Toronto's craft scene is set to gain a new ally as Christina Hug's The Makers Nation, a collective "focused on creating experiences that bring creative communities together" launches its first day-long workshop Meet and Make on December 1st. The stacked affair will begin with breakfast and launch into crafting crash courses - say that five times really fast - lunch, and finally cocktails. You can select four different DIY courses to navigate throughout the day.

The Meet and Make, hosted in an upstairs loft space in Roncesvalles, will be for attendees who "want to dive in, get their hands dirty, and learn new skills" (book binding, bike maintenance, silk screening, photography, soldering, English paper piercing, and crochet). While the idea of DIY becoming a huge industry will always feel a little backwards, this one is homegrown - teachers from Peach Berserk, Miss Print, Bike Pirates and Nightjar Books will be instructing. And while the course cost strikes me as high, Meet and Make might just become Toronto's classiest new way to pick up new skills. Do be sure, however, to dress for ink and bike grease stains.

The first Maker's Nation is Sunday, December 1st at Freshbooks' Offices at 35 Golden Ave, upstairs. $225. Registration is available here.

Update: The first Maker's Nation event will now be held in early 2014.

Photo by rjrahardjo on Flickr