QUT IMPACT LAB
OUR VISION’S SAFE IN THEIR HANDS
QUILT ARTIST
VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT
CROCHET REVIVAL
EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN
CREATING SOMETHING PRICELESS
W E L C O M E
At a recent CEO’s Morning Tea, I used the analogy of the homemade dress to explain what we’ve achieved as an organisation.
When you make your own dress, you don’t have to conform to the styles, colours or sizing of shop-bought clothing. Not only do you use your own creativity and skills but often you collaborate with others to help along the way
You create something totally unique that expresses your individuality - a fact that is obvious from the smile on your face when you wear it
When wearing it people will say ‘you look a million dollars’. The reality is that it costs a fraction of the impact it makes.
If you were to judge our Brendale premises based on appearance, you might assume we’ve spent a million dollars. But like the trickery of a home made dress, it has cost way less than its impact It’s the result of so many talented women sharing their know-how and creativity that we’ve been able to do more with less.
That ‘you look a million dollars’ feeling is contagious. I’m convinced everyone feels a vibe of happiness and joy when they walk through our doors because they can sense the possibilities of making something out of nothing for themselves
Having practical hand making skills can be liberating and we’re so pleased to be working more closely with QUT design students to learn more about how we can nurture Gen Z into the world of craft and community.
And teach them the priceless art of the home made dress!
THE START OF SOMETHING BIG
In the July issue of ZIGZAG we told the story of the genesis of our organisation, The Craft Nest Project. Started in 2012 by CEO Roz Holt and friend Jodie Behn, they taught craft skills to girls out of Fallon Cottage in Everton Park
Over the years of running workshops as a small business, Roz could see the benefits of intergenerational mentoring, with older girls showing younger girls what craft skills they knew
But as demand grew, it was obvious that there needed to be more women involved In 2014, through an article about women leading the call for sustainability, Roz met Rebecca Cason who was doing a similar thing teaching craft to women
A business manager by day, Rebecca volunteered running the Brisbane branch of Brown Owls, a craft collective concept that was started in Melbourne in 2007 around the idea of building a craft ganga group of two or more people who craft together, make mistakes, have fun and share skills.
Both Rebecca and Roz shared similar philosophies about the benefits of intergenerational connection and skill sharing and the power of craft to connect a community. They recognised their synergies and understood that they’d be stronger if they joined forces.
Rebecca says, “Joining forces with Roz provided an opportunity to further explore how bringing women together with creativity reduces social isolation in our communities. Grass roots initiatives like The Nest are essential to creating new ways of working together for longlasting change.”
They were on the same path, but what they really needed was a home
As Roz said in an interview at the time, “Every community needs a nest, a home or nurturing space where women can gather and connect - with other women and their young ones.”
While Rebecca had experience setting up a not-for-profit, BrisStyle, she and Roz embarked on six months of research and networking to figure out how they could achieve their dream.
They eventually found an ally in Everton Park MP, Tim Mander As a father of three daughters and passionate about mental health issues, he understood the vision of needing a place where women could ‘do life together’
In late 2014 The Craft Nest hosted a Community Open Day in the old West End Market to officially announce their move to become an incorporated association.
A video captured Tim’s comments on the day: “I’ve realised that it’s not all about me generating ideas, it’s about finding people in the community who are passionate about something and who have the get-up-and-go to do things and help them and support them to facilitate the process.”
By 15 December 2014, The Nest Community was successfully incorporated as an association with core values of sustainability, hand making and skill sharing
They had 12 founding members ranging from ten to 80 years of age
In one of the many funding pitch documents that followed, they summarised their vision: “The Nest - a non-profit community hub for women and children that connects everyday people through sustainable art and craft. We are the female pilot version of the successful organisation - THE MEN’S SHED.”
By March 2015, they were successful in securing funding to cover 12 months of rent and overheads. This allowed them to take up residence in a heritage-listed home, 720 South Pine Rd Everton Park to lay the foundations of The Nest Community
RAF ERS RAF ERS
Thank you to everyone that participated in our first raffle for the year. We love that everyone gets a chance to enter and help us raise funds for our programs, like the Exchange Project. Keep an eye out for our Christmas Raffle launching in November.
Congratulations to the winners!
