Tee Sale

Ladies V-necks and Cap sleeves went on sale today.  

Half price!!!!  

Available at either of our locations

Smoking Lily

569 Johnson St. Victoria

or

3634 Main St. Vancouver

Little Seagulls

Johnny and Billy Coco

Photographed by Rachael this week from Smoking Lily's studio.

Sneak peek

We've been busy sampling our new fall line and Glenda snapped a few photos this week so you can have a little sneak peek. Margaret is wearing new wool coat sample that has yet to be named.

The Sooke skirt now in the shops with the new wool tee sample. We have since done a new sample of the tee and looks much better.

A longer wool tee with silk screened fancy collar worn with the Le Petite Skirt.

A detail of a new blouse taken from our John Wayne top.

New size added

We are all rushing out the door to start our weekend but I thought some of you might like to know that we have graded our Calamity Jane top up another size.  Next week we will make some of these lovelies up in new fabric that just arrived. It is so pretty.

Have fun this weekend!

The littlest seahorse

Last night I saw the cutest picture in the world! And even better I am sharing it with all of you!! This is my niece Georgie in her adorable seahorse onsie. Just when I thought she couldn't get any sweeter...

Smoking Lily Meets the Pope!

Well, sort of....This is Erin from the Vancouver shop reporting in with a lovely photo of our infamous Pierre tee visiting the Vatican! Thanks to my handsome brother-in-law, Mark, for being a Lily model in Rome; now, hopefully he will be able to resist pirouetting behind His Holiness' back....

I can't believe it's bamboo.

Korinne just finished sewing the prettiest tunic top.  It is based on the Calamity Jane top but it is 12 inches longer and has a pretty butterfly printed on one of the two pockets.  The best part of the tunic though, is that it is made in 100% bamboo organza. 

Nicole is busy right now sewing up a new version of our Seville dress.  We scooped the neck and used a vintage looking brown cotton with a sweet Swiss dot.  Think  Julia Roberts at the horse races in Pretty Woman.

In other news, we had an in house contest open to only Smoking Lily staff this week.  The contest was to come up with an idea for staff uniforms.  All of their ideas were good, one person suggested purple tear-aways, which was pretty funny, someone had quite an ingenious plan that used up surplus materials, there were Arnold Swartzenagger quotes, and  lots of apron ideas but my favourite is this one..." To me, the answer is obvious ... anything and everything we've already made!  Smoking Lily is the uniform, with a wide range of beautiful pieces you can mix and match..." Congratulations Steph, you're the winner!  Good job ladies,  I had a lot of fun going through your responses.

Heres looking at you,kid!

We've been a busy lot at the studio these passes couple of weeks.  We are slowing getting through the pile of samples we need to make for our new fall line, it's peoples birthdays, its vacation time, wedding time and on top of that we have started making some kid's clothes.  

The first piece hit the shelves a couple of days ago and it is pretty damn cute.  It's the Ebba tunic, named after one of our seamstresses kid's.  The Tunic was inspired by an apron my great grandmother made just before she passed away in 1971.... Thanks Beppa!  I tried to get Ebba to model it for us but there was no way she was going to let any one photograph her.  Her class mate Erika was happy to step in her place though.  Erika is going into grade one this fall to give you an idea of her size but I also just got a note from Glenda saying she sold one to a ten year old girl who was going to move the buttons... we left the strap plenty long for you to adjust.  We have used bits of left over fabric, the straps are scraps from the John Wayne with lace left over from the Seahorse Blouse we did last season and the rest is left overs from the apron, Galloping Goose skirt and the Calamity Janes and whatever else we can find.   

A delivery guy just dropped off 465 lbs. of fabric ..... we are all ohhing and awwing over all the prettiness to come.

Steph gets Married

Steph's Dad Ray, and her Mom Deb walking Steph up the "aisle"

We are proud to announce that a little while ago, on June 27th 2009 Steph (one of our Lily designers as well as seamstress) married the love of her life, Ben. We are so happy for them, it's nice to see a reunion of such a perfect couple. Ben and Steph have known each other since they were teenagers, and (as Steph has admitted) she always knew he was the one. They got married in Beacon Hill Park, here in gorgeous Victoria. Steph wore a breathtaking white silk duppioni dress (hand made by her of course) and Ben and all his groomsmen were decked out in plaid ties (made by you guess who.) Everything was wonderfully romantic (with nice touches that still let us know it was infact Steph getting married), with the trees and the flowers as a backdrop and a bagpiper to lead them to and fro the "alter" (urns of flowers). Afterwards we had a tasty dinner in the backyard of Steph's parent's in law, good company, whitty speeches, a few drinks....and dancing of course! It was a marvelous wedding, and they will be contiuing the fairytale romance in a few weeks on their trip to India, bits of Asia and other equally jealousy worthy places. We wish all the best to Ben and Steph for their future of married couple-dom! We love you Steph!
P.S. Awesome job on the napkins. I felt bad wiping my mouth.

"You may now kiss the bride!" Sorry, we didn't have a shot of Ben's face.
Kissing is more interesting anyway.

Nicole, Trish, Steph and Rachael at the Reception

Hastings Park

I spent Canada Day afternoon betting on the thoroughbred ponies, drinking cider and socializing with friends. It was a ton of fun, particularly since the gal who organized the outing got us into the winner's circle to be photographed with her parents horse (yes the horse came first, no I didn't bet correctly), and into the barns afterward to pet the beauties. My Lily Pony Express Bag held all the important accessories - camera, pens, note book, phone to call my Dad for tips...

My profits after buying a race form, drinking and placing bets were a whopping 10 cents! A little ridiculous, but coming out of a great afternoon of entertainment with the pocket book no lighter was a little satisfying too.

The broadest tip I got was to always bet on a grey horse in a long race. There was a 50% success rate that day. The tip that led to most of my winnings was to compare the jockey's percentages as well as the horse's current year and lifetime earnings (you need the full form for this, not just the program). At Hastings Park the favorites are favorites for a reason, so it's good to Exactor Box them with the horse you've liked most when you've done the handicapping.

Do you have tips that have worked for you? Pass them on, an easy bet would be that I'll be back at the track this summer.