“The Stays Project ~ a Diary” is an evolving blog documenting the story, inspiration and creation process of six outfits made with historical sewing methods and patterns.

Lauren will work with Haggie’s indications and her own research to craft this series across the first half of 2024. Each outfit will be custom designed and made for the women in the group. We will be meeting for connection, inspiration and design to begin the journey. Lauren will craft the outfits and to finish we will gather for fitting and a photoshoot.

The project acts as an impulse for Lauren to learn, gain experience and then share her knowledge and artistry with the world. These items will be available for custom order following the project which is predicted to finish midyear.

Stay tuned for continual updates as they will be entered as work continues on the project.

With love,

Lauren Grace xo

~ The Diary ~

March 1st 2024

Overlooking green jacaranda trees, a spinning fan and writing with sweaty palms, I begin a story I long to tell…

This journey landed in my lap intuitively. One of those “meant to be” things in life that oddly feel so right, so healing and so intriguing all at once. I have a funny confession to begin this.

Instagram showed me Haggie from Hag & Company in Oklahoma, USA. That was back when I was on the platform. The algorithm must have followed my love of vintage fabrics and unique one-off creations. Thank you machines for uniting us! Thus the story begins……

When I watched what Haggie created, I was awestruck by her artistry. I felt a longing begin to stir in me because of how she spoke of her ancestors. I have always been drawn to non-conventional things, and this was just that - something I would never find in the shops. Something that didn’t follow fashion or mass production. It wasn’t meant to be widespread or mass made. Her pieces were made to honour her connection to the wisdom lost in time. A tribute to the striving of all the women in her lines.

What a beautiful gift and honouring that is, to take the time to devote to what essentially brought her here. The hands and hearts of the women (I’m getting goosebumps as I write this!!!).

I felt a call to honour my matrilineage, as I do in circle, song and stillness. When her beautifully hand made pattern became available, I bought it and waited for it to arrive. I let it sit for a long time, I began, but stalled my creation, it became lost in time….I began to ask myself: Why would I want to create a garment that no longer has relevance today? That’s not in fashion, easy to make, or readily worn by people these days? Why would I want to devote so much time to something so unique?

I connected with a woman from circle, and somehow we got onto the topic of stays. Finding this connection outside the privacy of my inner world helped stir the creative pot again for me. I offered to make her one, which alas did not happen at that time (but she is now part of the Stays Group), however I shared those first moments with her. Photos, exciting news and updates, which came in dribs and drabs. For some reason I still couldn’t find the drive to create an entire stay.

When on holiday in Europe last year, I stumbled by a curtain shop in the Czech Republic. I tried to talk to the woman behind the counter, but she could only speak Russian or Czech! Somehow we managed with signs and pointing fingers. The floral velvet below is what came from that shop. It was one of those buys that had no explanation. I don’t usually buy new fabric, but I wanted a memory of my journey and this little town. “Who knows what I’ll make”, I thought. “Something beautiful, but I don’t know what!”

So home it came with me. It sat. Until that creative pot stirred again, and I realised the pale yellow matched my partly hand stitched skirt I’d made for my naming ceremony a year or so before. “That’s it!” I thought, the first Forager Stay!

Crafting the first Forager Stay with my daughter, late 2023. A truly artful experience where I had to learn about inserting eyelets, creating boning channels, inserting boning and being hyper-focussed on attention to detail.

Photographing with my Canon camera. I am learning to use a digital camera at the same time as learning new sewing methods. All for a higher quality result. What a joy to discover these two things at once.

*Sewing on the binding by hand to finish the art piece…*

*Beautiful details to capture. I am always in awe of the fact that if you follow a pattern to the letter - you will get results…something you don’t always expect will happen!!*

*The completed “Forager Stay” ready for ribbon and wear!*

The first try of the Stay in October 2023 with my partly hand sewn skirt made from raw silk. This moment felt edgy and incredible all at once. Making something my ancestors wore!! Like whaat! It was a kind of homecoming that felt molecular if you know what I mean….

