A tote-ally new look

Wide and shallow.
On purpose.

The SIZE WIDE tote standing on a wood floor, wide and shallow, with its handles resting back over the rim.

The tote carried at the hip, showing how wide it sits against the body.

Close view of the tote on the shoulder, with the brass snap closure and the rust SIZE W label.

The SIZE WIDE garment label laid on canvas, reading wide and shallow, on purpose.

The name

Landscape, not portrait.

Most tote bags are portrait oriented. Great for big books and tablets, but less ideal for everyday carry, where your keys, wallet, phone, even a pack of gum sink and settle at the bottom. You end up digging around, sometimes pulling half the contents out just to find the one thing you wanted.

SIZE WIDE goes horizontal instead. It's wider than it is tall, so there's no deep bottom for things to sink into, and your items stay visible and easy to reach.

From the founder, Grace:

I've always been drawn to tote bags. Cream canvas ones especially. I've collected them for years, for the cute prints, the designs, the trends, the souvenirs from places I'd been. But the truth is, I didn't use them much. They just didn't function well for daily use.

I kept looking for one shape in particular: wide and shallow. Easy to see into, easy to grab things from, without being a deep, bottomless pit. I looked in stores and online and couldn't find it.

In the spring of 2026, I was given a sewing machine for my birthday and decided to just make the bag. I bought heavy cotton duck canvas from a craft store, taught myself from online tutorials on making tote bags, and started building the bag I'd been picturing for years. When I finished it, I was surprised I'd actually made one, and more surprised that I liked it.

I brought it along on a visit to my mom and my sister. They actually thought I'd bought it, which was nice! Turns out they'd been looking for the same kind of shallow, functional tote and hadn't found it either. It made me think maybe I wasn't the only one who wanted this shape.

So I kept making prototypes and testing each one out by carrying it everywhere — stores, restaurants, church, people's homes. When I mentioned I'd made it myself, people seemed surprised, and told me it was well made. Not proof, but enough to take the chance and start making them to sell.

I named it SIZE WIDE, because that's exactly what it is — a wide-sized tote. The label is the design. It's made to be like the care label sewn into a shirt, but instead of being hidden inside, it's on the outside, printed large, with everything about the bag on it.

I hope this is the tote that actually gets used!

In use

What it's been carrying.

Photos from prototype testing, on ordinary days out.

Looking down into the tote on a table: two sealed boba teas standing upright, with a pouch and wallet in the inner pockets. — Two sealed boba teas, upright the whole way home.

The tote carried on the shoulder in a parking lot, with a Costco vanilla cup sitting flat inside next to a tablet. — A Costco vanilla cup rides flat without tipping.

It's also where my toddler's toys go. When she asks for a specific one, I can see it and grab it without unpacking the whole bag.

Made

Cut and sewn by hand.

Small batches. One person. No factory.

A clear quilting ruler laid across a cut panel of natural canvas on a green cutting mat, with a stack of cut panels behind it. — Cut to pattern from 10 oz cotton duck, in batches.

Hands pressing a long canvas strap flat with an iron on a gray wool pressing mat. — Straps pressed flat before sewing.

Hands guiding the canvas bag body under the presser foot of a white home sewing machine, topstitching a seam. — Topstitched on a home machine.

Overhead view of a nearly finished tote on a cutting mat, clipped along the top edge, as a magnetic snap is set by hand with pliers. — Magnetic snap set by hand.

What's next

Taking local orders.

Twenty-five bags went to the Claude Moore Park Fall Festival on September 19, 2026. The rest of that run is for sale while it lasts!

The bag: The Original wide tote — 22" wide × 8" tall × 4" deep. 10 oz cotton duck canvas, natural. Magnetic snap closure, one interior pocket.
Price: $30, tax included, for the first run. The next run will be priced higher.
Delivery: Hand delivered within Loudoun and Fairfax counties in Virginia.
To order: Email hello.sizewide@gmail.com with your county.
In the works: Instagram and online ordering. The design is still getting better, and feedback goes into the next run.

Keep in touch

We're still refining SIZE WIDE, and we want it to earn its spot on your shoulder: comfortable, useful, and built to last. Please reach out at hello.sizewide@gmail.com. A subject line helps me keep track: add Interested if you'd want one, Question if you've got one, Hello for anything else.