Bernette B05 sewing machine $500
Denise Stewart
Vintage Sewing Box $300
Lorraine Rowe
Artograph EZ tracer projector $180
Betty Young
Craft Stall Hamper $150
Lisa Bowhay
Learn 2 + Habby Voucher $100
Ceri Benson
Habby Vouchers $50
Ceri Benson
by Barbara Landels
QUILT ARTIST
In the early years of The Nest Community, volunteers ran a variety of workshops to teach handmade living practices Indigo dying, kokedama hanging plants and papermaking, as well as traditional knitting, crochet and sewing
As co-founder of the newly incorporated Nest Community Inc, Roz Holt was running an upcycling workshop, when she met Sharon as a participant During the workshop Roz shared her vision for The Nest and Sharon recollects that she was ‘captured by Roz’s vision’.
“Wow, this is incredible. How do women create these things?”
Not long after, Sharon responded to the call for volunteers and has been part of the organisation for nearly seven years.
“It was interesting to see the mechanics of it all when I started When we were in the house at Everton Park, we used to bring out the crates of things for sale onto the verandah If we made $25-$30 in sales we thought we’d had a pretty good morning Gladys [Roz’s mother] used to count the takings and would be pretty excited at those amounts.”
Growing up, Sharon’s mother and sister made the family’s clothes, a tradition Sharon continued with her own children.
Having learnt her skills from her mother and sister, Sharon was particularly keen to be involved with the Exchange Project in 2021, to pilot our mentoring program for vulnerable girls.
“Like everyone else who has mentored for the Exchange Project, I was very impressed with the young girls and how they developed confidence and skills.”
When asked, Sharon says that embroidery is her craft of choice and describes herself as a self-taught quilter.
“I was never a quilter but planned to learn when I retired. Then, when I got to my 40s, my friends started saying ‘why don’t you just learn now’. I’m not a traditional quilter. I use things like cutwork linen and doilies rather than haberdashery fabrics. I love the upholstery remnants and swatches to make into fabric collage quilts.”
For Sharon the attraction of collage quilting is that you don’t need very big pieces of fabric - it’s the ultimate scrapbusting project regardless of pattern or colour.
“You’d be surprised. Sometimes a fabric with a cactus pattern might make a great eyebrow and you only need a piece as big as your palm!”
Sharon in the Gladys Mary Studio at The Nest Haberdashery. The Husqvarna 5610 sewing machine is one of many that are donated to The Nest. It happens to be the same model as Sharon’s first sewing machine.
The process of collage quilting is akin to painting with fabrics where you are layering and adding wadding to create dimension
When Sharon embarked on reproducing [with the artist’s permission] a portrait by Mark Norval she would often take a photo in sepia to check that each piece had the right value and ‘popped’ where it needed to.
“I thought, I have to get the eyes and nose right before I can do anything else. It took me three attempts on the nose!”
The process is painstaking and took Sharon 12 months to complete. When you see the finished work (measuring one metre square), you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a painting and even the artist, Mark Norval was impressed.
In 2021 the quilt won Queensland Quilters’ second top prize, The Bernina Amateur Award
Sharon volunteers on Fridays and is one of our experts that maintains our stock of quilting fabrics In addition to her shift, she takes home crates of donated quilting fabric to prepare it for sale.
“I probably spend about six hours a week sorting and measuring at home. The crates have already been presorted at the donations table, then I take them home, do another sort, measure and price them.”
While looking at fabric is one of her favourite things to do, people remain the primary reason Sharon volunteers
“I love connecting with the other women, their experience and life, what they make, what they are involved in. I love seeing the customers excited about what they’re buying to make.”
It’s incredible to think that just seven years ago, it was just a few crates of reclaimed textile resources Since relocating to Brendale in 2023, The Nest Haberdashery now processes over 5000 litres of textiles each week and attracts customers from all over Australia
“We’ve even had a customer from New York buying doilies to take home and use in projects.”
Just as Sharon uncovered her own hidden talent for quilting, it’s also possible to uncover hidden talent, right here in Brisbane’s maker community.
“We had a customer who was part of the Royal School of Needlework based at Hampton Court Palace and had been part of the team who worked on Charles and Camilla’s coronation gowns. She had relocated back to Australia and now lives on the Northside.”
The evolution of Sharon’s collage quilt ‘Contemplation’ showing the original artwork by Mark Norval.
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Inset : Sharon in her studio working on her HQ Sweet 16 longarm quilting machine.
Opposite page: The Nest Haberdashery’s abundant display of reclaimed quilting resources.
