By Jennifer Summer
When a loved one dies, there are many things left behind — memories, keepsakes and sometimes, clothing. Whether it’s that favorite shirt, nightgown or outfit they wore all of the time; Crosby resident Danielle Scarbough is keeping those memories alive through her business, D’Milay Boutique. The name for her business is a combination of her name as well as her two daughters’ name
s. Scarbough is taking these clothing items, whether they be from newborns to grandparents, and transforming them into one-of-a-kind stuffed bears in an effort to have an additional keepsake of their loved one. She can even take clothing outgrown by children and form them into a Memory Bear as a keepsake. Scarbough first launched D’Milay Boutique as a side hobby when she wasn’t taking care of her three kids as a stay-at-home-mom.
“My husband and I wanted kids; we adopted and then, became pregnant not long after that so we have an 8-year-old son and two girls, one is 1 years old and the other, a 2-and-half-year-old,” Scarbough said. “We thought it would be best for me to stay at home with the three kids but I knew I needed a hobby as well. I asked my husband for a sewing machine for Christmas almost two years ago and just started practicing.”
From there, Scarbough watched tutorials on YouTube, joined sewing groups on various social media sites and began to perfect her craft. She first started by sewing two pillows for her daughters which have progressed to making jackets, pajama pants, girls dresses, headbands and car seat covers for babies. But, she wanted to do more thus, the Memory Bears started.
“I kept my grandfather’s shirts and was originally going to make pillows with the shirts for family members but I continued to look for a pattern when I came across the bear pattern,” Scarbough said. Since then, Scarbough has made several bears including a few for moms who have lost their children and wanted to have a bear made from their onesies and receiving blankets. The bears D’Milay Boutique make are approximately 12-13 inches tall and feature safety-snap eyes and a nose that, according to Scarbough, are virtually impossible to remove or rip off.
“With these bears, they can sit them on their mantel or sit them on a bed at night, they continue that memory,” Scarbough said. “This is a way to display that loved one’s clothing or even the clothing a child has outgrown. I really enjoy this and have a passion for making these bears.
“You never know what the customer will send you so the process of creating the bear is really fun. We don’t just use baby clothes to make the bears, we can use blankets or anything with sentimental value that is cloth.”
In the future, Scarbough hopes to partner with local charities to either donate a bear or money raised from the purchase of bears to a charity. For more information or to see more of the bears, email Danielle Scarbough at [email protected] or visit her page at https://www.facebook.com/dmilayboutique
