Forty years of sensible black handbags, and I never wrote a word about one. This is the exception
Six things a handmade quilted bag gets right that high-street handbags get wrong, from a retired teacher who has never reviewed anything in her life.
Margaret Thornton, customer, Harrogate. 5 minute read
I should say who is talking before anything else. I am Margaret, I am 67, I taught Year Two in Harrogate for thirty-one years, and I have never in my life sat down to write about a handbag. What I have done is carry the same sort of bag for forty years: black, sensible, and so like everyone else's that I once went home from a church coffee morning with somebody else's. So this is not a review. It is a woman who was wrong about a bag, saying so.
The one I am writing about is called The Mysterious Cat, from Sarah Cambridge, a small family-run business led by Sarah and her team, making handmade quilted bags in designs you will not find on the high street. My daughter-in-law had one. I thought it was lovely on her and far too cheerful for me. When Sarah later asked whether they could share my letter, I said yes, on the condition I could be completely honest in it.
A quilted bag with one great cat's face across the front of it, odd eyes and all, in black and mustard gold. On a woman who owned nothing but sensible handbags. Read on.
Here is what forty years of handbags taught me. They come in two piles. The sensible pile: black, brown, or navy, all faux leather, all looking exactly alike on the back of a café chair. And the smart pile: stiff, fussy things with a designer-sounding name, which cost the earth and scuff the first time they meet a car door.
Plain and forgettable, or smart and precious. Those were the choices, and I had done my years in both.
This is the first bag I have owned that is neither, and after four months of the supermarket, the library, a National Trust day and a trip down to see my grandson in Bath, I can tell you it comes down to six things.
The day it came. I expected it to be too much. I was wearing it by the afternoon.
It doesn't look like anybody else's
Mine is one great cat's face in black and mustard gold, with one amber eye and one pale blue one. It is still mostly black, which I have decided counts as progress rather than hypocrisy, and there are dogs, books and florals for everyone else. It is the only bag I have ever owned that strangers comment on. A lady stopped me by the bread in Waitrose to ask where I had got it, and whether the odd eyes were on purpose. They are, and I have come to love them.
I've had three compliments in one week, one of them from the lady at the post office who never says anything to anyone.
Susan W., YorkIt's made by hand, and you can tell
Turn it over and look at the stitching. Every line of quilting follows the design, round each swirl and the curve of each eye, so the pattern stands up off the fabric. The handles are stitched right down into the body, not tacked on at the top, and they have carried a full shop home from the 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 stitching up close. This is what made me stop calling it a novelty bag.
I used to sew, so I checked every seam before I'd say anything. It's beautifully made. Better than bags I've paid three times as much for.
Barbara H., NorwichIt holds its shape, full or empty
This is the part that won me over. My old bags slumped into a sad heap the moment I put them down. This one is quilted, padded and double-layered, so it holds its shape full or empty, and on the floor of a café it stands up on its own. It takes a wash, too. After an incident with a flask of tea, it went in the machine on a cool cycle and came out with its colours exactly as they were.
It stands up by itself on the floor of the coffee shop. My old handbags used to collapse like a failed soufflé.
Linda P., ChesterIt holds a proper day out
Purse, glasses, phone, keys, a library book, my knitting, and the cardigan I always tell myself I won't need. It all goes in without a wrestle, because it is a good 14 centimetres deep, and the wide opening means I can see everything at once instead of rummaging at the till while the queue sighs behind me.
Packed on the bed the night before. Cardigan, knitting, library book, and still room for the flask.
Two honest sizes, measurements included
The standard 38 by 35 centimetre size is a lovely everyday handbag. The larger 43 by 40 centimetre size takes a day out, a bit of shopping, or a knitting project with room to spare. The measurements are printed plainly on every design, so there is no guessing, and in my experience of bags and of life, you never wish you'd gone smaller.
Went for the larger one and it was the right call. It's my handbag, my shopping bag and my library bag all at once.
Carol M., WorcesterIt's the easiest present I have ever bought
I have always been hopeless at presents, and these have fixed that. There is a design for nearly every person you know, cat lovers, dog lovers, bookworms, gardeners, so you are not buying someone a bag. You are buying them something that shows you know them. I have given two so far, and both were opened with a gasp.
Mine, in its usual spot on the settee. My sister has sent me three photos of hers since her birthday.
Bought one for my mum's 80th. She cried, then she took it to bingo the same evening.
Pauline R., WhitbyA Sarah Cambridge bag, against the handbags you have been buying
You can buy a handbag anywhere for fifty or sixty pounds. I know, because I own the evidence. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.
Black or brown faux leather, like everyone else's
Machine-made in their thousands
Slumps into a heap when you put it down
Scuffs and peels within a year
Vague sizes, no measurements
A stitched design that starts conversations
Handcrafted by a small family-run team
Padded and double-layered, stands on its own
Machine washable, keeps its colour for years
Two honest sizes, measurements printed
About the price
The bags are £34.95 for the 38 by 35 centimetre size and £39.95 for the 43 by 40, down from £116.99.
I will pass on what Sarah told me, which is that they are closing down, and once a design sells out it will not 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 is wrong with something, and four months in I have not found it.
And I do not trust glowing scores, so I read the reviews before I ordered. Over 300 of them, sitting at 4.8 stars. I went looking for the horror stories, the way you do, and found precious few, so I read on. The same six things I have just walked you through came up again and again, in other women's words.
By the front door, packed for Bath. The grandson has been warned it is coming.
If you have a day out, a birthday to buy for, or simply a trip to the shops anywhere in your future, and your current handbag is one more black thing on the back of a chair, this is the one I would put in your hands myself, while your design is still there. Stop dithering and go and have a look.
Margaret
HANDCRAFTED BAG | THE MYSTERIOUS CAT
- Handcrafted by a small family-run team
- Dozens of stitched designs: cats, dogs, books, florals and more
- Quilted, padded and double-layered: holds its shape full or empty
- Machine washable, keeps its colour
- Holds a proper day out without a wrestle
- Two sizes: 38×35cm £34.95 · 43×40cm £39.95
- A present that shows you know them
- Free UK delivery
Closing-down sale. Once a design sells out, it won't be made again.