These dolls, all dressed up for a night out, gaze at us expectantly, eagerly as they anticipate the excitement that awaits them after their week’s work in the Derry shirt factories. For the women who dressed them, who toiled in the shirt factories as young women, this process rekindled many memories of their time there and the socialising and fun after work.
The initiative – a series of three workshops Derry Dolls: Present to Past themed on the history of the shirt factories - was organised by Kyra Reynolds and Rachel Mullan-Carlin, Peace Barriers Programme, Bogside & Brandywell Initiative. It was facilitated by Roberta Bacic and Deborah Stockdale, Conflict Textiles, building on previous collaboration through the Triax Arpillera Doll Exhibition.
The women were invited to choose an arpillera doll (from a collection of dolls created in other workshops in Northern Ireland and beyond) and make an outfit similar to what they themselves would have worn on their nights out in the 1970s/80s. As the women shaped, cut and stitched, they shared memories and threads of connections from this era, a time when these nights out were the highlight of their week. Such was their enthusiasm for the process and their skill as seamstresses (being former factory workers), that they made two outfits for each doll. The spare outfits and clothes originally worn by each doll are displayed on clothes racks.
In keeping with the shirt factory theme, these Derry Dolls are attached to a backing quilt made from remnants of shirt material, similar to bed quilts across Northern Ireland being made from bits of shirt, suiting fabrics and scraps of old clothes. In this way it draws inspiration from the Chilean arpilleras which were made entirely from used fabrics.
Similar to the Chilean arpilleristas who, in times of political and economic hardship, related their story through textiles and earned some money to feed their family; these Derry women, often the main breadwinners, ensured the survival of their families in difficult times.
The textile was launched on 26 April 2022 at Pilots Row Youth & Community Centre, Derry / Londonderry, where it will remain on display until December 2022. | 
