Cool ladies – cool bags!

crazy ladies!

 

We’ve just been flicking through some of the shots from our last catalogue shoot and decided this is one of our favourites. Biba is a very good model we think! And the Oyster Catcher messenger bag is the perfect bag to take you through the Spring/Summer 2013 season.

 

 

the winner of our photo competition is…

Well we have had a whale of a time recently judging our photo competition. We’d like to run it every week because it’s so much fun looking at the images we get sent by you all! We have to say we’re very glad that in the end we left the choice of winner to you as we’re not sure we would have been able to choose between the stunning entries we received.

So first of all we bring you the runners up, in no particular order….

Living the dream – we loved this entry

Some of the comments this lovely image received from our facebook page “This has to win!! VW camper tea cosy on tour!”, “ Love it. Will bring our camper alongside and share tea and cake!” We really loved the planned yet natural composition in this image and the perfect tea cosy, ordered to compliment the beautiful van, named ‘May Green’.

And next…

extra marks for inspired use of one of our products!

There are so many lovely things to this image. Of course the beautiful wire haired fox terrier, named Tabitha is a delight but we also love the idea of making a cushion out of our lovely tea towels, it looks great. Here are a few of the comments from our facebook page. “ Close call, but what a face – had to vote!”, “ I like this one, not sure if its just because I like the live version though! No, its the cushion too!!” A beautiful shot and a very close runner up.

And so to our last runner up (you may remember there were only supposed to be 2 runners up but we had such great entries that we had to have 4 finalists!)…

A fab image that captures a feel of Poppy Treffry

This was a real favourite at Treffry towers, with two such beautiful models and such a cosy, cakey, tea time theme we couldn’t help but love it. “too cute and love all the accessorizing (I have some too!)”  This shot was entered by a tea room in Hampshire which looks well worth a visit, the Parlour tearoom.

Congratulations to the 3 runners up, please drop us a line to hello@poppytreffry.co.uk with your postal address and we’ll get your goody bags sent to you.

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for… Our winner. Please give a big hand to…

George Best welsh terrier with man bag!

This cheeky chappy was the most popular with you voters and clearly stole some hearts out there, receiving comments like “A vote for the outrageously dapper Mr. Best and his mint green ‘man bag’ xx”, “This bag is lovely, and the dog of course…roll on payday!” and so much other praise for the dog that our little handbag started to feel left out!

A fab image and a worthy winner, we thank you Mr George Best welsh terrier and we look forward to seeing what you choose with your £150 to spend on our website or in our St Ives shop.

Thanks to everyone who entered and look out for a new competition soon.

Choosing a sewing machine – good luck!

One of the questions we get asked the most is ‘how do I choose a sewing machine?’ We don’t profess to be experts on this – we have very old and very nice sewing machines which we use and which do just what we want (most of the time!), but they’re not high tech and weren’t the result of a lot of research. There’s a quote from Poppy in our little film for the Eden project where she says ‘you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find a good one’ and that is certainly true of the way we work, our machines have come from car boots, the dump, charity shops and the odd sewing machine shop (oh yes and ebay), quite often chosen because they’re pretty, about 13 of them at the last count!

one of our beauties!

We use old Singer machines which are really very simple but you can also do the technique on many different machines that will be far easier and do much more than our Singers.

Your best bet to start with is your local sewing shop as they will have a wealth of experience on the subject, although be clear on your budget before you go in and don’t let yourself be seduced by the array of possibilities! It’s a good idea to write a list of what you want the machine to do first and then you’’ll know whether those extra features are of value to you or not. Experience says you should look for a machine that is metal rather than plastic and quite heavy and sturdy.

Our machines have a little screw on the undercarriage which allows you to drop the feed dogs and then we hold our fabric stretched tight in an embroidery hoop but if you can’t find one which does this then you can purchase a metal plate that covers the teeth whilst you’re sewing, or, we’re told, that it works if you set the stitch length to zero, though we haven’t tried this so can’t vouch for certain. We don’t use an embroidery foot when we’re stitching but again this is something you may have to experiment with for yourself, kissing frogs again!

