Shopping for a cause: Garden Club of Allegheny County’s Pizzazz boosts green projects

The Fox Chapel Golf Club transformed into a designer boutique with more than three dozen vendors Oct. 16-18 for the 28th Pizzazz fundraiser.

The space was filled with merchandise such as men’s, women’s and children’s clothing and accessories, jewelry, leather goods, gifts, home décor, linens, personalized stationery and specialty food items.

And more.

Proceeds from Pizzazz, an annual shopping event hosted by the Garden Club of Allegheny County, have funded more than $2 million in environmental and conservation projects.

A preview party kicked off the event Oct. 16 followed by two days of shopping.

Organizers expected more than 500 people to attend over the course of the three-day event, which was co-chaired by Joanna Flanagan and Mary Krauland. Vendor co-chairs were Susan Boyle, Loan Hutton, Barbara Pippen Thai and Bev Elliott.

“What a beautiful space,” said artist Julie Whitehead Holdsworth, owner of Whitehead Studios based in Lake Bluff, Ill., near Chicago.

For more than four decades, Whitehead has been hand-painting fabric to create what she calls “one of a kind” holiday and home accessories, including topiaries, trees and ornaments.

The ornaments are shatterproof, and she complements them with a bow.

Also using bows and other details to dress up her apparel was Heidi Ackley, founder of Pearly Vine from New Albany, Ohio, a suburb of Columbus.

Ackley started the business in her basement.

At the time, she had 4-year-old twins, a black cardigan and nothing exciting to wear under it, she said.

She came up with the idea to take a plain white woven shirt and pair it with some exciting fabric — such as adding French cuffs to a basic shirt — to create a pop of color.

Ackley incorporates everything from silk to feathers, faux fur to cotton, and pearls to pom poms in her apparel. Some of her merchandise can be found at Splurge on Freeport Road in O’Hara. She employs eight seamstresses. She began in the jewelry business, and the Pearly Vine name came from her grandmothers: Pearl and Vi(olet).

The business has grown to where her merchandise is sold via wholesale in 300 shops and boutiques. She also does events such as Pizzazz, selling what she calls “classic women’s clothing.”

“Pizzazz is fun,” said Ackley, whose twins are now 24. “I love being at this event. I like thinking of new ideas for what began for me as a hobby and grew to a real thing and it continuing to grow.”

Helping things to grow is the mission of the Garden Club of Allegheny County, which sponsored two vendor areas at Pizzazz. The first was Timeless Treasures, which were donated antiques and collectibles. One of those items was a collection of Minton English china. The company dates to 1793 when Thomas Minton established his pottery works in Staffordshire, England.

The second, Botanical Bits and Bobs, was new this year and featured new and previously loved horticulture items such as cachepots, planters, garden tools and accessories.