Name-taping tips & tricks... Reusing items of clothing, being able to tell which items belong to whom at a glance & getting organised!

This one is for the busy Mums out there! Now I know it is June and we are a fair way away from September and the start of the new school year, but, it will come around so quickly!

I know it sounds ridiculous talking about September when the children have not even finished summer term, but every year the summer holidays are so hectic and busy that I truly believe the more you can do and prepare beforehand the better! 

I always start thinking about uniforms in June. I get quite a lot of second-hand bits from the school swap-shop before they break up for the summer, purchase any bits of the uniform they will be needing before the summer rush, prepare the children’s hand-me-downs and get their name tapes in. 

If you leave this until the end of August, you really do run the risk of sizes being out of stock and it all becomes just a horrid panic! Not what you want when you are already in the midst of a school holiday! If all is prepped well in advance, you can relax and enjoy that special, quality time.

I have three children, each with their own name tape bags which I purchase online from Cash's Name Tapes. Archie has navy blue, Gus has green, and Coco has a mixture of both red and turquoise.  The beauty of having different colours is that I can simply glance at them and tell who’s is who’s.  They each have two sizes of name tape - large for sports clothes and small for the rest of the uniform. 

I am a huge fan of sewing in name tapes, using a doubled up white thread for strength. The reason I sew them in is that it makes recycling the clothing so much easier than if they were stamped or ironed. I love the school’s own swap shop and passing down clothing. These clothes are used for such a small time and almost always have such a lot of life left, that all it takes is a simple snip to remove the name tape and replace with the new owner’s own! The children are often none-the-wiser and so grateful for their ’new’ item of clothing. 

I do also on occasion sew name tape into home clothes. These are normally very special items of clothing such as a gift or similar, that I just want to make extra sure cannot be lost! Then they will always find their way back home.

Top tip - use a reading light for extra lighting should you need it whilst sewing! And remember that no-one will be inspecting your sewing skills, just stitch all the way around the name tape so it’s nice and secure. 

So what are you waiting for! Get those name tapes ordered! You’ll be so pleased you did.

Love,