1
Describe your earliest memory
of haberdashery or textile
craft.Like most children growing
up in the ’60s, I’d be found
fossicking at my mother’s feet,
collecting scraps and bits and bobs
that fell to the ground while she
worked diligently on her sewing
machine ... you could say I was
raised on the ‘scrapheap of the
haby world’! I begged to keep the
pieces I collected. As a mum myself
today, I see my seven year-old
doing exactly the same thing. The
apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!2
Can you recall the craft
shop/s of your childhood?
What were they like and how did
they differ from today’s stores?
Burkes’ was our local department
store in Williamstown, Vic. It was
a wonderful place in its day – a
treasure trove to us who loved
our textiles. It had everything we
needed until we began desiring
more. These were the days when
David Jones, Georges of Collins
Street and Myer Melbourne ran full
haby departments and you would
make a day of it to visit them.
I spent hours and hours in there,
and these stores were full of people
and salespeople to help you. This
is the major difference from today’s
supermarket-style stores. The self
service, lack of customer assistance
and dismal customer loyalty have
created a wasteland. Everything
today is about expedience, cost
efficiency and price.3
What was the first thing you
remember buying from a
haberdashery shop as a child?
I can’t remember the first thing
that I bought but I remember the
beautiful set of knitting needles and
crochet hooks that came in a lovely
tapestry case. I still have them.4
What was the first project you
made with fabric, thread, yarn
or haberdashery? What was it
like and who else was involved?
Living life on a ‘scrapheap’, like any
good bowerbird, I collected lots of
small pieces of scrap materials from
the sewing projects, wool remnants
from knitting and crochet projects
and buttons in crevices that adult
hands couldn’t retrieve. I set about
creating an entire ‘Fashion Designer
Collection’ for my Barbie dolls (all
two of them, one of whose hair
I chopped off to accommodate my
dressmaking). I started knitting,
sewing and crocheting when
I was about six or seven years old.
Mostly, I replicated the clothes
my mother made for us until I got
older and bolder. I still have the
mini versions of the clothes I wore
as a child. I’ve kept these Barbie
dolls and their ‘Fashion Designer
Collection’ intact in a rickety old
basket, and I love them still!5
What made you decide to
own a haberdashery or craft
business? For example, was there
a family history of such things,
did you have retail experience in
another field or did it grow from
a love of craft itself? Our family
was involved in the food industry
all our working lives, and it was my
mum’s desire to be a dressmaker.
It was my dream as a child to be a
fashion or textiles designer; I was
very arty, creative and talented
with my hands as a young person.
My parents discouraged me from
entering the rag trade. Instead,
I went on to do other things until life
came full circle and the opportunity
presented itself. The store I bought
had a rich history: it had existed as
a button shop for 100 years in the
same street. It was the right time
in my life, and I knew that I could
breathe love back into it. It was
begging for TLC, and I couldn’t let
this shop disappear. We’ll never see
shops like this again. I know from
travellers who come in and tell me
that they have gone from other
parts of the world. Many people
don’t understand or care because
they assume that everything is
available online. What a shock most
people have when they go looking
for that special, most wanted,
most needed button!Jenny,
THE BRIGHTON
BUTTONSHOP1
Describe your earliest
memory of haberdashery
or textile craft. In my earliest
memory of haberdashery, I was
about nine or 10 years old and
was shopping with my mother
for thread and fabric for our
ballroom-dancing dresses.2
Can you recall the craft
shop/s of your childhood?
What were they like and
how did they diff er from
today’s stores? I can recall the
haberdashery shop that was in
Wembley, a suburb of Perth. The
shop had wooden floors, and
there were a lot of rolls of fabric.
They also had linen items in the
store and a big wood and glass
counter with what seemed to
be a very tall man behind the
counter. In the glass counter,
they had boxed silk stockings,
petticoats and lacy underwear.
The diff erence from today’s
that sticks out for me is the
packaging. Today, it’s all blister
packed and hang-sell and not so
personal. In the store I went to
with my mother, you had pretty
boxes, laid out nicely; other
products seemed to be more
accessible to touch and feel.3
What was the first thing
you remember buying
from a haberdashery shop as
a child? Gorgeous white fabric
with silver thread meandering
through it to be made into my
ballroom-dancing dress for my
dancing exams. A few years later,
Mum taught me dressmaking.4
What was the first project
you made with fabric,
thread, yarn or haberdashery?
What was it like and who else
was involved? I have a few firsts
with craft projects. I rememberhelping my mum make the
dancing dresses; at this young
age (10ish), I wasn’t allowed to
cut and machine sew but was
taught to sew sequins onto the
dresses. I was 16, in my first real
job, and a lady there taught me
to crochet. I’ve been hooked on
crochet from then. About 25
years ago, I tried to make a
patchwork quilt, but halfway
through making it, nothing fitted.
Oh b----r, what now? Brainwave:
go and have lessons. This was
awesome! No-one told me how
addictive it could be. Woo hoo,
I was on the way to madness.5
What made you decide to
own a haberdashery or
craft business? For example,
was there a family history
of such things, did you have
retail experience in another
field or did it grow from a
love of craft itself? I always
had an inner dream to be a
shop owner, but told nobody.
My grandmother and mother
have a sewing background,
so it has always been in my
life. I had no retail experience
at all but thought, ‘It can't be
that hard, so I’ll have a go’.
Sometimes, jumping in like that
is a good thing. I opened the
shop because I had moved from
the city to a small town and my
now patchwork and quilting
habit couldn’t be fed easily. That
was 10 years ago, and wow it
has been awesome. I meet new
people all the time, and they
have some wonderful stories.
My friend base has increased
immensely, and I can play with
fabric all day and every day.
What more does a patchworker
need? I am so blessed.Debra van den Bogert,
PATCHES N THINGS88 HomespunHSP1511_p084-088 My First Brush with Haby Feature.indd 88 9/22/2014 10:19:34 AM
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