PurpleBiz Winner

Since I have blogged last I have had the honour of gaining another award, which is placed proudly on my w website 

On the 22nd September 2012 I was nomintated as a PurpleBiz winner by the PurpleDogNet on twitter.  This raises the profile of small businesses and they have a great website you can check out too.  Why not follow them on twitter @purpledognet

If you would like to find out more about PurpleDogNet please take a look here

My badge you can see above was courtesy of L F Designs who can be found here 
they have some great items for sale which would be fabulous for xmas!

Spring Summer Collection 2012

The spring summer collection 2012 was held at Wells Next The Sea in Norfolk. This is one of my local beaches which I have visited since a child and I knew this was the perfect setting for my shoot.  Here are some of the photographs taken by David Taylor http://www.dctaylorphotography.com/

Also thank you to the hair stylist and MUA Emily Ross who did such a fantastic job and also to all the models who all looked fabulous.

Also a big thank you to the Harbour Office in Wells Next The Sea for all their help and letting us use their office and the harbour and the boats it was such a help and made the photo shoot go smoothly.

Model Abby Whiting

Model Heidi Jackson

 Heidi had great fun twirling around in the the flower skirt and said it made her feel like a princess

Model Joe Embrey

Kevin d'Odemont

Model Lydia Bareham

finally a group shot of all my fabulous models

If you have any enquiries about any of the designs please contact me on peggyscollection@gmail.com or through my website http://www.peggyscollection.com

Guest Post from Allysha Johnson

Hi Readers I'm Allysha Johnson, a 15 year old blogger for 'It's A Style Fix' I'm delighted to be guest blogging for the Peggy Collection as its my first time! You can follow my Blog at: www.itsastylefix.blogspot.com And well do you like Vintage Dresses? Well I'm here to talk about a shop that might be the right place for you vintage lovers out there.... Vivien of Holloway! Vivien of Holloway sells inspired 1940's and 50's reproduction clothing from Sexy Bombshell Strap Dresses, Halterneck Pencil Dresses to 1940's Sarongs which are great for Glamorous Events, Parties or even for Day! What I adore about this Vintage Shop is they produce beautiful dresses which separate the look and the charm of authentic vintage by adding a colourful and fun twist, but in a range of sizes, the dresses fit and flatter the modern figure which makes the figure suited for a modern lifestyle. The fun bit is that one day you could feel like a 1950's showgirl, whereas the next day you could be a femme fatale all to the just of wearing these dresses...they are made to feel like you! I LOVE the fact that the Vivien of Holloway are made and produced in the UK and what makes it more great is that they are well known to people across the globe, even celebrities! As well as producing good dresses, they also provide good customer service with does bring a smile to your face :) Nevertheless the fabulous frocks, the shop also provides a wide range of hair-flowers, jewellery, shoes, handbags and more, to help you complete your real vintage look. I would say this show is a MUST to go to when it comes to Vintage Clothing. I would recommend this to anyone that is a Vintage Stylist or anyone that is a Vintage Lover if that's YOU!!! Where to find them? You can find them at Holloway road in London or for online shopping, go on their website at: http://www.vivienofholloway.com U can also go visit their blog at: http://www.vivienofholloway.blogspot.com Enjoy shopping! Allysha xxx It's A Style Fix

Guest blog from Harriet Kelsall

Harriet Kelsall runs the UKs leading Bespoke Jewellery Design Company who specialise one-off pieces of jewellery designed especially for their customers.  Harriet started the business in 1998 because she wanted good bespoke jewellery design to be affordable and unpretentious and her 30 strong team have been leading the way in bespoke jewellery design ever since.  Their most recent awards include the 2011 UK Jewellery Awards and Harriet also holds the coveted Everywoman Retail ‘Woman of the Year’ title.  She took time out to write a guest blog on for me describing three of her recent favourite commissions.

As a designer, there is nothing that inspires me and my design team more than an interesting story.  Even if one of our clients wants a simple solitaire ring, we love to put something personal into their one-off design for them so that it reflects some part of their story or personality.

When Diana asked me to write this guest blog about a few interesting design commissions, so many came to mind!  It has been hard to narrow it down to just three.

Last year we were approached by a lovely couple, Ed and Laura, who wanted me to design a bespoke engagement ring inspired by a peacock feather.  They had a lovely story about a happy holiday spent chasing a peacock around a zoo trying to get it to put up its tail!  Laura brought her peacock feather along to our studio and we came up with this lovely design for them.

http://www.hkjewellery.co.uk/details/web/type/rings/ID/6397

Another ring that I particularly like was recently designed by Alice who is one of our senior designers here.  It was designed for a fan of mathematics in Cambridge who wanted his ring to be made like a Mobius twist.  I think the result is beautiful and elegant and I like the fact that you don’t really get the mathematics connection unless you know about it too – it is just a beautiful form:-- 

  http://www.hkjewellery.co.uk/details/web/type/rings/id/7510

We are also very pleased to be one of only a few jewellers allowed to use certificated Fairtrade gold and this was the type of ethical gold that Model, DJ and presenter Lisa Snowdon chose for her bespoke pendant.  I love working with Lisa because she is so laid back and creative.  She wanted me to design her a pendant which she could wear all of the time.  We looked at using the ‘Aum’ or ‘Om’ symbol which is a Buddhist mantra which represents everything in unity.  We chose an aspect of that symbol and simplified it to create a symbol that represents Lisa being in the centre of her destiny and dreams.  It is to celebrate her 40th birthday on January 23^rd and the stone is a beautiful Laser cut garnet (the birthstone for garnet).  She is delighted wit the result and even treated me and a few of my team to a very posh tea at the May Fair hotel to say thank you!

http://www.hkjewellery.co.uk/details/web/type/earneck/ID/4045

Vintage Life Magazine Features

I was once again featured in the national publication of Vintage Life Magazine and my Marilyn knitted vest top was featured along with my article.  I was also featured in the issue of last Nov/Dec where I designed the knitted red slippers.   The image of my model Lydia Bareham was used in the Jan/Feb issue and it featured a photograph of her in the Marilyn design.  This was from my autumn/winter collection photo shoot with the very talented David Taylor of dctaylor photography  dctaylorphotography website 

I am looking forward to working with Vintage Life Magazine again as it is one of my favorite publications.  If you havent read it and you love vintage you really should you can subscribe online to it too Vintage Life Magazine Website or you can buy it in WH Smiths and other retailers which can be found on their website.

