Related Stories

• Minister asked to support ‘curved cabs’ for new lorries
  
  
• Purchase of hotel at Cork Airport
  
  
• Cork Airport sees after Munster fans
  
  
• Further awards for Riordan’s Fermoy and Reidy’s Mitchelstown
  
  
• SuperValu Fermoy and Mitchelstown contribute to €100,000 donation to Focus Ireland
  
  
• Calling Cork start-ups to become investor ready and compete for €280k prize fund
  
  
• Laya partners with College of Medicine & Health at University College Cork
  
  
• it@Cork ‘Women In Tech’ lecture series kicks off
  
  
• Invest in training to strengthen business with Biznet Cork Skillnet
  
  
• The Paddocks in Ballyduff adding to their services
  
  
• Banker turns baker and wins SPAR contract in Little Island
  
  
• Lively attendance at Cork one-stop-shop event for small businesses in Cork
  
  

‘The things I make are going back to an old style that’s not there anymore and that’s what people love.’ – Ellen Byron Photo: Sandra Quinn

Rag dolls that were your confidants, teddy bears that dried every tear and stifled every giggle, and quilted blankets to cuddle under – these things mean childhood, happiness and innocence and through items like this, Ellen Byron is bringing people a taste of ‘remember when’.

Ellen has been working from her home in Araglin for the past three years on her Nellie Mac business, making quilts, teddy bears and children’s toys.

“The things I make are going back to an old style that’s not there anymore and that’s what people love.”

Childhood is the most precious time in a person’s life, but all too soon, the little toddler that was scrambling around your legs has grown up and they are now talking about having their own children.

Quite often, parents find themselves at a bit of a loss when a child grows up and moves away from home and they often think that they would like to have something to remind them of that precious childhood that is now lost.

Ellen has the most beautiful idea for freezing those moments of innocence in time with what she calls memory blankets or memory teddy bears.

For the blankets, the material used is often made up of the person’s baby clothes and items, and these are either cut out to make pattern squares or stitched on in their entirety. They make for a unique and sentimental presents that can be given to a child and can eventually be passed on to their own children.

Similarly, the teddy bears can be made from material thayt holds sentimental value for the customer and it is a way to immortalise something like a shirt or babygrow, and transform it into something that can be cherished forever.

Since she started the business, Ellen said she has been overwhelmed by the stories she has heard from customers and she has found that the memory blankets and teddy bears can be a great way for people to deal with loss as well, as it allows them to hold on to a part of someone in a different way.

Speaking about the work that goes into each item, Ellen explained that they are very time consuming and she does it more for the love of it, rather than to make money.

 “Everything I make is original and with the bears, you will never see another one like it, even if it’s just a bit on the arm or a square on a quilt – they are never identical.”

Ellen stressed that with everything she makes, the teddy bears, sock dolls, rocking horses, quilts and rag dolls, there is nothing on them that is harmful for children, and they are durable.

When Nellie Mac items were first sold, it was through the market in the Fermoy Youth Centre and now she is selling with the traders in the market at Toss Bryan’s on Saturday’s, but soon she will be moving to Fitzgerald Place in Fermoy with a group of other traders and artisan food producers.

blog comments powered by Disqus