Q U I L T E R S D E L I G H T
of brand new and designer quilting fabrics, the quilting section in our second shop room is positively bursting
Beyond our large collection of fabrics, we often receive unfinished quilts (UFOs) in various stages of completion - from collections of cut pieces to quilt tops and quilt tops with batting We even receive completed quilts that range in age from vintage through to modern. There is often an incredible amount of work in these, with beautiful designs and colours, ready for you to complete or completely reimagine
In addition to fabrics we also have patterns and equipment such as templates, rulers, cutting mats, rotary cutters and quilting needles.
Quality quilting fabric can retail from $28-41 per metre. Thanks to our experienced quilters who keep a keen eye on quality control, we sell 100% cotton quilting fabric at $8 per metre in various lengths.
We have a display of fabric on bolts that you can purchase by the metre
Alternatively there are rolls of quilting fabric that are priced individually and range from 50cm to 2 metres in length.
We also have an extensive range of traditional fat quarters and folded square pieces that are approximately 50cm x 50cm.
QUT IMPACT LAB
O U R V I S I O N ’ S S A F E I N T H E I R H A N D S
This year we were thrilled to be invited as a community partner in QUT’s Impact Lab, a first year unit in the School of Design that draws together students from diverse disciplines such as Interaction, Visual Communication, Industrial and Fashion Design
We were asked to present a Social Impact design brief for the unit’s signature project, to which students in multidisciplinary groups had just over two days to form a response.
At first we wondered if our ‘old-fashioned’ beliefs in intergenerational connection, skill sharing and craft would be relevant to these digital natives, who’ve never known life without online shopping, social media or screens.
Would they consider craft and making by hand to be a relevant solution to future problems?
Keen to hear the voices of this next generation of customers and potential volunteers, we accepted the invitation
Film makers we are not, but we thought we’d meet them on their own turf and recorded CEO, Roz Holt giving a guided tour of our social enterprise, The Nest Haberdashery, showing the textile resources we reclaim and talking about our values of sustainability, community and conservation
Surprisingly, the video was a hit and most reassuringly, many of them want what we’ve got.
Out of over 500 students, 83 decided to work on our brief in 17 different groups We asked them:
How can The Nest inspire and support younger generations, Gen Z in particular, to engage with reclaimed materials and hand making?
Using the idea that design can foster inclusion, act as a disruptor or drive positive change, each group had to leverage their trans-disciplinary knowledge, apply design-led processes and lean into their entrepreneurial spirit to come up with a response that kept the human condition at the heart of their ideas
During a Q&A session, we learnt that beyond the social structure of secondary school, many students struggle socially in the University environment They are already seeking ways to connect outside of licensed venues and understand that forming social connections make them feel happy and well supported
They also acknowledged that they needed to improve their hand making skills, not just to reduce consumption by repairing, reusing and making, but also to support their need for individuality
We were off to a great start so we couldn’t wait to hear the presentations - which honestly blew us away
Overall, we were astounded by the standard of work, collaboration and professionalism that was achieved over the two days, and thoroughly commend all these bright students and their teaching team
We went with little expectations but came away overwhelmed with possibilities far greater than we had really considered
It was incredible!
Despite the diversity of voices three key themes emerged.
Caring and Connecting
Joining us in acknowledging craft as a joyous means of connection and antidote to isolation, suggestions for clubs, societies, after school clubs, meetups, and social sewing and sorting sessions, abounded
From the Digital to the Material
Though classified as digital natives, the students recognised the tactile and mindful value in textile craft materials and processes, and connected the digital and material worlds in inventive ways. They designed subscription models and online spaces for craft classes and communities, projects that leveraged micro-influencers or translated the ASMR trend for calming stimuli into workshop kits.
Inclusion & Diversity
Finally students explored ways in which The Nest’s physical and online spaces, offerings and partnerships could be expanded to reach and accommodate ranges of younger audiences. The students had amazing ideas about how we, as a maternal organisation, could nurture more diverse communities to connect through craft.
Underpinning these strong themes and resolved project ideas was a basis of compelling and sobering research on Gen Z, crafts participation and benefits, business strategies and primary research with QUT Fashion students
Throughout the presentations, the cost of living was cited as a leading societal issue, with staggering data that showed 87% of females and 77% of males are severely stressed about the cost of living (ASIC, 2024)
Though classified as digital natives, the students recognised the tactile and mindful value in textile craft materials and processes, and connected the digital and material worlds in inventive ways.
Added to financial stress, 60% of young people experience loneliness (Headspace, 2022) and 42% of Gen Z are diagnosed with a mental health condition.
They identified that intergenerational connection can reduce anxiety and enhance the feeling of self-worth and that sewing and crafts are proven to create a sense of fulfilment, boost serotonin, improve mood and reduce anxiety and depression
Connection and craft - both simple solutions!