 

Bridal Designs Wedding Jewellery Guest Post

Here is the first in a series of guest blog posts I am featuring on this blog.  I am currently designing and making my spring summer collection so rather than neglecting my blog I will feature a few different people on here.  Hope you all enjoy them and please feel free to leave comments.

When I said I'd write a guest blog post for the lovely Diana I was struggling to think of a topic, after all ...what did we have in common? She's a talented knitwear designer, I make wedding jewellery , she's Gok Wans' knit queen, I...er.....make wedding jewellery.

Then when browsing her website I came across a familiar sight...the #SBS badge! What? i hear you cry? Well if you are a regular lurker on Twitter you will probably know, but for the rest of you, #SBS stands for Small Business Sunday. Theo Paphitis (yes him of Dragon's Den fame) supports small business by retweeting (basically forwarding your message) your tweet to all his followers. He chooses six businesses every Sunday for this honour and both my website (http://www.bridaldesignsweddingjewellery.co.uk) and Dianas were chosen at the end of 2010 for a retweet. This might not sound like much but it's amazing what a difference it makes, your website is mentioned to 208,000 of Theo's followers, thats a lot of potential customers! 

So, we do have something in common after all, unfortunately it isn't knitting ability...I'm ok at scarves....as long as you like them with holes in and a bit wonky....

Tracey x

3000 followers on twitter

Since my last blog I have had such a good response to my new photographs on my website and the chunky knit scarf seems to be a big hit with everyone this year.  I have also been included on a couple of fabulous blogs @chicfantastique http://chicfantastique.wordpress.com/   and @Him_Me_Three http://himmethree.blogspot.com/ a big thank you to you both I really appreciate you asking me to be featured.

More exciting things are to come but I cannot mention them yet but as soon as I am allowed I will be telling you all


As a massive thank you to all my followers on twitter for helping me reach over 3000 followers I have done a giveaway for one lucky random tweeter.  That person is ....... drum roll


@christinaAdd

you get to pick a chunky knit scarf worth £45 in a colour of your choice, well done!!

Autumn/Winter Collection 2011 photo shoot

One cold chilly day in November, the 5th to be exact was my first ever photo shoot at a Georgian Hunting Lodge.  Photographer was booked, models booked, make up artist booked, jewels and designs at the ready!

My photographer is called dctaylor photography, Photographer is David Taylor and his website can be found  here    I first started talking to David on twitter and he is also local so we met up and had a chat about a possible photo shoot.  From that moment on the planning started and I am so pleased I commissioned him for these photographs as they are just what I wanted for my designs.  I am going to be working with David alot on various projects over the next few months which is very exciting for me.  Please have a look at his website his photographs are truly stunning.

My models were my niece Heidi Jackson, Lydia Bareham and Eric Lam.  They all did a great job and made my designs really come to life.

The make up artist Clare Alexandra was brilliant and did such a fabulous job on all of the models.  I asked for 1950s glamour for Lydia and fresh and young for Heidi and Eric and that is exactly what I got.  I hope to work with Clare again in the future on the next photo shoot.  Here is her website

We all had a great day and Eric even played us some music on the piano, he said he could play a little but believe me he was fabulous.  We were very lucky that the weather held out just long enough for us to get some great shots.

The gorgeous jewels were loaned by JBD London and here is the website they were gorgeous and really made the designs stand out.

Here are some behind the scene shots including some of the professional ones courtesy of dctaylor photography Photographer David Taylor

The jewels all laid out ready for the photo shoot 

Lydia getting her make up done 

dctaylor photography, photographer David Taylor taking fabulous shots of Lydia in the gardens

Heidi and Eric keeping warm in my designs 

Now the professional photographs! 

All of these items will be available on my website this week please feel free to send me an enquiry if you wish to order before.  You can also view these and more photographs on dctaylor photography website

© Peggy’s Collection 2011 all content and photographs

Vintage Life Magazine Feature

I have always enjoyed reading the Vintage Life Magazine and I am a member on their forum  vintage network too.  Much to my delight I was approached by them and asked to write a knitting article which included a knitting pattern for a pair of slippers.  I enjoyed this immensely and I quickly went out and bought the magazine last thursday 27th October which is now available in Sainsburys as well as W H Smith stores.  It was lovely to see my name in print and featured in a magazine I have enjoyed for such a long time.  There are always lots of gorgeous features and pictures in the magazine including the wonderful Betty Bee who always has lovely features in the magazine.  She also has a great blog which I am sure everyone would love reading it is one of my favourite blogs Betty Bee 

I would love to know if anyone has had a go at making the slippers in my feature in the magazine if so please email me and I will feature them on my blog.

I also had some lovely tweets from lots of people congratulating me on being featured two of them here are from Theo Paphitis from Dragons Den and the very lovely Brix Smith-Start who has worked with Gok Wan on Gok's Fashion Fix and owns the fabulous Start London Boutique

I am now getting ready for my photo shoot this weekend and looking forward to working with some lovely people.  My next blog will show you the behind scenes photographs of the photo shoot, which I hope you all find interesting.