coolmelbourne.org

It's Monday night in a crowded Fitzroy bar and 60 people are bent fastidiously over their needlework. Despite the DJ's kooky tunes, nobody's dancing — they're all too engrossed in needlework.

If you reckon threading a needle is tricky, try rustling up a miniature penis in silken yarn, or illustrating hot sex in metallic thread. It's fiddly work.

One monthly craft evening is known as Trashbag Rehab. It’s not nearly as nasty as it sounds.

The theme changes monthly, an example of a theme being "embroidery porn". For this evenings sessions rude scenarios have been traced onto recycled fabric, and the mostly female crowd busily brings them to life in thread.

While stitching, they swap needlework tips, chit-chat and coloured yarns.

These crafty DIY sessions are the brainchild of the Melbourne Craft Cartel, headed by Casey Jenkins and Rayna Fahey. Part of the "craftivist" movement - crafters with an activist bent - the duo has declared war on "nice, safe, cutesy" craft.

Click here to read the full article in The Age.

Click here to visit Craft Cartel.

Click here to visit Radical Cross Stitch.