Handprint and Make Your Own Bags: 35 stylish projects for using stencils, lino cuts, and more

Learn how to hand-make your own bags from fabric you have screen-printed yourself with beautiful patterns, from foliage motifs to striking chevrons.

Choose from the 35 gorgeous projects by designer and maker Jenny McCabe, which range from stylish purses to larger totes, and from children’s bags to practical designs that will be endlessly useful. Try making a simple wash bag, with a gorgeous rose pattern, or a laptop holder in a classic dotted design, created using potato circles. The kids’ drawstring backpack has a cheerful seaside design, with boats and waves, while the envelope clutch is super-chic, covered in a delicate feather pattern. The gingko-leaf bucket-handle bag is ideal to carry day-to-day, and the nappy bag is both adorable and functional—the clouds and raindrops pattern works for a girl or a boy, and the bag comes with a matching changing mat. If you’ve never screen-printed before, the comprehensive techniques section will teach you all you need to know, including how to use a variety of motifs. Plus, the sewing know-how section will guide beginners, as well as provide a handy reference for experienced stitchers. Each project comes with beautifully illustrated step-by-step instructions, and you are certain to find a design that will you love to make for yourself, or as the perfect gift to give to friends and family.

Jenny McCabe is a designer and maker. A fine art graduate, she worked as a community artist, facilitating creativity in others within schools, hospitals and theatres, before getting back to making her own pieces. She is self-taught in screen-printing and now designs, makes, and sells screen-printed textile home wares and accessories via her own company, Coo & Co. Her first book, 'Hand-print and Make Your Own Bags', was published by CICO Books in spring 2013, followed by 'The Hand-Printed Home' in spring 2014. The author is based in Lancaster, UK.