Gems of Drogheda
Featured personWest Street

Nuala
Kerrigan.

The tailor half of West Street calls when a hem goes, a zip sticks or a wedding is on Saturday.

AlterationsSewing night
Portrait of Nuala Kerrigan
HemsZipsWedding morningsThursday sewing nightWest Street since 1994HemsZipsWedding morningsThursday sewing nightWest Street since 1994HemsZipsWedding morningsThursday sewing nightWest Street since 1994HemsZipsWedding morningsThursday sewing nightWest Street since 1994
30years above the same shopfront on West Street.
Known for
Alterations & repairs
Workroom
West Street
Featured
28 Sep 2026

She opened with one machine and a rail borrowed from her mother. The machine has been replaced twice. The rail is still there.

Most weeks it's school uniforms, suit trousers and the dress that fit last year. On Thursday evenings she runs a beginners' sewing night for anyone who wants to stop throwing clothes out.

Bridal fittings came later, by word of mouth through the parishes. Now there are mothers bringing in daughters whose communion dresses she altered twenty years ago.

The rail, still thereThe rail, still there
“

Mending is the difference between keeping a thing and losing it.

Nuala Kerrigan

Six quick questions.

Scroll sideways →
01First thing you ever mended?
My brother's communion trousers, the night before.
02Hardest job?
A christening gown four generations old. Took a month.
03What people get wrong
That it's cheaper to buy new. Usually it isn't.
04Best time on the street
Saturday mornings, when everyone's out at once.
05Tool you can't live without
A seam ripper older than most of my customers.
06Advice for beginners
Learn to sew a button properly. The rest follows.

Thread
by thread.

1994One machine, one borrowed rail, a room above a West Street shop.
2003Bridal fittings — word spread through the parishes.
2015Thursday sewing nights begin for neighbours.
NowStill on West Street. Same rail.
Nuala Kerrigan
Get to know

Nuala Kerrigan

@nualamends · Tailor · West Street

The tailor half of West Street calls when a hem goes, a zip sticks or a wedding is on Saturday.

Nuala Kerrigan
Where you'll find her
The workroomTue–Sat · 10am–5:30pm
Thursday sewing nightThursdays · 7pm

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