About US
Founded in the mid 1940’s by Harry Murphy, selling Irish linen sheets, Foxford blankets, and towels to hospitals, convents and schools all over Ireland, Murphy Sheehy began its life in the Castle Market area- centre of Dublin’s rag trade.
Since the 1970s Murphy Sheehy has evolved into one of Dublin’s leading dress and home furnishing providers under the guidance of Harry’s daughter Geraldine. More than 60 years later it is still located in Dublin’s fashionable Castle Market and provides exclusive materials sourced directly from Ireland, the UK, France, Spain and Italy.
With Geraldine and her children Jane and Fionn running the present day operation, Murphy Sheehy continues to provide the value, quality and family expertise for which is has always been known.
Reviews
Shoparound
Material world / Fiona Tyrrell / The Irish Times / Oct, 13, 2005
Whether it's faux fur for your bedroom, Regency stripes for your wing back chair or lavish silks for your curtains, Murphy Sheehy fabric shop on Castle Street is brimming with ideas.
Established in 1949 as a dress fabric supplier, the business became the fabric shop of choice for the theatre and art world. However, demand from homeowners and interior designers in the last 10 years has prompted the shop to expand into the upholstery and curtain fabric business.
The compact premises in the heart of Dublin is crammed full of rolls and rolls of gorgeous silk, linen, contemporary prints, vintage-style florals, broderie anglaise, fun fur, chenille, suede and velvet. Most of the fabric is sourced in Spain and France with some from the UK.
"Because of our space constraints, people have to come in and root around. There are some great jewels to be found. Otherwise we are happy to help people find what they are looking for," explains Fionn Adam, who runs the shop with his sister, Jane, and mother, Geraldine. Silk is very popular for curtains at the moment, according to Fionn. People are going for neutral old-fashioned colours - gold, fawn, cream and bronze, he says. (Fabrics cost from €18 to €25.50 per metre.) Double width pretty vintage-style floral prints in linen union (linen and cotton mix) suitable for a very big drop cost €25 per metre.
Upstairs there is a great selection of faux or fun furs, from €18 per metre. While the leopardskin print fabric may not be to everyone's taste, the wolf fabric or plain black or cream fur fabrics will certainly add a wow factor to couches and beds in a contemporary setting.
Making a comeback recently is broderie anglaise and old mattress ticking-style striped material (€15 per metre). Upholstery weight suede and velvet are available in a host of colours (€25 and €18 respectively). For traditional homes, embroidered Regency striped material costs around €20 per metre; a stunning bronze and white woven chenille €19. For something really special, check out their Indian hand-embroidered cashmere. Priced €27.50, it is available in a range of different colours and patterns.
From silks to sacking, store has a wealth of materials
Kate McMurrow / The Irish Times / Nov, 21, 2001
Generations of families have bought fabrics in Murphy Sheehy's shop on Castle Market Street in the centre of Dublin. Artists and Home Ec teachers shop there too. Kate McMorrow reports on a business that has passed from father to daughter to brother and sister.
Moving around in Murphy-Sheehy's fabric shop is a nightmare for all but the wafer-thin. Bales of organza, calico, plush velvet and serviceable tweed take up every square inch, except for a narrow space by the counter.
Behind this, Geraldine Adam, her daughter Jane and son Fionn measure, shear and exchange banter with regular customers.
Geraldine's father Harry Murphy and his partner Mago Sheehy opened their first shop in South Frederick Street in 1946. Fifty-five years on, Geraldine is preparing to hand over the business reins to the next generation.
She went to work in the shop 29 years ago when her father's partner Mago Sheehy died. "I never thought I'd be here still," she laughs.
"I was married with one child and my dad was so thrilled. He was able to sit in Sheehan's pub and watch the horses while I looked after the customers.
"My mother minded the children for everybody and had nothing to do with the shop - she never put her nose in the door."
Harry Murphy and Mago Sheehy were drapery buyers with Pims and Arnotts in the mid-1940s. When they leased their first premises in South Frederick Street, a wholesale drapery was the obvious business to go into.
The shop now trades on Castle Market Street, behind the Powerscourt Townhouse Centre, in a former button and haberdashery store owned by two ladies called Leadbetter. They have hardly any haberdashery now because there's no room, says Geraldine.
