Forty years of sensible black purses, and I never wrote a word about one. This is the exception
Six things a handmade quilted bag gets right that department-store purses get wrong, from a retired teacher who has never reviewed anything in her life.
Linda Hayes, customer, Asheville, NC. 5 minute read
I should say who's talking before anything else. I'm Linda, I'm 66, I taught second grade in Asheville for thirty-one years, and I have never once sat down to write about a purse. What I have done is carry the same kind of purse for forty years: black, sensible, and so much like everyone else's that I once went home from a church potluck with somebody else's. So this isn't a review. It's a woman who was wrong about a bag, saying so.
The one I'm writing about is called The Black Cat and the Books, from Grace Savannah, a small family-run business led by Grace and her team, making handmade quilted bags in designs you won't find at the mall. My daughter-in-law had one. I thought it was lovely on her and way too cheerful for me. When Grace's team later asked if they could share my letter, I said yes, on the condition that I could be completely honest in it.
A quilted bag with a black cat curled up on a stack of books, lilacs and hydrangeas all around him, under a sky full of stars. On a woman who owned nothing but sensible purses. Read on.
Here's what forty years of purses taught me. They come in two piles. The sensible pile: black, brown, or navy, all faux leather, all looking exactly alike hanging off the back of a restaurant chair. And the fancy pile: stiff, fussy things with a designer-sounding name that cost an arm and a leg and scuff the first time they meet a car door.
Plain and forgettable, or fancy and fragile. Those were the choices, and I'd done my time in both.
This is the first bag I've owned that's neither, and after four months of grocery runs, the library, two days at the Biltmore gardens and a road trip to see my grandson in Nashville, I can tell you it comes down to six things.
The day it came, tag still on. I expected it to be too much. I was carrying it by the afternoon.
It doesn't look like anybody else's
Mine is a black cat curled up on a pile of old books in front of an arched window, with lilacs, blue hydrangeas and butterflies all around him and little gold stars overhead. The cat is the only black thing about it, which I've decided counts as easing in gently, and there are dogs, florals and plenty more for everyone else. It's the only bag I've ever owned that strangers comment on. A woman stopped me by the flowers at Trader Joe's to ask where I got it, and whether the cat was reading the books or just napping on them. I told her that's between him and the books.
Three compliments in one week, one of them from the lady at the post office who never says a word to anyone.
Debbie K., Charleston, SCIt's made by hand, and you can tell
Turn it over and look at the stitching. Every line of quilting follows the design, around each petal, each book spine and every whisker, so the pattern stands up off the fabric. The handles are stitched down both edges and have their own little blue mountain print, and they've carried a full load home from the farmers market without so much as a creak. It feels like something a person made, because it is, and no two come out quite identical.
The handles up close. Even they have their own little scene. That's when I stopped calling it a novelty bag.
I've quilted for thirty years, so I checked every seam before I'd say a word. It's beautifully made. Better than bags I've paid three times as much for.
Sharon T., Lancaster, PAIt holds its shape, full or empty
This is the part that won me over. My old purses slumped into a sad heap the second I set them down. This one is quilted, padded and double-layered, so it holds its shape full or empty, and on the floor of a coffee shop it stands up on its own. It's machine washable, too. After an incident with a travel mug of coffee, it went in the washer on a cold, gentle cycle and came out with its colors exactly as they were.
It stands up by itself on the floor at the coffee shop. My old purses used to collapse like a fallen soufflé.
Donna R., Tulsa, OKIt holds a real day out
Wallet, glasses, phone, keys, a library book, my crochet, a bottle of water, and the cardigan I always tell myself I won't need. It all goes in without a wrestle, because it's a good five and a half inches deep, and the wide opening means I can see everything at once instead of digging around at the register while the line sighs behind me.
Packed on the bed the night before. Wrap, crochet, library book, water, and still room to spare.
Two honest sizes, measurements included
The standard 15 by 14 inch size makes a lovely everyday purse. The larger 17 by 16 inch size handles a day out, a little shopping, or a crochet project with room to spare. The measurements are listed plainly on every design, so there's no guessing, and in my experience of bags and of life, you never wish you'd gone smaller.
Went with the larger one and it was the right call. It's my purse, my grocery tote and my library bag all in one.
Patty M., Columbus, OHIt's the easiest gift I've ever given
I've always been hopeless at gifts, and these fixed that. There's a design for nearly everyone you know, cat lovers, dog lovers, bookworms, gardeners, so you're not just buying someone a bag. You're buying them something that shows you know them. I've given two so far, and both were opened with a gasp.
Mine, on the couch with the afghan I crocheted last winter. My sister has sent me three photos of hers since her birthday.
Bought one for my mom's 80th. She cried, then took it to bingo the same night.
Brenda S., Boise, IDA Grace Savannah bag, against the purses you've been buying
You can buy a purse anywhere for sixty or seventy dollars. I know, because I own the evidence. Here's the difference, laid out plainly.
Black or brown faux leather, like everyone else's
Machine-made by the thousands
Slumps into a heap when you set it down
Scuffs and peels within a year
Vague sizes, no measurements
A quilted design that starts conversations
Handcrafted by a small family-run team
Padded and double-layered, stands on its own
Machine washable, keeps its color for years
Two honest sizes, measurements listed
About the price
The bags are $44.95 for the 15 by 14 inch size and $49.95 for the 17 by 16, down from $149.99.
I'll pass on what Grace's team told me, which is that they're going out of business, and once a design sells out it won't be made again. Their words, not mine. What I can tell you from my side is that a price like this is usually where I start asking what's wrong with something, and four months in I haven't found it.
And I don't trust glowing scores, so I read the reviews before I ordered. Over 300 of them, averaging 4.8 stars. I went looking for the horror stories, the way you do, and found precious few, so I kept reading. The same six things I just walked you through came up again and again, in other women's words.
By the front door, packed for the drive to Nashville, travel mug and all. My grandson has been warned it's coming.
If you've got a day out, a birthday to shop for, or just a trip to the store anywhere in your future, and your current purse is one more black thing hanging off the back of a chair, this is the one I'd put in your hands myself, while your design is still around. Quit dithering and go take a look.
Linda
Handcrafted Bag | The Black Cat and the Books
- Handcrafted by a small family-run team
- Dozens of quilted designs: cats, dogs, books, florals and more
- Quilted, padded and double-layered: holds its shape full or empty
- Machine washable, keeps its color
- Holds a real day out without a wrestle
- Two sizes: 15×14 in $44.95 · 17×16 in $49.95
- A gift that shows you know them
- Free US shipping
Going-out-of-business sale. Once a design sells out, it won't be made again.