Since our early days as a grassroots organisation, The Nest’s Craft Stall has been integral to our fundraising activities. Our volunteers made items using our reclaimed resources, to sell at pop-up stalls in local shopping centres. Today our organising committee, the Red Robins, continue the tradition.

Since moving to Brendale in 2023, we welcomed the craft stall home for the first time. It was hosted in the Gladys Mary Studio, adjoining The Nest Haberdashery.

The response from customers and volunteers was overwhelmingly positive.

The range of items showcased the fantastic skills of women in our community. It was a living demonstration of how craft skills are being kept alive. Having handcrafted items displayed, next to our Heritage Collection and reclaimed resources, brought a lovely sense of connection and continuity.

Previous customers said it was much nicer seeing the stall in a homely context, rather than a shopping centre.

The stall attracted new customers to The Nest and they made the most of the experience by browsing in the Haberdashery or visiting the café or brewery next door.

In shopping centres, the public only had the opportunity to connect with the two volunteers rostered to run the stall. With The Nest Haberdashery next door, craft stall visitors could also wander in and connect with our Haberdashery volunteers to see where the resources for the craft stall came from.

There was so much talking amongst customers, the whole place was really buzzing for 3 days.

Being hosted at home also meant that the Red Robins were more supported and included with many of our regular Haberdashery volunteers dropping by and appreciating their work.

Overall, the stall brought the whole community a lot of connection, pride and encouragement and better still it raised funds for the Exchange Project, our free mentoring program.