April 1st

I have finally started to work through the instructions for the first chemise. I gathered the beautifully patterned doona cover and dream of a matching stay in grey wool for this chemise pictured below. Alas I had to cut off the lace trimming along the neckline as it didn’t work and was too bulky! The ribbon didn’t flow through quite as well as I’d hoped. Much of my sewing journey has been by trial and error. I am always thankful for my “quick unpick” and my scissors in these moments, as well as the learned patience I have gathered over the years of many “failures” which I have realised are actually new inspirations being birthed. Mistakes are a wonderful way to learn a new pathway!!

The chemise feels so feminine and beautiful. I am longing to make many more of these and realised that they are so versatile and the one chemise can fit many body shapes and sizes because they are meant to have this full feeling and allow for variation.

*The reverse of this first Stay with an incomplete chemise underneath - another complete outfit and style is coming together and my mind whirrs with creative ideas….*

April 4th, 2024

Looking back on these first photos and remembering how I felt - awkward, amazing, daring and shy. I knew nothing of what was to come or to manifest, but I certainly felt something unknown yet strangely familiar stirring in me.

Soon after completing the first Stay, in late 2023 I was visiting my Grandad in Toowoomba and was rummaging around in his shed amongst welding tools and fencing pliers and my eyes glanced a rag pile with a piece of eye catching fabric. I pulled it off the shelf half expecting to see it covered in engine oil but alas it was clean as a whistle! I felt a rush as I saw that the fabric depicted people working the land back in time with their traditional clothing and bonnets! It also looked big enough for a Stay - so in that moment I decided to make another second Stay for myself that was a lighter weight. Thanks to Grandad for saying yes to taking this beauty home. The creation of this happened much faster and I was so chuffed with the end result. Here she is in the making process!!

Fast forward to Easter weekend 2024. I’m wearing the same Stay on the reverse side trying out cross lacing and wearing it with my petticoat made via Haggie’s tutorial, as well as the top underneath that was an op-shop find.

Trying out my makes in daily life and experiencing what it feels like to wear these clothes and do it all - garden, cook, clean, be with my kids. The Stay relates to our original bra after all and was worn daily!

Soaking in lemon essential oil, hot water and natural wool wash with a gentle agitation by hand. I soak for no more than one hour so that I protect the life of the eyelets. Washing by hand connects me to the meaning of the clothing - I value it much more because I take the time to care for it each step of the way.

August 8th, 2024

Time flies sisters!

The reality of life, all the pieces I hold, and the dynamics that arise within that has elongated this project and slowed it down. It has brought me to a place of deeper reflection, allowed me to feel that clunky-ness with trusting my intuitions, and made me realise how much this process means to me. When I said in a previous blog “I’m not sure where my sewing journey leads” this is definitely the place — going forth from the space of crafting headgear to opening the doors to clothing production. However what I thought in the beginning: the timelines and the effort it would take, it hasn’t aligned. Midyear has passed, creation is happening but at different rates and in different directions, and I haven’t much to show for!

My brain at times goes everywhere, and also feels the overwhelm of what I have committed to. To the artists out there - can you feel me in this? This is not me giving up - it is me letting go and surrendering to the organic process that life, the heart and being in this world is.

This isn’t as easy as it may seem. This journey brings me to my ancestors and their pain, their striving, and my wondering in that. I am doing this to connect to them, and begin to understand in my own way. I feel this reluctance to trust what they have to say to me. I feel this reluctance to trust my creativity and my intuition. I don’t share this journey with many other creators and so, I guess, I can feel like I am on an island sometimes. I also overcommitted myself in terms of timelines. So I have let that go….

Slowly and gently has been the way since I last wrote. Accepting this isn’t something to rush or stress over. It is something to feel and nourish. To trust and love in its own way.

So my dears, here are some images to share for today’s diary entry.

With love,

Lauren Grace xx

The stays project ~ a diary ~

~ The Diary ~

Circle as Healing

Re-Birth ~ a naming Ceremony