The difficulty in sourcing natural wool stuffing for her dolls (@dottydolls on Instagram) has been highlighted by a Roscommon woman who relocated from New York, to start a craft business from a cottage she restored on the family farm.
Michelle Fallon’s doll sewing kits originally came with polyester stuffing and packaged in a box. However, this was not what she wanted.
“I made a decision last year that I want my business, Michellemadethis, and my Instagram, to be more ethical going forward, and eco-friendly,” she said.
“I started trying to source Irish suppliers for natural wool stuffing but couldn’t find an,y so I went ahead with polyester – but it never sat right with me.
“I have now stopped producing the full kits until I find a more eco-friendly stuffing, and [now] offer just the doll sewing panels and encourage people to reuse old cushion stuffing for them,” said Michelle, who is based just outside of Roscommon town.
Sourcing Irish wool
“I started asking on social media and searching online and couldn’t find any. I’ve posted in various craft groups on Facebook, which have been very helpful,” she said.
“But so far, I’ve had nothing but offers of free fleece, fresh from the sheep – which I don’t have the means to process, and nor would it then be cost effective for me to do so and then sell on in a kit.
“I can’t understand how we as a country have no one providing this service. I believe it would be an extremely viable business as the whole world is far more eco-conscious now, and wool can be used for insulation, and also as padding in packaging,” Michelle said.
The 2016 census revealed that there were more sheep in Ireland than there were humans, yet we seem to export most of the wool, or worse still, it is dumped, she said.
“There are hundreds of crafters in the country making dolls, cushions and all sorts of products requiring stuffing. Another option is to use shredded pre-used clothes.
“My research has indicated that there is one textile shredder machine in the country, used for the guards’ uniforms, which are all shredded and disposed of. I haven’t been able to confirm this, but it’s crazy, especially as textile waste is more harmful to the environment than plastic and food waste,” she contended.
“It takes 2,700L of water to make a cotton t-shirt, and takes 200+ years for textiles to decompose in landfills. 84% of textiles end up incinerated or in landfill,” said Michelle.
Cosmopolitan crafter
The Roscommon woman, who built up a business making personalised gifts and holding workshops and sewing camps, moved to London after leaving school. She then took a year out to renovate her granny’s cottage. After being offered a job in New York, she moved to the Big Apple for a year.
Missing the tranquility of home, she returned to Roscommon where she continues to work on the cottage, with plans to run workshops and pop-up events in the future.