The first 10 years

This November marks 10 years of Polly had a Dolly

How it all began...

My good friend, Katie Higgins, wanted to host a pop up shop called Kentish Made at her home on the high street in my village. Featuring the exceptional makers she knew, it was to be a curated selection of talented crafts people and exceptional local produce. I was invited but at the time my focus was on dressmaking - making custom dresses (and a lot of alterations) - and I felt like I had an idea.

My daughters were young and I had been learning more about alternative education settings and discovered beautiful Waldorf dolls. Making dolls for my girls wakened my creative soul and I just fell in love with stitching the beautiful characters.

I'm an incredibly cautious person, but I started looking into the reality of a craft business. My lovely Father-in-Law is very practical and warned me that I was getting into a whole lot of trouble making toys. He was a trading standards officer and knew all about the toy safety guidelines. However this was the push I needed to prove that handmade toys can be safe and with his support, the help of collectives, and testing houses, I learnt how to make sure my dolls were safe.

The story behind my name

My name, Polly had a Dolly, was the sign that I was doing the right thing. Anyone who has tried to set up an email, or find a unique social media handle will know that most of the good names have gone!

I wanted to name my business after my Grandma, Polly. She didn't teach me to sew or craft but worked hard all her life. Grandma was one of those people that always saw the best in people, always had a positive word to say, and believed in all her grandchildren. I wanted to bring her energy with me as I had a feeling that running this business was going to be a rollarcoaster (I was right).

When I thought of the name, Polly had a Dolly, it checked all the boxes. An easy name for my customers to remember [tick], it rolls of the tongue nicely [tick], and explained what I was doing [tick]!

Amazingly I went to buy the domain name and it was available, and I went to Etsy and it was there for me to use. I couldn't believe my luck when it was available on Facebook. I only needed to had some underscores to make it work on Instagram!

My first sales

So that was it I took my early dolls to the pop up shop and people loved hearing about the philosophy behind the dolls and the use of natural materials and supported me. I was on my way!

The branding

After the whirlwind of that first Christmas I then had time to develop a logo - drawing on inspiration from Mabel Lucie Atwell whose illustrations have stayed with me since childhood.

A new workshop, more time and growing confidence

In 2016 we moved house and gained a workshop to enable me to grown and develop. This was the point I closed my dressmaking business down and went full time on Polly had a Dolly. My youngest daughter started school and there was finally time every day where I could get my teeth into my dollmaking.

I plucked up courage, supported by another toymaker, and applied to be a member of The Toymakers Guild. This has led to some amazing opportunities including displays in Tunbridge Wells and at Pollocks Toy Museum.

The lockdown years

After an initial pause where I didn't know what to do, I realised I had a role to play in the pandamic.

Over lockdown I was incredibly busy sending dolls all over the world and helping parents support their children through the power of dolls. I tried to write helpful social media posts and blogs to share ideas of what on earth to do when the world was in chaos. We created a little community.

Like many famillies, this was all whilst home education my two daughters and my husband moved into my workshop as he needed to work from home - no furlough for us!

Cost of living crisis

After lockdown, it got really tough. My income dropped through the floor - the cost in living crisis meant that families just can't afford to spend the money and support craft anymore. Facebook and Instagram changed and made it very difficult to reach people. Craft fairs are more expensive to run and I was spending double the amount for a 6 foot spot - and people were worried about coming out.

My mortage went up, like so many people, and I was trying to expand my income by running classes and marketing like crazy!

I was running open studios through South East Open Studios - I had given out guides at the local market, dropped flyers, emails, live videos, all the right things - and no one was coming - I had 10 people visit over three weeks (and four of them were one family).

After being amazing for so many years, Etsy did something weird and sales plummeted for sellers around the world; they let fake craft in and ruined the trust customers had in the selling platform. I needed time to pivot away from relying on it.

I was worried!

Determined to not let the business die - over the years I had become so passionate about the power of handmade toys, the legacy of toymakers in Britain, and the wondrous power that dolls have on children's development.

I am a trained designer, and I could have sought out a job that would become my prioity and paid pretty well but I was not ready to give up on my dream yet. 

Just about to head out for my interview!

Yet again the stars aligned and a job opened at my local supermarket fo 12 hours a week. I have never worked in retail and I am vasty over quailified on paper but I applied for a job. The interview was whilst running my open studios, was offered the job and started just as open studios finished. The job just perfect, lovely colleagues, ensures I talk to people and get out the house, provides a stable income.

I can't be creative when all I can think about is making enough money to keep the wolf from the door. The main thing is it leaves plenty of time for me to work on my passion, Polly had a Dolly.

The future

Now things are looking more positive, I have pivoted away from Etsy and getting amazing work from illustrators, artists, clothes designers as well as wonderful familes.

I've developed dolls that combine my passion with our natural world amd encourage creative play. My website was rebuilt (all by me) at the beginning of the year and I really feel like it tells my story.

People are back to attending craft fairs and are supportive of craft again, and my doll range suits the amount of spending money people have better.

I am excited for the next 10 years, I still want to spend hours stitching and creating characters and new ideas are always flooding in at a rate I can't keep up with!