Our Material Story

OUR COMMITMENT TO USING THE BEST MATERIALS AND BEST PRACTICES

We’ve put a lot of thought into the materials we use here at Fable Kids. We’ve taken sustainability, durability and aesthetics into careful consideration. There’s a fine balance, and it has taken years of practice, research and planning to get it right. Even though we’re proud of how far we’ve come, we strive to learn more about our craft and sourcing materials that create the safest, most sustainable, and most beautiful heirlooms possible.

Part my responsibility as textile artist is to make sure I do what I can to minimize the impact on our earth. We are generously gifted cotton and linen remnants from local small shops, helping to eliminate their waste and turning those beautiful scraps into treasured heirlooms.

When cutting our fabric pieces, we hand cut each piece diligently to minimize our own waste and are proud to say it is incredibly minimal. But in an effort to keep those leftovers out of landfills, we use it as stuffing for animal beds that will be donated to our local rescues.

All of our linens and quilted cottons are prewashed in a scent-free eco friendly detergent, machine dried for shrinkage and ironed (yes, you can iron linen!). Our cottons are not, however, I've increased seam allowances on all doll clothes so that they can be laundered as finished garments with shrinkage accounted for.

Hair

We have chosen three hair styles for our Heirloom Dolls. The first one is a solid linen, which is the safest for children under two years of age. The linen we use varies from yarn dyed Essex Linen (a cotton-linen blend) to a solid linen. Both fabrics are ideal for durability. Secondly, we've chosen two types of yarn (curly and straight), and lastly we offer wool felt buns. Yarns for our Snuggle ponies are often a mixed fibre reclaimed yarns and will vary in composition from one release to the next. 

The yarns we use for our 17” dolls are purchased within Canada, the majority from a local small shop specializing in hand dyed and farm-spun wool. While it is true, every yarn will pill, we’ve asked numerous experts and settled on using a special wool blend for our straight hair to minimize the wear and tear your dolls will receive.

Our curly hair comes from a small Canadian shop and is 85% boucle mohair, 13% wool, 2% polymid-blend. It’s a favourite of Waldorf doll makers worldwide and has been EN 71-3 and Azo Dye tested.

Our wool felt buns are also sourced from a small Canadian shop. They are handmade from 100% wool in Nepal with chemical-free dyes, so colour can vary slightly from ball to ball.

Doll Skin

It has taken years to find the most complimentary shades of cotton for my dolls. Something simple as three skin tones has taken four years to get ‘right’. Our dolls are sewn with 100% cotton from different manufacturers. Our mid-tone skin colour is certified Oeko-Tex Standard 100. 

Linen

Our linens are sourced from four Canadian shops. Half of the linens we purchase are imported from Europe where there is a strong heritage of spinning and weaving, in small batches. The mill uses 100% renewable energy, and the linens are certified Oeko-Tex Standard 100 (these linens will be noted in individual listings).

Our other linens are grown in Europe, but processed in Asia. These are more economical, feel just as wonderful and still have tremendous benefits.

Some of the benefits of linen:

• Linen comes from the flax plant, which uses less pesticides and fertilizers because it grows well in poor soil and in thick crops.
• Linen requires less water to grow
• The Advisory Commission Report to the European Parliament has stated that flax crops have positive effects on eco-system diversity and one hectare of flax retains 3.7 tonnes of CO₂.
• It is a zero-waste product because every part of the plant can be utilized
• Linen is natural anti-bacterial, hypoallergenic and antibacterial
• Linen is one of the strongest fibres there is, is pill resistant and is naturally stain resistant
• It is completely biodegradable and uses less dye than cotton.

Quilted Cotton

We use this cotton for our loveys and our Dollhouse sleeping bags. It’s as soft as a quilt handed down from your grandma. The lovely muted earth tones are enough to love about these cottons, but what’s even better is that they are 100% BCI grown in India. BCI cotton stands for Better Cotton Initiative and is a global not-for-profit organization that is the largest cotton sustainability program in the world.

Printed Cottons

We love to find and use Oeko-Tex and Organic cotton prints when we can. Approximately 90% of our printed fabrics are sourced from Canadian small shops. About ten percent are imported directly from Japan or the USA. Organic and Oeko Tex certified fibers will be noted in the individual listings.

What we love most is using cotton off-cuts or remnants from other small shops, such as Nest and Nurture. Sometimes I will also come across thrifted cottons that I can't wait to use. All these little efforts help keep textile waste out of landfills. Each piece of fabric is then machine washed with a scent-free eco-friendly detergent, tumble dried, ironed and placed on the shelf to await its moment to shine. 

Stuffing

After careful consideration we have chosen to use a premium, 100% new hypoallergenic poly fibre that is manufactured in Canada in all our ready to ship dolls. Custom orders are given the option to use local wool. 

There were four parts to our decision: