Friday, October 31, 2014

Screen Printed Totes

I dipped my toe into screen printing recently, but went a little nutters taking pictures in the process.  Weeding through them to write a blog post was too much for me to take.  Things have quieted down now, so I would love to show you what I made if you can tolerate the over-abundance of photos.


Armed with an A3 screen, Karen's book and lots and lots of newsprint, I transformed my kitchen into a screen printing studio.  I had dedicated space to lay the tote down, to place my paint and to lean the screen when it was not in use.  What I had not accounted for was the abundance of printed totes that had to dry somewhere!


Our clothes drying racks and quilt display racks from the shop came in handy!  I quickly took over the front hall as well.


With so much new stuff in weird places to inspect, it was inevitable that miss Molly would also be painted in the process.



I needed 15 bags, so I printed 20.  The vast majority of them turned out reasonably well.  They were stuffed full of shop fliers, Frixion pens, Aurifil threads and fat quarters from local shops supporting our Modern Irish Quilters retreat.



Not all of my screen printed totes were good enough to give out to our retreat members.  There were paint smudges on the back, dribbles at the bottom...and on...and on.  I decided that I would take one of those totes, cut out the sewing machine and make a new pretty tote for myself.  


Using Avant Garden I made a 14x15 (-ish) inch tote with Clover Poppies on the exterior and for the handles...


...and Dot Seeds in Sky as the lining.  These fabrics are so beautifully soft they are a pleasure to sew.  A huge thanks to Eva who caught me assembling the interior-handles-exterior in the wrong order at our retreat.  Without her, it would have been an absolute mess!  

I forgot to cut the selvage off of the handles before sewing them into the lining.  There's a little bit peeking out.  I kind of like it there!


This little tote is already in use bringing your happy parcels from the house to the post office.  Your orders are travelling in style, I can assure you.


It should be noted that Molly, my photographic assistant, was not paying any attention during our tote bag photo shoot.  She was just pure messing.  

19 comments:

memmens said...

Sure looks like a lot of fun and they turned out great - well done.

Judy said...

That does look like a whole lot of fun-nice work!!

Teje Karjalainen said...

Hi Cindy! Thank you for sharing your Printing Project and Molly! x teje

Ruth said...

they were brilliant Cindy- thanks for all the hard work!

Karen Lewis Textiles said...

Such a superstar! And I love your floral bag and the selvedge is genius! X

Unknown said...

Love the bags I love screen printing must try it again soon.

Svetlana said...

wow, look at you!!! How totally wonderful, your totes look amazing. You were so brave to give screen printing a try. I'm only at collecting books on screen printing stage now :)

Joanne said...

They look brilliant!!! And I love your one, selvedge and all!!

Andee said...

They turned out great, especially the one you did to keep!

Sarah said...

cute totes, totally cute canine molly! x

Unknown said...

The bags look great, you did a brilliant job. I have not attempted screen printing because I am messy and have a feeling the motif will not be straight.
You make it look easy.

P.S. The dog is so cute!

Catherine said...

Wow, all those bags! Well done, they look amazing, especially your 'modified' one

quirkyhannah said...

They look lovely well done! Now I'm tempted to get the book..

Indianna said...

They turned out fabulous and Molly looks cute with a splash of blue too.

Nicky said...

Looks like you were a printing machine! Great results!

Missy Shay said...

I love how your totes turned out, what a great idea! I am always forgetting to cut my selvage off too!

Leanne said...

I love the totes and it's time for me to order Karen's book as that looks like fun.

Katy Cameron said...

Excellent, both the screen and the dog painting :oD

Archie The Wonder Dog said...

They look great! I'm surprised Molly didn't end up with a sewing machine on her side!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Label Cloud

241 tote all heart appeal antique applique apron art quilt aurifil award baby quilt back background bag basket batik bee Bee Blessed Big Stitch Swap bird's nest birdie stitches birthday blankets of love block blog blogaversary blogger bundle bloglovin' BOM book brit bee brooch bundle bunting business card holder camping cathedral window chain piecing chaos charm pack charm squares charm swap chickens Christmas class clothes color commission community community quilt contest craft craft fair cross cross stitch Cúchulainn cushion design wall diaper Do.Good Stitches donation double wedding ring drawing dress eclipse election electronica embroicery embroidery eraser stamp exhibit fab fabric fabric tape facebook FAL farmers journal fat eight fat quarter fat quarterly feature festival of quilts film finish finish along flag flickr flying geese FMQ FNSI frame Free Motion Friday free motion quilting friends fugly Galway Galway Now gift giveaway goal goals goodie goodie swap granny mania granny squares graph guest blog guild hand puppet hand quilting hand sewing happy hat help hexagons hey girl hospital hot pad HST I Spy ICA improv innovation award inspiration interview invitation ipad ipad cover IPS IQFOI Irish chain Japanese key fob kind stitches knit knitting knitting and stitching kona lattice illusions laugh launch learning lecture Liberty linky list little star loops love on the blocks LQS Day magazine market medallion mennonite miniquilt mixer cover mod logs Mod Pop QAL modern blocks Modern Irish Bee modern irish quilters modern quilt guild modern quilt guild bee modern stitching Modern Stitching Bee monster mouthy stitches mug rug mural name name game name tag napkin needle book new york beauty newsletter Nieve notebook cover overlocker panel paper piecing patchwork pattern Pay it forward Peace Valley peanut butter perle cotton pezzy pizazz photograph PIF pillow pillowcase dress pin cushion pinwheel PJ placemat podcast polka dot pom pom portholes post pouch precut puffy pouch puppy purse QAL quilt quilt exhibit quilt frame quilt top quilter in the gap quilting Rainbow Charm Swap research retreat retroflower review sale sampler scarf science scrap scraps screen printing seams selvage sew and bee happy Sew Bee Blissful sewing machine sewing room shop significant sizzix sketch skirt solid spools stall stand star stargazing start your own stitched in color string stuffed super tote surprise swap swoon tablerunner teaching text thumb tack tiles top tote toy travel tree skirt tumbler tutorial twinkle twinkle twitter video vote walk wallet website win WIP wonky house yarn youtube zip

Total Number of Page Views