Last month I was lucky to be asked to design some promotional hats for Batiste (www.batistehair.co.uk) who were launching their new XXL Volume spray. The idea was to dress their new cans with mini shower caps (think Innocent Smoothies – www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/bigknit). The cans were sent as party invitations to various beauty media and beauty bloggers inviting them to the Batiste launch party at Bungalow 8 in London. Guests were greeted with delicious cocktails and a beautifully decorated bar filled with bottles of the brand new Batiste range, all decked with little shower caps.

The party goers enjoyed an evening listening to gorgeous Paloma Faith (www.palomafaith.com), who was dressed in a fabulous black and white evening gown (which has given me ideas for my next shower cap design) and were each given a fantastic goody bag which, amongst others, included a selection of the new Bastiste range, Paloma Faith’s brand new debut album, and a Dilly Daydream shower cap – a must for anyone who uses dry shampoo and doesn’t want to wash their hair every day.

Thank you to Charley and Jackie at JWPR (www.jwpr.co.uk), Batiste and all of you who told me they loved their shower caps. I’m so pleased they went down a storm!

There is a general feeling that shower caps are seen as an embarrassing item to wear. To change this perception, I created a brand new website with the theme of pampering and luxury, and introduced more new luxurious shower cap designs. And through all the fantastic customer feedback I’ve had, I now know people who wear their Dilly Daydream shower caps out and about – at spa weekends, on cruises, for shows and events, and when swimming.

Guru Kaur thought my story was inspirational to other busy women in the workplace, and so she spent some time talking to me to understand how my business came about, how I made it what it is today and where I want to take it in the future.

You can hear the interview here.

They published this really lovely feature on me, and as a result I had numerous emails from fellow mums who were genuinely impressed with my story. Thank you all for your kind words!

As a result the sales of Juicy Cherries shot through the roof, particularly the hat and bag sets. I’m working on some new designs at the moment, and hope they prove to be as popular!

The Welsh Water was a great idea, encouraging you to shorten your showering time.

And Fenjal included their hats in their press packs which were snapped up immediately!

The embroidery company we use has the facility to match colours, logos and illustrations, so if you have a specific idea, please let us know and we’ll help work with you to create that extra-special shower cap or wash bag.

If there’s only one thing that my mother drummed into me from a young age that actually registered with me, it was the old adage if a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.

In my 22 years of being in the work place, I have come to realise that you get what you pay for. Take short-cuts and you get short-changed.

In my desire to take Dilly Daydream into its next phase, I knew instantly how I wanted to take it there. Pick up one of my hats in the flesh and it’s love at first sight, but how can you get the feeling of colour, texture and quality when looking at the hat on a computer screen? The answer, by employing a mix of professional photographers, models and an incredibly talented make up artist. My aim was to give my hats a feeling of life, beauty and high-end craftsmanship.

Let’s face it, Vicky Boateng, our model, would still look stunning in a knitted tea cosy, but her beauty also comes from within, and having sat half-dressed for the best part of the day on a hard village hall floor, she remained the true professional, smiling and laughing right up to chucking out time. For James Nader,  my favourite fashion photographer of all time, nothing was too much trouble, and he snapped happy for a solid 5 hours (only breaking for the odd cuppa and a tuna and sweetcorn sarnie) determined to get through my range of over 50 hats and taking more than 300 lifestyle shots. Katie, our diligent make up artist, kept the enthusiasm going, doing her thing with brushes and pots and bottles of potions and a range of fake eyelashes to die for.

And for the hat photographs themselves, I am lucky enough to work with one of the real pros – Paul, by day, owner of a British stock library,  spent many an evening hunched over a camera in a light tent taking shot after shot to try and give the hats their truest representation and then patiently cutting out each hat image to make it web ready. It’s lucky he’s my husband too.

But the award for patience and understanding goes to Karl Tall, my friend (still, I hope) and web designer extraordinaire, who took a one-dimensional site and turned it into something sophisticated, slick and something I’m truly proud of. I consider myself extremely lucky to have worked with these very clever people.

It just goes to show, you get what you pay for.

I’m a modest soul, so when Dilly Daydream launched back in 2007, I wasn’t quite as prepared as I should have been when I took a very simple idea and turned it into something more indulgent, elegant and glamorous. I discovered there are a lot of ladies out there who do actually like to look (and feel) a little bit nicer than a drowned rat when taking a shower. And why not?

It’s really not rocket science making a useful product more aspirational (Cath Kidston is a true professional in this field) but it does require some drive and determination, something I don’t particularly associate with myself.

Trying to satisfy demand by making enough shower hats to go round at Christmas is one of the toughest things I’ve ever done. (OK, maybe giving birth to twins takes first place on the tough stakes). Making sure I’m talking to the right people, (and what a wonderful cross section of customers there are that buy from Dilly Daydream – from glamorous ladies who take Dilly Daydream shower caps with them on cruises, to the lovely women who wear their shower caps for charity swim events and the wonderful dance teachers who’ve ordered caps for their talented dance troupes to wear on stage). Streamlining the order process (and I’m still struggling on that one – any suggestions on how to do this are most welcome!). And buying the right fabrics at the right price to make hats that people want, have all proved to be the hardest part of making Dilly Daydream the success it is today.

Three years down the line and I felt the time was right to take Dilly Daydream onto its next chapter. My objective was to make my shower caps even more indulgent and special – a real pampering treat, to give my customers a chance to feel that they’ve bought themselves something worthwhile, and to provide them with the perfect and original gift for their loved one, all wrapped up in pretty tissue.

Have I done this? Let me know….I hope you like the new site.