"The fabric only came in in the last 25 years. When we moved to the Castle Market Street shop in the 1950s, we were supplying sheets and nurses uniforms to hospitals. Dad made all the bedding bales for Cavendishes hire purchase shop.
"In those days, people put money aside every week for wedding parcels of Foxford blankets, candlewick bedspreads, sheets and towels. The Foxford blankets were sold by weight - we used to weight them on big scales hanging from the ceiling.
"Dad was so easy to work for. He would often close the shop and put a sign up 'gone to Punchestown'. "
Surprisingly, a large part of business these days is with artists, who buy sacking and calico for canvases from Murphy, Sheehy. Drama groups source material for backdrops and wardrobe mistresses browse through the bales for costume ideas.
Contracts with schools around the country for fabric for Home Economics classes are another regular source of income.
Castle Market has become trendy in recent years. Next door to the shop, a smart French patisserie called "La Maison des Gourmands" does a brisk trade. Buskers have arrived on the street - a sure sign that things are looking up in this part of town. Surrounded by the rag trade and with Jenny Vander's second-hand shop across the road, the location couldn't be better, says Geraldine.
"Dad moved here because the rent suited him. A while ago, people didn't know where this street was. It was full of tailors then and South William Street was all wholesale. Des Byrne's grocery shop across the road used to supply sandwiches on tick and there was often a cat on the counter."
Most of the buying now is done by Geraldine's grown-up children Jane and Fionn, who travel to Belfast and Dungannon every month to buy bales of linen. Buying a whole shelf of fabric at a time keeps their prices keen.
One roll of sackcloth they thought they would have difficulty selling ended up as curtains. Lined with red, the sacking became a dramatic fashion statement on an inventive customer's windows, says Geraldine.
The personal nature of business, with families shopping here for generations, makes for a very genial atmosphere in the Murphy Sheehy shop, she adds. "Customers don't mind rooting and making a mess in here. People come back with photographs of debs dresses showing us how nice they turned out. Interior designers buy a lot of Irish tweed for upholstery - something you wouldn't have thought of.
Youngsters come in for bits and pieces to make bags and patches for their jeans."
Pivotal to Murphy Sheehy's success over the years has been the presence of Claire Doyle, who has served behind the counter for 27 years and Marjorie Campion, who has just retired after 18 years in the shop.
Geraldine Adam has recently taken up golf and works just three days a week in the shop, leaving the day-to-day running of the business to Fionn and Jane. The family have a long lease on the Castle Market shop and have tried to buy the premises several times without success.
Rents are killing smaller shops, says Geraldine, who hopes their business will survive, despite the rent going "sky high" at the last review three years ago.
She believes the economic downturn will not affect businesses like theirs. "I don't think we'll suffer. In fact, we'll probably do better in a recession," adds Geraldine, rushing back behind the counter to deal with the queue.
DIY Fashion
Off the Rails - RTE
There was a time when a young lady may not have been considered accomplished unless she was a dab hand with the needle and thread. Some of our mothers & grandmothers took pride in being able to turn out their own outfits. But now with all the convenience of high street shopping, half of us would need help sewing on a button. Have you ever spent a fortune on something that you think you could have made yourself for a fraction of the cost?
Is DIY Dressmaking a dying art? Well not entirely - we met two woman who are more that nimble with a timble Linda Blanc works for Toni&Guy in Dublin and in her spare time she loves to design and make her own clothes. Having a passion for all things bright, Linda likes to create a unique look for herself and her friends. Putting a lot of time and effort into the patterns and fabric she uses, Linda believes that her creations fit her a lot better then clothes bought in the high street & tend to be a lot cheaper. She also loves customising clothes that she buys in shops to give them an individual look.
Our second DIY Fashion fan, Mary- Pat Shaw learned the art of sewing from her mother when she was just four. Mary likes to use luxurious fabrics in her designs that can't be bought in shops. Having recently been made a grandmother Mary loves to make beautiful garments for all her family.
Geraldine Adam, from Murphy, Sheehy fabric shop explained to us that there are many different trends in buying fabrics and demand changes with the seasons. For instance, in autumn her top seller is organza for all the deb's girls to make their wraps from. In winter fabrics like tweed are more popular and in summer linen is in constant demand.
So why not dust off the needle & thread? It's cheap, easy and best of all individual !
www.rte.ie/tv/offtherails/series3/Prog5
