Make & Sew Toys Magazine Interview

1) We were always going to have a creative working life. After graduating university, we decided to combine our art and design skills to create what is now our small business, Little Loomers; it all started with a stall at Greenwich Market, where you can still find us trading to this day. We create handmade, child-friendly dolls, comforters and baby rattles that are ideal for tiny hands. We now sell online and supply dolls to other amazing small businesses, too.

2) What began as a simple idea grew into something we quickly fell in love with. We initially started with rabbit dolls as the foundation of our business and over the years, it felt natural to expand the collection to include more woodland animals, such as the badger and fox. We liked the idea of creating something that was traditionally British - it’s easy to take inspiration from your surroundings and incorporate this into the designs.

3) One of our favourite dolls is Rosie Rabbit. She is classic, sweet, and has a traditional charm that we love to incorporate in our designs. Our aim was to create an heirloom toy, and a rag doll bunny seems to have a certain nostalgia for many people. The rabbit, in all it’s design varieties has always been the bestselling design of our collection. 

4) We want to ensure our dolls will be loved for many years. They’re toys designed to be loved and cherished, and the best way to achieve this is to make sure we take care, attention and love with every single one we make. We believe dolls and toys are such an integral part of any child’s life - they can create whole worlds of imagination through play, and provide comfort too. A doll is the perfect companion to whisper your secrets to!

5) Perhaps the best way for our dolls to create imaginative play is in the characters themselves. The fabrics we pick are bright and fun to encourage play, and all our dolls are open-ended and can create a whole world of imagination. Something as simple as a cotton doll can become a child’s first friend to share cuddles and secrets with. 

6) Seeing our customer’s faces light up is the best feeling. It makes all the ups and downs of having a small business worth it. Obviously, we want to be able to progress and improve our craft, so we would love to bring a little more drawing into our business and design our own fabrics. We love using fabrics from studios as the designs are incredible and often inspire the look of a new fox, badger or rabbit doll, but having our own prints would allow us to add more of a personal touch to our products.