How to Personalize Your Reusable Grocery Tote

July 12th, 2008 in patterns & designs, restyle, embroidery

Jennifer Stern, contributor

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The embroidered reusable tote from Whole Foods.

The front view of Whole Foods reusable tote.

Program the letters on your embroidery machine.

The embroidered reusable tote from Whole Foods.

Photo: Jen Stern

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You can get these reusable grocery totes in almost every grocery store. I love them; not only do they cut down on the clutter in the cabinet under the sink, but they're also an easy way to participate in the recycle, reuse, and go green effort. My friend Gail had picked up some embroidery thread for me and delivered them to me in one of these totes from Whole Foods. I was going to return it when it occurred to me that it would be fun to add some embroidery to it first. Let me show you how easy it is to personalize a canvas tote bag. Before we get going, I do want to make one disclaimer: Some bags, specifically the ones you can get from LL Bean, are too heavy to embroider on a home embroidery machine. I know this from experience...so try them at your own discretion. (If you can figure out how to get good results, I would love to hear about it!)

What you'll need:
Embroidery machine and a 5-inch x 7-inch hoop (or larger if you have it)
Canvas tote bag
Embroidery lettering of your choice (either built-in fonts on your embroidery machine or use your software to create a custom lettering design)
Embroidery thread of your choice
Bobbin thread
Medium or heavy cutaway stabilizer
505 temporary adhesive spray
Small, sharp thread snips

First, decide what you want to say and either program it into your embroidery machine using the built-in fonts or use your embroidery software to create the lettering. I decided to keep it simple and use the letters that are built-in. If you are going to embroider a name or phrase that is more than a few letters, you can rotate the design vertically to fit more letters in a row. Thread the machine with the embroidery thread that you are going to use and fill a bobbin with bobbin thread.

This is a good opportunity to try some of the built-in fonts that come with your embroidery machine.

Find the center of the back of the tote. Using a ruler and wash-away marker, draw vertical and horizontal placement lines to mark the center of your embroidery. The intersection of these lines should be approximately 3 to 4 inches from the top edge. The farther down you try to embroider, the harder it is to get the tote positioned in the hoop and on your embroidery machine.

Use a wash away marker to make placement lines on the back of your tote.

Make sure that the horizontal guide lines are parallel to the top edge of the bag.

Hoop a medium or heavy cutaway stabilizer in the hoop. The canvas fabric doesn't need heavy stabilizer, but it helps to have something substantial in the hoop to support the weight of the tote and help keep it in the hoop as you embroider. To make it easier to get the tote into the hoop exactly where you want it, draw horizontal and vertical lines down the center of the hoop. The intersection of these lines is the center of your hoop. When you position the tote in the hoop, the placement lines on the tote should match those on the stabilizer.

There are raised markings in the center of each side of the hoop. Using a ruler, draw a line to connect these marking to create guide lines to help hoop your tote.

Turn the tote bag inside out before you position it into the hoop. Use temporary adhesive spray to adhere the tote to the hoop. Check that the placement lines you drew on the stabilizer are directly under those on the tote.

Turn tote inside out to position it in the hoop.

It's easier to keep the rest of the fabric and straps out of harm's way if you turn the tote inside out.

Put the hoop on the embroidery machine. Take a minute to be certain the embroidery design is oriented on the screen in the direction that you hooped your tote bag. Notice that my lettering on the screen is vertical and going from top to bottom. My tote is hooped sideways with the top edge running along the right edge of the hoop. "Gail's Groceries" will embroider right-side up along the top edge of the tote. (It's always a good idea to check; I can't tell you how many times I've embroidered a design going in the wrong direction!)

I positioned the tote so that the majority of the fabric is off to the left and not stuck between the needle and the machine.

Basting in the hoop is especially helpful when you're embroidering a tote bag. Those stitches around the embroidery area will help support the fabric in the hoop so your letters stitch out nicely.

Use the basting stitches to see if the lettering is centered and straight.

Embroider your message. When you're done, take the hoop off your machine. Trim the threads on the top and bottom of the hoop. Carefully trim the cutaway stabilizer away from the edge of the lettering. This is one step that I take my time doing. It looks a lot nicer if the stabilizer is trimmed away neatly.