Hand embroidered tote bag - small heart collection

Cotton tote bag for eco-friendly groceries, books, toys, hobbies and more!

The small heart collection consists of patches under approximately 5 inches featuring different styles of heart imagery. Designs include "healed hearts" which show that even with our scars our hearts are still beautiful, as well as "whole hearts" that showcase various textures and colors. 

The embroidery is all hand created by myself, inspired by the world around me. The colors are vibrant and the images unique. Each design is imbued with a sense of action and movement.

I love tote bags myself, and I use them for all kinds of things. My tastes are always in the unusual, unexpected and, ideally, eco-friendly. The bag bases, although mass produced in China, were purchased from a resale auction, allowing me to use quality bags without creating additional waste/shipping/etc. I source my fabrics for the backing and the applique from a variety of places: my family’s old clothing, leftovers from my local arts center, odd lots from the creative reuse store, and de-stashers on Facebook. Giving these things a second (or third!) life and keeping them out of landfills is my primary goal. I do buy thread new, unless I can also source it from de-stashers or creative reuse.

To make these fun carry-all bags, I create an embroidered image on a piece of fabric and then attach that fabric to the bag. (I call these patch bags.) On some of the bags, I will build a “crazy quilt” style image directly on the bag itself.

The basic tote bag measures 15”x16”, not including the handles.

Although the stitching is more secure than it may look, I would still recommend hand washing these. I have used a tiny amount of gentle laundry soap with room temp water, rinsing thoroughly and spreading out to air dry. I iron them before shipping and recommend using a tea towel or other cloth between the bag and the iron. Note a few designs do have sequins attached, and they have not melted during ironing, but I would suggest caution ironing directly on those designs.

Hand delivery is available in the greater New Kensington or Pittsburgh Pennsylvania area