Making bespoke tea towels

There is still time to get yourself along to State Library of Queensland to visit the fun-loving, nostalgic Queensland to a T exhibition. Featuring the Glenn R. Cooke Souvenir Textile Collection, this exhibition is a unique look into Queensland’s culture and identity.  (If you are unable to visit, take a look at the virtual tour of the exhibition on the webpage.)

We offered a workshop to design and sew your own tea towel using State Library of Queensland's vast collection of open-source images. 

The first week involved a curator's tour of the exhibition and then attendees learnt design skills using Photoshop and Illustrator thanks to the patient guidance of Kat Johnstone.   The designs were sent away to be professionally printed. 

In week two the newly printed fabric was turned into tea towels (and tote bags!) using our sewing machines and the talented skills of facilitator Jimmy Eng.  Jimmy noted that although there was a lot to learn in a short period of time the participants felt a sense of achievement, enjoyed personalising their product, and the workshop led them to be curious about other possibilities to explore in the Innovation Lab. 

As with all our workshops, we have documented the workshop structure for free via our wiki, so if you want to run a similar workshop one day, you will have a head start with the process and resources needed. 

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