It’s that time of year — school is almost out for the summer. The kids are getting anxious (and so are the teachers) for the beginning of long days, fun at the pool, and most of all, NO SCHOOL!
For me, it also gets me thinking about an end-of-year teach appreciation gift. Being that I like to craft and sew, I try to make something for my kid’s teachers. Plus, I’ll look for any excuse to use my multi-needle Baby Lock embroidery machine! The hum of that machine makes my blood pump — I just love it!
Earlier this month I found some really neat zippered tote bags — a durable canvas, plain, with a colored zipper and handles. I picked a couple up to add in my stash — ah, who am I kidding, I bought all they had (what they were on sale, you’d have done the same thing!). These totes have “teacher appreciation gift” written all over them!
Thanks to Floriani Total Control U, I was able to whip up a fun teacher design in no time. “Teach, Love, Inspire” is written with one of the many built-in fonts. Then I added the hearts and flourish details from artwork I already had. Digitizing the artwork was a snap in Total Control!
I used a standard fill for each of the hearts. Then, for the flourish details at the bottom, I used a running stitch, adjusted to a bean stitch. With the bean stitch the detail shows up better and anchors the bold saying with the rest of the design.
Click here to download the Teach, Love, Inspire design in .pes format.
From there, the Baby Lock did the rest! I selected the colors to coordinate with my daughter’s school colors and the straps on the tote bag.
I’m happy with the final result and know the teachers are going to love carrying around this fun zippered teacher tote bag!
Wish someone would’ve made me one when I was teaching!!