“The first time I visited The Nest in Everton Park, I was just dropping off some donations. I met Gladys and came away with my Wednesdays and Saturdays taken care of, volunteering at The Nest Haberdashery.”
Jacqueline

At the same time we launch this month’s ZIGZAG, we’re also hosting our annual Christmas Craft Stall in the Gladys Mary Studio. It seemed fitting to introduce the story and some of the women behind this valuable fundraising tradition at The Nest.

Maryanne Hambrecht, Pauline Stockwell, Trish Edmonds, Chris Eaton, Jacqueline Wilson, Sue Biggs and Lindee Downing are the driving force behind the Nest’s Craft Stall program where as many as 20 other volunteers contribute their making skills. They’re affectionately known as the Red Robins.

Volunteers who have contributed beyond their normal roles

Many of these women have been long term Nest volunteers and have participated (and some still do) in other programs like the Exchange Project mentoring girls or in the Textile Recovery Centre sorting donations.

Many share the same story of learning to sew from their mother or Grandmother and most almost seem to be busier in retirement than they were when they worked. As is often the case, many have made contributions to the growth of the organisation beyond their craft skills.

Maryanne started volunteering in 2019 when she retired as CEO of the Queensland Eye Hospital. She is always the first to put up her hand for an extra shift and for a long time coordinated operations in Everton Park. She’s a people person with a knack of bringing people together.

Chris had always sewn for her family and mixed part time work with raising a family and being heavily involved in volunteering at school with tuck shop duties and even running a uniform shop. During COVID, Chris and her sister were like little elves who came in to restock the shelves in the Haberdashery when everyone had gone home.

Jacqueline, who by her own admission, has run out of people she can make quilts for, was literally an Everton Park neighbour. It was almost inevitable that she would volunteer with us. At a time when we had a garden committee, Jacqueline was always ready to feed the chooks when others couldn’t. But she also did banking, kept accounts, purchasing and was our cleaning angel.

Pauline has volunteered with us almost from the beginning. She is someone who loves sharing her skills and has hosted many workshops teaching people to sew. She not only shares her skills with us but also through other sustainable initiatives like Repair Cafe and making Boomerang Bags. Like so many of our volunteers, Pauline is a good recruiter and has often included her husband.

In fact many husbands put up their hands to support us, repairing or moving things, or digging ditches when it rained and The Nest Haberdashery in Everton Park would regularly flood.

It was Pauline who introduced her neighbour Trish. “I knew she was a sewer and I thought she would get a lot out of it”. Trish is now one of our volunteer mentors, working with vulnerable girls in the Exchange Program. She recently helped one of the girls make her own formal dress.

Recalling Gladys, the instigator of the Craft Stall

These women who started in Everton Park fondly remember how Gladys, at the time in her eighties, used her powers of persuasion to get people to sign up to shifts, especially to her beloved Pop-Up Craft Stall.

Roz Holt’s late mother, Gladys Foley was an undeniable force. In the early days, while Roz was working in her full time job, she stepped in to be the backbone of operations. She managed rosters and took care of or delegated daily tasks. The Gladys Mary Studio was named in her honour.

Even though she was heavily involved at The Nest, Gladys was also the president of the Kedron Arts Society. It was here that she gained experience with pop-up stores in Shopping Centres as a means of fundraising for her association. When The Nest was struggling to pay rent, Gladys came up with the idea of volunteers using resources from the Haberdashery to make things for a stall. It not only brought volunteers together but it gave them a sense of purpose and kudos for their talents. It was empowering.

As a self-funded organisation, Gladys’ Pop-Up Craft Stalls were an essential part of The Nest’s revenue-raising efforts to meet our overheads. When revenue from The Nest Haberdashery became more established, the Craft Stall remained an important avenue for women to contribute, make a difference and feel empowered that they could do something for others. For this reason, we have retained the Craft Stall as one of our programs today.

How the Craft Stall program continues today

Jacqueline recalls how ‘things for the Craft Stall would just appear’. “Some of our Haberdashery customers no longer had someone to make things for. So, they’d buy our fabric and the next day come back with a finished item to donate for the stall”.

Gladys was very fond of crocheted coat hangers and would often make suggestions to people about what else they could make. Often there were some surprising favourites such as tea towels with crocheted tops. They’re one of Maryanne’s specialties and even today they’re one of the hottest items on the stall.

Since moving to Brendale, volunteer Sue Biggs has joined us and been able make an invaluable contribution by developing a catalogue to guide people towards making things that are in demand.

“My mother, sister and I ran a market stall for 25 years where we made everything. When I retired and gave up the markets, I was looking to get out of the house and find another ‘tribe’. My experience running my own stall means I can provide display advice. I’ve developed the catalogue and stocktake list as well as created labels.”

With an industrial machine at home, Sue also trials new ideas and tries to simplify the construction, always looking for ways to get more out of the resources.

Traditionally, the Pop-Up Craft Stall was held in shopping centres. Now with the Gladys Mary Studio right next door to The Nest Haberdashery, the Craft Stall has a permanent home. With the Heritage Collection as its backdrop and the Textile Recovery Centre in full swing behind, there’s a wonderful continuity between the textiles being given new life and the history of how women have been making, with purpose for centuries.