  There were quite a few frantic calls between the said gentleman standing in Liberty's Regent Street store and me in my sewing room and a few sleepless nights but I think you'll agree, this preview snap sent from honeymoon has made it all worth it.

*I got a delightful thank you note from his then fiancee, now wife, explaining that this is why her betrothed is known as 'Captain Chaos'!

This is why I love my job!  Fabric, buttons & ribbons brought to life...

A huge thank you to Olivia for letting me share the photos of her wedding day.  And to Victoria Dawe at Elegant and Wild wedding photography for giving me permission to publish the beautiful photos she took. 

Bella Luella puff sleeve dresses, Samuel L short sleeve shirt and new waistcoats, handmade in Liberty Betsy print.

Browse & order online from my bridal boutique.

It's always lovely (flattering) to get a word of mouth recommendation, so I was delighted when my god-daughter's Mum, Jo, recommended me to her friend & colleague, Lisa  Even lovelier is when a picture pops into my inbox of one of my little dresses being worn and loved.  Clemmie's Mum Lisa says:  "It has turned into her favourite little dress and she wears it to all her special occasions." (By the way, this gorgeous Liberty print is also called 'Clemmie'.  This style is my 'Bella Luella' puff sleeve, button down back dress).

I just love the casual yet sophisticated binoculars over the shoulder ready for a day at the races!

My favourite days are when my customers are kind enough to send me pictures of my dresses.  In my little sewing room here in the Peak District I try my best to imagine who'll be wearing them but it's always wonderful to see them being worn and loved. 

Caroline sweetly shared these adorable photos from her recent wedding in France.  I made two Grace Kelly pleated shirt-waisters for her little bridesmaids in a limited edition Liberty print called Lou Lou Isabella.

Caroline generously writes:  "An email just to say thanks!! The dresses were perfect on the girls and they loved them!!! I have attached a few pictures for you to see. I only have one of the two of them and its a bit blurry cos the little one was a bit excited but hope you find it pretty anyways!! Thanks again, the dresses were exactly what I had hoped for, they made the day just that little bit more special!!"

Thank you Caroline.

I've just been lucky enough to spend a lovely week with my Mum in my old stomping ground of Paris where Mirabelles are in season.  The sweet little plums (a variety of greengage I'm told) are delicious.  Derived from a 1960s' archive design Liberty's Mirabelle print doesn't feature plums but it is terribly sweet and one of my favourites.

I have two colourways - red/pink and red/blue.  Bride Rebecca chose the latter for her bridesmaids who wore full-length, sleeveless Bella Luellas that Millie helped me sew.  One wore a matching plaited hairband, the other button hair clips handmade for me by Kate Yorke at Emily Pickle.  And little Wilfred wore denim Harvey Moonbeam dungarees with matching Mirabelle trim.  So it was a real team Peak Princess effort.

What a delight to receive these pictures this week with kind words from Rebecca:  "I just wanted to send you a quick email to say thank you SO much for the dresses they are beautiful and the girls (plus Wilfred in his dungarees) looked amazing. I have attached a few photos for you to see the finished produces in action. It was a battle to try and get the girls out of the dresses at the end of the day as they loved them so much! Everyone commented on how pretty they looked, they were simply perfect. Thank you again for all of your patience with me and my multiple orders!!!"

Mum Emma sent these pics of Georgia Jay at her christening wearing a Bella Luella dress in pink Eliza's Owls with pale silver ribbon.  Emma writes:  "Just wanted to say thank you again for Georgia's beautiful dress - she looked an absolute picture today, and got lots of compliments on her fab outfit!"

Mum Sam writes:   "Madam Jones is now finally big enough for your gorgeous romper! Can't tell you how many compliments she got at Mums and Tots this morning!!!"

Making a bridesmaid dress is always exciting and a little nerve-wracking as I always want to do my bit to make the big day special. 

For her wedding Hattie wanted six dresses for her bridesmaids in three different prints (Wiltshire, Nancy Ann and Tatum).  She had the great idea of using contrasting ribbons on each dress to link the prints together.

 

The beauty of handmade dresses is that you can adjust bodices and lengths to fit each girl.  As you can see, I was getting so confused that I ended up pinning little pencilled notes to each dress with their heights whilst I was adjusting each dress so make sure they'd each be the right length off the floor!

I think you'll agree, they (and she) looked divine on the big day.

Hattie wrote:  I've been meaning to email you for a while to thank you for our amazing bridesmaids dresses - all the girls really loved them. As you can see they looked great!

NB Wedding pictures courtesy of customer - please do not reuse without prior permission.

Sarah ordered a Bella Luella puff sleeve dress and two Grace Kelly pleated shirt-waisters for her bridesmaids.  These are the pics I sent her from my sewing room...

I was over the moon when she sent me these beautiful pictures from her big day.

Caroline writes:  Our beautiful bonnets arrived today and in the nick of time too! Had a scorching afternoon down in the Palais Royale where they were very much admired by the Parisian ladies ( I was also stopped twice in the supermarket!) I have attached a photo of my youngest daughter Poesy at the columns.  Many thanks! Just gorgeous!

Mum Amanda writes on receiving her package:  We love the top & the knickers!! Anna looks gorgeous. I will take a proper photo when she isn't looking. In this shot she was trying to show you her top?!   She will live in it this summer!! 
And later:  We are at a wildlife park. Too busy looking at goats & meerkats to look at the camera!!
Shame about the drinks carton though.... Anna models Peak Princess in the sun studying the pigs!  ( of which she was completely besotted...... "Daddy, can we have a pig?........")

Sarah wrote:  "My sister's wedding was on Friday in North Yorkshire and the children's outfits worked perfectly. They looked gorgeous and were much complimented.  Thank you again for making these up so quickly for us. We were thrilled to have such original and pretty clothes for the children to wear at the wedding and you were an absolute pleasure to deal with. I hope that it won't be too long before I have an excuse to place another order!"