Our Christmas fairs start next week!

We know Christmas is still a little way off but our first Christmas fair is next week so we wanted to share the dates with you and hope some of you can come and meet us and see the new winter collection!

 

Hatfield House Frost Fair
Hertfordshire
17th-20th November 10am-5pm
We have 10 vouchers admitting two adults for £8, just email us if you would like one and we'll post it to you!
http://www.frostfair.co.uk/index.html 

 

Holt Hall Christmas Fair Norfolk 26th-27th November 10-4pm This is a brand new fair with over 50 stalls, a 10 foot Xmas tree and log fires, it's sure to feel very festive! http://holthallchristmasfair.co.uk/

      
  Chelsea Christmas Gift Fair
  2nd-3rd December
  Friday 12noon-8pm
  Saturday 10am-6pm
  We're heading to the capital for festive fun!
  http://chelseachristmasgiftfair.com/
 

AW16 Photoshoot - Behind the scenes

Last week we had the first part of our AW16 photoshoot in an enchanted wood and lodge deep in the countryside. A log burner kept us warm and fueled with toasted marshmallows and our model helped grind fresh coffee for our giant kettle!

Here are a few sneak peeks behind the scenes, while we edit the final shots. The collection will available be online in the next couple of weeks...

Our newest model was a natural!

 
www.poppyandhester.co.uk

A few exciting changes for AW16

We're really excited to be launching the new AW16 collection in just a few weeks. As a company we're always looking for ways to give our customers something special and to work in the most ethical way we can. We also have far more ideas than we can possibly fit into one collection. So, with all this in mind we have decided to do things a bit differently for our latest collection...

AW16 FABRICS

When we first started we produced most of our collection here in the UK, then we found a fantastic childrenswear factory in Portugal who have been producing our collection for the past few seasons, this made perfect sense for us as many of our fabrics and trims were also sourced in Europe. However, we have been looking hard to find partners in the UK that we can work with going forward as we would love to be able to make at least part of our collection here, especially as our own prints are all produced in the UK.

AYLA TOP IN PROGRESS IN THE NEW STUDIO

We're now really excited to be able to share that we are producing part of the AW16 collection here in the UK. These pieces will be handmade in our own studio in very small numbers, sometimes only 2 or 3 pieces per size, but that means they will be extra special and we can keep adding to the collection as we go along, we already have some exciting Christmas development in the pipeline! We also hope that we will be able to share even more of our original prints and designs with you.

We are continuing to produce our lovely knitwear with our existing supplier, we think the quality is second to none, and a few of our existing styles are still being made in Portugal so look out for  MADE IN THE UK in our online shop if you want to buy something truly handmade and homegrown!

OUR WOOLEN BABY BLANKETS, WOVEN IN SCOTLAND

Poppy & Hester advent calendar

The poppy & hester advent calendar starts tomorrow with gift inspiration and some great giveaways throughout advent. Follow along on Facebook & Instagram...

P&H @ Uniquely Brancaster this week

We are back in Norfolk this week for an exciting new event on the coast at Brancaster Staithe. Click here for all the details and come and see us for the first look at the new collection and the remaining summer sale pieces.

The event is on Tuesday 25th - Thursday 27th, 10am-5pm. We're looking forward to Wednesday when in addition to all the usual stalls & food there is a flea market taking place outside!

Hope you can come!

www.poppyandhester.co.uk

Winter Photoshoot - behind the scenes...

On Saturday we had our autumn/winter photoshoot at a lovely countryside location in Goudhurst, Kent. We had three beautiful models and two hours to get some great shots for our website and lookbook.

The new collection will be online this week so you can see all the final pictures on the website very soon, but we thought we'd share a few behind the scene shots and give you a glimpse of the AW collection and mood here first...

 

 

Next week we'll share a profile of our fantastic photographer Jade. She was truly fantastic to work with, amazing with the models and totally relaxed! She really captured the spirit of the collection. Such a fun day.

Autumn/Winter Prints

Our Autumn/Winter collection launches online in just a few weeks so we thought we would show you a sneak peak of the new prints and share the inspiration behind them. Again we have selected an organic cotton base for our own designs, it's slightly heavier than the summer poplin but just as soft, and all printed here in the UK.

'Tile Print' & 'Heart Stripe' in winter cherry

Our print designer grew up in Stoke-on-Trent, AKA The Potteries, home of the British pottery industry. Kate is a great lover of china, tiles and teacups and often finds inspiration in the patterns and designs on pottery. A trip to Porto with it's buildings covered in tiles became the inspiration for this season's 'Tile Print'. We tried out several colourways but in the end we settled on a pretty pink and pale grey, pictured above. It's also a small nod to the Seventies styling seen on the AW womenswear catwalks!

Our 'Heart Stripe' design has a much more straight-forward story as it began life as a doodle on Valentine's Day, and who doesn't love a heart print? The design is subtle enough to pair with our other prints and comes in too colourways, winter cherry and bright navy. One of our favourite pieces from the new collection are the reversible trousers with paper-bag waistband. Softest brushed cotton in denim blue on one side and our heart print in bright navy on the reverse, they are sure to be a wardrobe staple this autumn!

'Heart Stripe' in bright navy

We're already started work on our Spring/Summer prints with a guest designer and they are looking beautiful, some fresh florals and ditsy graphic prints that we think you will love.

Autumn/Winter is launching online in two weeks time, watch this space!
www.poppyandhester.co.uk

Our Norfolk Pop-up Shop

We are really excited to be popping up at the Dalegate Market in Burnham Deepdale with our summer collection from 2nd-7th July.

Throughout the summer Dalegate Market fill their 4 beach huts with designers, makers and vintage stalls with different shops there every week. We can't wait for our week of fun on the Norfolk coast!

Full details are on their website and facebook page, do come and see us!

Summer Photoshoot

We have been out and about taking some shots of our summer collection in the sunshine and thought we'd share them first here on the blog...

 Freya Dress

 Freya Dress

 Sunset Meg Top

 Bessie Simple Vest

 We think our model enjoyed herself!

We've also joined Instagram and we are loving sharing extra pictures and finds over there so take a look and please follow @poppyandhester.

Save the date for our next London fair...

In two weeks time we will be back in London for the summer Craftacular at York Hall in Bethnal Green, save the date, Sunday May 17th!

It's a great event with craft workshops, a pop-up cafe and lots of fantastic stalls. We also have some special Poppy & Hester products and offers that we run only at our fairs, hope to see you there!

Hester Loves...

Portuguese tiles.

At first glance the buildings in Porto look like they are painted in mauve and ochre hues but on closer inspection you will find all the walls are totally covered in decorative tiles.
 

 

The blue and white tiles create the loveliest purple effect from a distance and up close beautiful graphic and floral patterns emerge.

Perfect inspiration for one of our autumn/winter prints, and a sneak preview of some of our colour trials below!

Save the dates for our spring fairs.

Poppy & Hester have two spring fairs coming up very soon where you will be able to see and shop the full summer collection for the first time.

Both fairs are organised by Selvedge Magazine, the first is at the American Museum in the beautiful city of Bath on March 28th and is running as part of Bath In Fashion week. The second is on April 25th at the Old Town Hall in Chelsea, London.

Click on the image below for more details on the Selvedge website and to buy tickets.

Our baby blankets have arrived!

It's snowing outside so we were very excited to receive our delivery of beautiful lambswool baby blankets this morning! We'll get them onto the website ASAP. We hope you like them!