Once you have your sewing machine you’ll find most bunching up and bobbin snarling issues are down to tension of the cloth, the machine and you! So you just need to play with it, and relax, till you get it right.

If you attend one of our courses Poppy gives plenty of advice on sorting out annoying snarl ups or there are also 2 books from Poppy packed with advice alongside the projects for you to complete.

Good luck!

Poppy Treffry for Bettys – Christmas loveliness

Poppy Treffry for Bettys advent calendar

We bring you news of a very, very exciting new product and a first for team Treffry. This year we have produced our first ever advent calendar and we must tell you it is simply grrrreat! Working for our lovely friends ooop North, the wonderful Bettys, we produced this fab calendar which lasts. Bring it out each year and fill it with festive Bettys chocolate or alternative little December treats (maybe even fruit??!?!) The calendar was designed by Poppy and then stitched by the team down in Cornwall and then sent up to Bettys where they took it upon themselves to fill  each pocket with Swiss milk and white chocolate novelties, just for you. If you’d like one then head over to Bettys and grab one quick – we can tell you we didn’t stitch a lot so don’t miss out on one of these, the perfect advent treat for children of all ages (ok, yes, we all have one!!)

Poppy Treffry for Bettys – fancie that!

Don’t forget you can still shop some of the other lovely products we’ve created for Bettys. (From the quantity of tea towels and aprons we’ve had to make we reckon a lot of you have remembered already!)

 

It’s that Country Living Show time of year!

Well it’s that time of year again. The Country Living Christmas Fair opens on Wednesday the 7th of November at The Business Design Centre in Islington. The pallet of yummy stock has left the studio (complete with some never seen before cushions and pictures) and I leave Penzance on the sleeper tomorrow night!

I’m really looking forward to setting up the stand, it’s exhausting but always exciting putting the finishing touches to it before the happy shoppers arrive on Wednesday. It’s also great catching up with other exhibitors. There are plenty of Cornish companies exhibiting – we seem to see each other more at shows than at home!

I managed to squirrel a couple of hours to myself this afternoon to look at the exhibitor listings and browse a few of the very lovely websites there. Above and below are just a very few of the gorgeous things on offer. But there’s so much more when you’re there so come on down….

Let the Christmas shopping commence!

Would quite like this little beauty from Beg Bicycles to go home with me!

I’ve a hunch Nest are going to have some real gems on their stand

There are some very fetching things on Emily Maude’s website (many of which would look very good on my new kitchen shelves!)

And of course Biba may need a little something from The Traditional Children Company!

Scrumping!

We had a very nice impromptu visit to my Dad’s house on the edge of Bodmin Moor last weekend. He has a lovely rambling house in the country, draped in ivy and heated with a 59 year old Aga.

We were sent out to scrump for pudding from the wizened old apple trees that are dotted around Dad’s well stocked veggie patch. He’s a bit of an old hippie and very much into growing his own, wasting nothing and reusing everything.

These apples made a very yummy crumble! The onions – not so much!

(Biba wears a fab frock from Teresa Green) Here’s to the good life!

The WHOOP game!!!

We thought we’d share with you the way Team Treffry pass the time on long car journeys (and we must admit shorter journeys too!!)
We play a game called the WHOOP game, or the Yellow car game!

The rules are not too complex!! If you see a yellow vehicle you shout WHOOP and the first person to do so scores a point, the person with the most points at the end of your journey wins. Fun. There’s a few more rules to be aware of…
1 if two people WHOOP at the same time they each get a point.
2 vehicle is defined as one which has a steering wheel.
3vehicle must be predominantly yellow.
4 if you WHOOP Inappropriately your points get reduced to zero and you must start again.
5 no WHOOPing when engine is switched off.
6perhaps the most important of all, no fighting, it’s just a game!!

So have fun the Team Treffry way and let us know how you get on!!

(no advertising intended by the above and extra points in you can spot our covert yellow vehicle capturing!!!)
We must also credit the inventor of this yellow themed fun, Thank you Mr Justin Duance!!