A more difficult issue to solve is consumption and it turns out that Gen Z
accounts for 40% of the global consumer base (McKinsey & Company)
Fortunately, 68% of Gen Z are identified as eco-friendly shoppers. Their top 10 hobbies include DIY and Crafting, Thrifting and Sustainable Fashion and Social Media Content Creation (Johnson, 2024) and 72% prefer brands with a positive social and environmental impact (Wild Unlimited)
To give an indication of just how important image and shopping is, a poll found that 77% of the students when questioned at the start of their final year at school were more focused on the school formal than on their final exams
The average formal dress can cost $800 and the average cost of a custom-made suit can range from $800 to $3000.
A bit closer to home, QUT Fashion students can spend upwards of $400 per collection.
Students grappled with all of these challenges to respond genuinely to our design brief
These articulate, creative thinkers made us laugh with project names that used word play to make sewing sound fun
They also thoroughly ran with our avian theme, creating project names based on birds or habitat.
Above all they were good communicators, no matter if they used storyboards, designed compelling graphics, or spoke eloquently.it was always with passion and we’re certain that our vision for a resilient community where people and resources are equally valued is safe in their hands
Watch this space as the ideas unfold.
CROCHET REVIVAL
Sported by celebrities like Katy Perry, Harry Styles, Beyonce and Kim Kardashian, you might think crochet is the hottest summer trend. In fact, it’s a craft that’s been around for approximately 200 years
In the 19th century, crochet developed out of a form of chain-stitch embroidery done with a hook instead of a needle.
At a time when only the rich could afford traditional lace, crochet disrupted the industry and became popular with the middle class as a way to make a cheap substitute.
For some time, crochet struggled to shake off its reputation as an inferior craft until Queen Victoria gave it the royal seal of approval by buying the work of Irish women who were struggling to make a living after the Potato Famine
With only a hook and yarn required there’s minimal cost involved in getting started. With our Learn 2 Crochet class, we can show you the basics to get started, then there’s no telling where crochet will take you.
Next class: Friday 26 October, 1-4pm.
VintageStall
25-28Sept
Hosted in our Gladys Mary Studio, The Nest Haberdashery is having a pop-up stall selling all things vintage. It will be bristling with dress and craft patterns, dressmaking guides, dress fabrics, handmade doilies, linen tea towels and tablecloths, buttons, notions and equipment for sewing, weaving and knitting.
Wednesday 25 to Friday 27 September, 10am - 2pm Saturday 28 September, 10am - 4pm
EVENT DETAILS
NESTFABRIC $50
Cosplay enthusiast, @estelledesigns used two different fabrics from the Nest to make the bodice and sleeves for this gorgeous Snow White costume.
She also found fabric for the cream underskirt and yellow overskirt and matching ribbons.
To make the collar she cleverly upcycled tulle netting offcuts from her wedding veil and leftover lace either from old projects or gifted by friends. All of the cotton lining in the bodice is from an old bedsheet!
NESTFABRIC$4
During Book Week we showcased some literary themed fabrics in The Nest Haberdashery Facebook group. The Hairy McLairy print got snaffled up by Kelsey who made these cute pants for her two kids.
#NESTMADE
Once you find a pattern that works, why not make it in different colours?
@Byhandbyjenny has used Burda 105 01/2022 with balloon sleeves and funnel neck several times. Add the gorgeous purple bouclé fabric at bargain prices and you’ve got a winner.
NESTFABRIC$7
#NESTMADE
This gentleman came from NSW and heard about The Nest from a friend. He hadn’t been able to get Tapestry wool in his hometown as they simply didn’t stock it. When he asked, they insulted him and said “But you’re a man!” His come back was,“I’m a man doing Tapestry, deal with it.”
As we helped him, he told us he is colour blind and everything looked beige - so really appreciated our help. He was thrilled to have his photo taken with his project.
0433 805 987
info@nestcommunity org au
www.nestcommunity.org.au
In sewing, zig zag is used when a straight stitch won’t suffice. It reinforces edges and joins two working pieces together Being able to step sideways and still move ahead is symbolic of how our organisation has evolved. We’ve side stepped challenges but continued to do the things we love.
The zig zag pattern is symbolic of new potential and growth and we’ve always drawn on collective wisdom to create ideas to avoid repeating mistakes, firm in the knowledge that eventually we will be in the right place at the right time to make a positive difference to society
2/264 South Pine Road
Brendale 4500
