Hidden Message Tote Bag

For those who follow our business page, you might have seen that my mama recently had a knee replacement. During her first week in recovery, we had a physical therapist come to the house (my mom is staying with us). Luckily for us, my mom was able to request the same therapist she had for her other knee replacement a year ago- who we all ADORE. My son especially has taken to her and has even kept a "thank you" card for an ENTIRE YEAR (he was 3 years old) that she wrote him for sharing his mini pumpkins with her.


It's adorable. Since we probably wont be seeing her ever again, we wanted to do something to let her know how special she is to us. On the other hand, a lot of companies don't allow employees to accept gifts from their clients. So here's what we came up with:

Oh there's a little more too it though.. keep reading.


My son loves to sew. He's made a couple pillows but this was hist first bag. I cut everything out an he did all the sewing... up until his little sister came in the room and then they got distracted and started playing (hehe)


We used this tutorial from Crazy Little Projects and made one very special adaptation...

Can you see what we added? Here's what it looks like when turned inside out:

Using a sharpie marker, I wrote "Made by" and let me son write his name in a piece of fabric. You could also use a fabric marker but I've found that Sharpie tends to stay on fabric pretty well on it's own (just ask all the clothing we've accidently drawn on). 


After he wrote his name, I cut the fabric out in a rectangle large enough to hold a standard sized book. We knew that our therapist loved to read so we thought this bag definitely needed a special pocket for her book! The pocket is sewn onto the inside panel of fabric PRIOR to sewing the bag together (that way the backside of the stitching doesn't show through the front of the bag)


Of course, she could also use the bag with the pocket on the outside as well. This bag is reversible!

Since her and my son had a special relationship we thought she would just melt over the added bit of love that we snuck into this bag. This would be great for moms, aunts, grandparents or anyone who would love to see a special note every time they reached inside their bag. I think it would even be great for students and friends to see a special reminder just from you, secretly tucked away.

Who would you make this bag for? And what kind of message would you put inside! I'd love to know so please comment and inspire others to create!