The final product

My friend Cate* says she hates craft. And I think actually she really might. Because at her daughter Alice’s screen printing birthday party on the weekend she pulled out her sewing kit, and it was the size of a mini makeup bag, and all it contained was about 5 needles, a couple of rolls of cotton, some regular old pins and one safety pin.  And that was it. Yep, it seems she only had ONE safety pin in the whole house …

Luckily for her she has VERY crafty friends to call on when craft is required.

For this occasion she called on her high school friend Nicola Cerini to help out.  You know her?  A few years ago EVERY girl needed a handbag by Nicola.  And she was the one who made screen printing cool … as I remember … in Melbourne at least.

So Alice and her friends got to make a calico screen printed bag. From scratch. With Nicola. They saw the bag being cut from the roll of fabric. And then they screen printed the cut fabric and sewed it up into a bag.

Nicola and the kids are lifting up the giant screen to see how the fabric looks once it’s printed.

The fabric drying. In 36 degree heat it didn’t take long.

India sewed up the handles of her bag on the sewing machine and then used a safety pin to turn the handles in the right way … before ironing them and sewing them on to the bag.

So much crafty fun.  I was jeal!  VERY jeal!

These days Nicola is designing wallpaper and rugs.  With beautiful botanical themes (I am always a bit of a sucker for botanical prints). And she runs screen printing courses every now and then at Abbotsford Convent.  I think there are some coming up in March … She did a super job with the kids.  And the finished product looks just so great.  I wish I owned a bag like that.  I might book myself in to one her courses …

* not her real name (well really it is. I just said that in case she is embarrassed about not being crafty … but actually, I’m pretty sure she’s not … in the least.)