Just a spark of inspiration and she was on her way.
Ellen O’Brien, owner of NNK Bags has always loved creating. Sewing for most of her life, and particularly enjoying working with heavier fabrics to make backpacks and soft luggage, when her own closets were bursting at the seams and she had gifted everything she could, she had the idea to officially turn her hobby into a business.
Selling in farmer’s markets like Irvington, the Kinsale Waterman’s Market and at boat shows like those in Kilmarnock and Reedville, when Ellen’s bags caught the eye of EnForme magazine, her business really took off.
“Sail cloth is slippery,” she says.” It doesn’t give or pull when sewing around a curve like other fabrics.” That’s one reason there are fewer products made from it, and Ellen’s mastery of this difficult fabric is the secret to her success.
Using retired sails gifted by friends, marinas and found on places like Ebay, Ellen creates her own patterns or adapts patterns found online to create her unique look. While some customers prefer bags with no additional decoration, most ask for it. So, she adds splashes of contrasting colors and incorporates shapes like stripes and triangles to give a nod to the sail from which the bag was made. Then she finishes the top seams with leather piping to give a clean look and feel.
Ellen’s NNK Bags come in all the traditional styles like buckets with hand spliced rope handles in both canvas and sail cloth (a top seller). And, she also has started creating bags in the shapes of circles, barrels and crescents with wider handles. If the bag is created from canvas, she block prints NNK Bags into the design to mimic an historic mariner’s bucket bag. But, sail cloth is too slippery and the ink smears, she says, so Ellen prints NNK on grosgrain ribbon for use as a sew-in label on the sail fabric bags.
Ellen’s first show was the Kilmarnock Boat Show in 2022 after she was approached by show organizers who had seen her canvas bags. Since then it’s been game on. And why not? NNK Bags are stylish and well constructed with thoughtful attention to detail. And, they are locally made from retired sails (mostly) found on the Northern Neck.
The next show featuring NNK Bags is in Colonial Beach on December 7, 2024 where Ellen’s full collection will be available. You can also find a partial selection of her sail bag designs on Square Space, nnk-bags.square.site.