Gail has a crafty side

If you were observant around Kilcullen before Christmas, you might have noticed something common to almost every shop, writes Brian Byrne. The bunting. Not just any bunting, but hand-sewn decorations, made with bright-coloured materials and with individual motifs or slogans.

Gail Murphy's Crafty Couture business kicked off last year, and since then her individually-created bunting has marked birthdays, christenings, and other family, business and seasonal festivities around Kilcullen.

It all started when she was about eight. She remembers her grandmother, who first taught her to knit and crochet, being 'my inspiration'. "Later I went to the Presentation sisters in Terenure, and they taught me how to sew. I loved the nuns, when it came to teaching the basics in life, they were so patient." All this was the start of a lifelong love affair with crafts and fabrics.

Gail's father is in the motor trade, so that was in her blood too. She worked for six years in Murphy & Gunn motor dealers, mainly in the Service Department and Reception in Rathgar and Milltown, and loved it. She had envisaged going further in dressmaking, but the birth of her son in 2000 'brought my dream to a halt'. "Eight years ago we moved down to Kilcullen, and my daughter was born in 2005, just after we moved here. A year later I decided to go back to college, and I got my diploma in dressmaking in Kilroys College."

Gail set up 'shop' in her front room in the New Abbey area of Castlemartin, under the name Pin Pin Alterations. She rapidly got very busy, and loved the work. "But eventually I decided I wanted to do something more 'crafty', just to make it a bit more interesting every day."

That resulted in Crafty Couture, primarily producing personalised bunting but also making hand-sewn items like her French memo boards. "Bunting has become big, particularly for children's bedrooms. For Christmas we created the stocking bunting, and the Happy Christmas one, and they were a huge success at craft markets and the Christmas fairs."

Marketing Crafty Couture so far has been very much word of mouth, but Gail has also used Facebook very successfully to promote her work and get orders. "A website still has to be set up, and that's where I think is the way forward, rather than just putting samples into shops."

In January 2011 she and her husband decided that juggling a business and family in the house was too much, so a dedicated workspace and office was constructed in the garden. "I'm a Mammy first, and now I can lock the door in the evening and spend time with the children. We got our home back, and I think people are a lot more comfortable coming to a separate building like this than into your home."

The name of the business deliberately leaves the way open for other products. "For instance, the memo boards have become popular gifts, particularly for teenagers' bedrooms. There's definitely a move towards this kind of present, especially for occasions. People love the idea of something hand made."

Gail sources material from many places, including cast-offs in thrift shops. Last year, an eight-year-old's mum commissioned bunting made from the clothes she'd kept since the little one was a baby. "She got something which still had their sentimental value. It was really lovely, very vintage, with a lovely range of patterns and colour."

For years the traditional Irish seamstress has been scarce, but Gail believes there's a resurging interest. "I was always tweaking around with the children's clothes. Adding little bits here and there, a ribbon a cardigan, whatever. Now you're seeing more of that around, and it's not the older generation any more, but the younger people."

She already has her 2013 mapped out, with the next big event being the Tinahely Show, where there's a lot of crafts. "Markets too, and I'll be booking the Christmas Fairs early this year, to get into the right places."

There's obviously something crafty in the genes, from her grandmother through Gail and on to her own children. Her son makes beautiful origami tree decorations, which sold brilliantly at the Christmas fairs, and her little girl is looking for a sewing machine of her own. "My own mother has it too, especially at Christmas she loves to make decorations with twigs and lights."

A community of crafts people is building in Kilcullen and its outer areas, and Gail says this is in large measure because of Rose Doherty and her shop, The Cottonwood Tree. "It's a wonderful place. Any time you go in, the first question is 'a cup of tea or coffee?' She works really hard at it, with the craft courses and everything else. And her fabrics are fabulous, I'm just like a child in a sweet shop when I go in."

This article was originally published on the Kilcullen page of The Kildare Nationalist.