Teacher Appreciation Week was the 3rd - 7th of May, however the twins pre-school decided to hold a celebration today. I absolutely adore the 3 teacher's who take care of my little ones. They have learned so much from them, they love going to school and so that's all I could ever really ask for. And I was so happy to learn this morning that next year their teacher's are moving to the big kid room with them. Marisol and Flynn will be over the moon.
Last week the teacher's had a wonderful idea of supplying the parents with a list of their favorite things - just in case the children wanted to bring in a little gift. One of the things I've always dreaded is giving Teacher's gifts. The teacher's may look after your children day after day, but how well do you really 'know' them. What is their favorite color, flower or snack? So you wing it and get them something you secretly hope they will love like a gift card or homemade cookies.
The teacher's lists of favorite things read a little like a grocery list, so I decided to make each of them a special Teacher's Market Tote.
Inside each tote was some of each teacher's favorite things.
Tote 1:
- Jasmine candle
- 7-Up
- Organic chocolate
- Target gift card
- A bouquet of flowers (with purple, her favorite color)
Tote 2:
- Peanut M&M's
- Dr. Pepper
- Borders gift card
- 2 bouquets of pink roses (in different shades)
Tote 3:
- Water bottle
- Bananas
- Red oven mitt
- Beverly's gift card
- Red carnations
To make the tote:
- Double over your fabric
- Cut out a large rectangle - I used an old tote bag as a guide for size
- Turn the fabric inside out and fold.
- Iron the side seams, then pin them
- turn over the top (about an inch) iron and pin that too.
- Sew up the side seams
- With the top section of the bag sew top and bottom (for added strength) around the turned over seam. I used an over-edge stitch at the bottom and a straight stitch along the top.
If you want to add a little design to the front, like I did, you need to do this after the 2nd step above.
- Using a template, cut out the shape you want on a different fabric.
- Make a t-shirt transfer or use a fabric marker to write your message or add a picture.
- Use an over-edge stitch to attach it to the front of the bag - BEFORE sewing up the side seams, then you can continue with the rest of the steps.
Handles:
I used an old scrap of white fabric to make the handles, so if you do this:
- Fold the fabric in half.
- Cut a wide strip (approx 3.5 inches)
- Iron the strip.
- Fold in half again (length-ways) and iron again.
- The new strip should be a little over an inch wide.
- I then cut this strip in half to make shorter handles, but cut wherever you want depending on the length you want the handles to be.
- Straight-stitch around the strip.
- Attach each side of the handle to the inside of the tote by stitching an 'X' and then a square around it.
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