Do you embroider your youngster’s name on shirts and backpacks for school? Maybe you should rethink that.

Sometimes, the best place for embroidering a name is out of sight. At least that is the sentiment for many when it comes to school-aged children’s apparel.

As embroiderers, we want to stitch on everything. Although we may want to add names to t-shirts, sweatshirts, and backpacks for our back-to-schoolers, it isn’t necessarily a safe practice.

Many safety officials recommend against stitching a child’s name on personal items that will be in plain sight. A stranger calling a child by their first name could easily be mistaken for a friend.

Most kids love starting back to school with personal items that are geared just to them. Instead of embroidering a name, let them pick out one of AnntheGran’s thousands of designs.

Let them pick out the shirt, applique fabric, or thread colors. It is highly unlikely that anybody else in the class will have the same thing.

If you do want to embroider items for identification purposes, consider making a patch that you can stitch or glue to the inside of a jacket, tote, or backpack. Eileen Roche has a great blog on what you need to do that here.

You can also use just about any applique shape will work. Just add text.

Debbie SewBlest