When it comes to products made with seal fur, Newfoundland and Labrador has been the target of anti-sealing protesters for decades..She said she had been tipped off that the protest was being planned and, “I was stomach sick that day thinking about how I would handle it.”As the handful of protesters marched on the sidewalk outside her store,An event designed to shame people against buying seal products had the opposite effect, she said.
Instead, Pitcher focuses on making products — such as key chains, coffee mug cozies, Christmas ornaments, purses, hats, capes and coats — to ensure she has plenty for customers to choose from. Since she knew how to sew, he suggested she might be able to make him one with the brand new sewing machine she had just purchased.“Then he decided he’d like another one, with just a few changes to the design,” she said.“All of a sudden, I thought, maybe I could make a living out of this. So I started.”
Around that time, Pitcher said, she was selling her wares at a Newfoundland Craft Council show and a gentleman came in and said he wanted to buy some sealskin. The regular sewing machine she started with was ditched early on and replaced with industrial machines, and the part-time crafting turned into full-time work, with an employee hired to help with the manufacturing.