We were very chuffed to be asked to contribute to the first edition of The Tooting Book Club Zine.  The zine includes work from artists in and around Tooting and our contribution, inspired by our last workshop,  celebrates our love of Tooting and all things souvenir related.  We have made a template for a Tooting snow globe embroidery pattern, including instructions for some fancy embroidery stitches. And as it’s the first one, we’ve included a competition to win a place at a Crafty Pint workshop.

Competition

Use the template in the Tooting Zine to stitch up your own snow globe. We’ve posted up some photos of an example to help you get started.  You can pick your own colours and stitches or even add fabric to make a collage. You will notice we have customised our example with a Diwali light in the middle, so feel free to add our own Tooting favourites. Take a picture of your finished snow globe and email it as a jpeg to Gillian at Crafty Pint.  Please send your entry by 6th April to enter the snow globe parade and a winner will be selected the following week.

The zine is being produced as part of  Tooting’s first Zine Fair, and is available from the Construction Gallery and the Brick Box from Saturday 25th February.  There is packed programme of events all weekend as well – take a peek here for more details of a weekend of Tooting Tales.

Print Your Own Tea Towel with Gillian from Fabric Nation.  We provide all the materials, including pure cotton tea towels, fabric inks and for inspiration, our collection of vintage tea towels and textile design books.  With our tuition and top tips you will design and cut your own lino block and print up a tea towel, all handmade by you in Tooting!  We use a soft lino which is much easier to cut than the traditional lino you might remember from your school days. All inks are washable and non-toxic, but do bring a pinny in case of inky stains.  The inks are fixed by ironing, so your finished tea towel can be used and washed. That’s if  you don’t plan to frame your work of art!

The workshop is open 2pm to 5pm at the Tooting Tram & Social and costs £15 per person. Price also includes homemade cakes, you just need to bring extra beer money!  This workshop is suitable for adults and children from age 8 with help from a parent or carer. No previous experience is needed.

These are some of the tea towels made by people printing for the first time.

Bookings

Places cost £15 per person. To book a place, email Gillian, or click on the Paypal button below.  Our workshops do get booked up quickly, so pre-booking via email or paypal is recommended.

Print a tea towel

Saturday 7th April

2pm – 5pm

Tooting Tram & Social

46-48 Mitcham Road, London SW17 9NA

Nearest Tube – Tooting Broadway on the Northern Line - Map.

We are looking forward to Tooting’s first Zine Fair, and have included a little something from us in first edition of The Tooting Book Club Zine, available from the Construction Gallery and the Brick Box  from Saturday 25th February.  There is packed programme of events all weekend as well – take a peek here for more details of a weekend of Tooting Tales.

Celebrate valentines day with our love token workshop at Sprout Arts.  As part of the Loveliness of Lettering exhibition, Fabric Nation will be running a drop-in love token workshop from 10am to 6pm at Sprout Arts on February 14th.

Drop in during the day to stitch, glue and stamp a beautiful fabric and embroidery creation for someone you like, love or think is a little bit special!

Take inspiration from our fabulous selection of materials, embroidery books and vintage valentines cards to design and create your own love token.

Love tokens featured in Grayson Perry’s exhibition at the British Museum and his work at the Foundlings Museum and have been used in different ways, often between loved ones who have been separated, including convicts sent abroad far from their families, soldiers and their sweethearts, and parents leaving their children at the Foundlings Hospital.  Originally in the form of coins, more modern versions are made using textiles and embroidery to celebrate love and friendship and of course the valentines cards we send nowadays.

Love token workshop at Sprout Arts 10am to 6pm

Drop in workshop, £5 per love token made. Suitable for older children with an adult who can help them with the sewing if needed. Tutor, and all materials are included and the price includes a drink and a valentines treat!

All materials are provided, including embroidery hoops, threads, needles, fabric as well as our collection of contemporary embroidery books from Tilleke Schwarz to Sublime Stitching and our vintage embroidery collection to inspire you.

Thanks to The Leopard Anchor for the photo

… for making our handmade christmas Crafty Pint such a wonderful day.  When we planned our 2011 programme, we thought we’d like to make the December event a bit special.  We thought wouldn’t it be amazing to try and fill the entire Tram & Social with people making their christmas presents, but as it was our first christmas at the Tram, we had no idea if we could pull it off.

On the day, we were just blown away by everyone that joined in and your enthusiasm for creating a handmade Christmas.  So many of you came, lots of lovely familiar faces and new crafty pinters too, in the end well over 100 of you filled every table and chair in the Tooting Tram and Social as you stitched, stamped, painted, glued, shrank and beaded hundreds of fabulous christmas gifts.

Glittering Shards mosaic workshop

Collaged canvases with Amelia Critchlow

Shrinky jewellery with Stars n' Scars

Printing wrapping paper with Fabric Nation

Ceramic mugs were painted, vintage buttons were sorted into charm bracelets, glittering glass tiles were arranged into mosaic picture frames, cards and wrapping paper were designed and printed, textiles were sewn and stuffed into toys and brooches, plastic was drawn, cut and shrunk into fabulous necklaces and memories and loves were pasted into handcrafted collaged canvases. Take a peek at our facebook page for more photos of all the fabulous things everyone made.

Button charm bracelets with LouLou Workshop

Ceramic painting with Caragh Buxton

Stitching with Sew Together

All of this took place in the glorious Tooting Tram and Social where much strawberry beer, wine and homemade cakes were consumed!

Kat's Cakes

We loved how you embraced the idea of making your own locally produced gifts and decorations.  And we were really excited at seeing so many of you trying out several of the workshops, coming away with beautiful and diverse collections of handmade gifts, and watching each corner of the Tram & Social fill with all your creations.

Thanks to The Leopard Anchor for this photo.

Thanks to Huggie Does Homespun for the photo

Finally, we enjoyed our last hour, as paints and glue, pliers and scissors were packed away, calm descended, and you enjoyed our screening of Handmade Nation.  We were very pleased that so many of you stayed to view this film, and that you too found the passion for DIY crafting so inspiring.  We have an exciting programme for 2012 and look forward to seeing you during the year!

Huge thanks to our talented tutors, our fabulous hosts at Tooting Tram and Social, the generous support from Etsy UK and Kathryn for the yummy cakes.  Thanks also to our local Tooting haberdashery and craft shops, including Silkance Fabrics, Wimbledon Sewing Machine Centre, K&K Stationers and Morleys Department Store who all helped with advertising and included gifts in our goody bags, to Wandsworth Brightside and the Outer London Fund and many thanks for the support we had from UK Handmade, Mollie Makes, Time Out, SW Craft Club, Brick Box, Families SW London, Cloth Magazine and everyone that made time to blog about us.

Thanks to the Leopard Anchor for the photo

Our first Crafty Pint of the year will introduce you to the delights of bow tie making.  Choose from fabulous fabrics, silks and satins, velvets and cotton prints, stripes and spots to make your very bow bow ties. Learn different stitch techniques and finish with an adjustable bow tie clip. Can be used a belt, brooch, hairband, or even a bow tie! Perfect for cheering up January with a splash of colour and dash of style! Read a review of our last bow tie workshop here and see more photos here.

This workshop is £15 with all materials and home baked cakes included. Drop into the Tooting Tram & Social from 2pm on Saturday 7th January.

Only a few hours to go before South London’s premiere of Handmade Nation!  Our DIY cinema is packed and ready for it’s trip to Sprout Arts and I’ll be popping fresh popcorn just before I hit the streets. Here’s a sneak peek…

Look forward to seeing you all.

Tickets £5 on the door.

Sprout, 74 Moyser Road, Tooting London SW16 6SQ