I picked every single thing I wear. Except the bag I carry every day. This is a letter about the one I finally picked
Six things this quilted tote does right that years of free canvas bags never managed, from a woman who hadn't given her everyday bag a single thought until she saw her friend's.
Megan Hayes · Customer · Knoxville, TN · 5 min readI'm 59, I keep a neat house, and I'll start with a confession. Every single thing I wear was picked on purpose. My good wool coat took me two weeks to decide on. The scarves went through tryouts. Even my rain boots had a shortlist. And the bag I carry, the thing I take everywhere every day of my life, is a gray canvas tote with a bank's name on it that somebody handed me at a county fair years ago and that simply never left. I never picked it. It showed up, it stayed, and I'm not sure anyone in America has ever really chosen their everyday tote. So this isn't a review. It's a woman who finally chose one, explaining why.
The bag I'm writing about is the Briar Quilted Tote from Ella & Finn Boutique, a small husband-and-wife studio that quilts these in small batches. I first spotted one on my friend Carol's shoulder at the Saturday farmers market, a shaggy highland cow in a polka dot bow tie, packed with peaches and holding its shape like a little piece of luggage. When the studio later asked if they could share my letter, I said yes, as long as I could be completely honest in it.
Mine, at the market on my own shoulder now. I figured Carol's was just for looks. It was full of groceries.
Here's what years with the canvas one taught me. An everyday bag only ever lives two ways. Left in the car when you're meeting someone nice, because honestly it's embarrassing. Or on display by accident, faded logo and all, because you ran into your pastor's wife at the grocery store. Somewhere along the line I just accepted that the plainest thing I own would be the one I carry every day, and that was that.
I chose the coat, the scarves and the rain boots. The thing I actually carry every day just showed up one year and never left.
This tote is the first one I've ever owned on purpose, and after a month of filling it, hauling it, washing it and folding it away, I can tell you it comes down to six things.
The morning it arrived. It came out of the box in shape and hasn't slouched since.
It holds its shape, even when it's empty
The padded, quilted sides keep their shape whether it's packed with groceries or holding nothing at all. No sagging, no collapsing into a heap on the car seat. Empty, it just sits there looking intentional, which is not a word I ever expected to use about a tote bag.
Full or empty it holds its shape like a little piece of luggage. The canvas one went to the donation box that same week.
Donna R., Chattanooga, TNThe design makes people stop you
The highland cow, his polka dot bow tie and that row of sunflowers are stitched and padded right into the bag, not printed on. Wherever you carry it, somebody smiles at it. My canvas one had a logo too. A bank's, and a faded one.
The cow up close, with all that quilting around him. It faces out and people ask about it.
I get compliments every single time I carry it. A lady in the checkout line actually took a picture of it.
Linda M., Greenville, SCThe handles are actually sewn on
Two wide fabric handles, stitched right into the bag, that a full load of groceries hasn't bothered one bit. They don't dig into your shoulder the way thin canvas straps do, which anyone who's carried a week of shopping across a parking lot will appreciate.
A full Saturday's worth and the handles. Sewn on properly and easy on your shoulder.
Carried bread, a jar of honey and three library books across the whole market and the handles didn't so much as strain.
Karen T., Roanoke, VASoft and quilted, but it goes in the wash
The quilted fabric is soft to the touch, but it shrugs off the everyday spills a bag gets on the way home from the market, and it goes right in the washing machine when it really needs it. Pretty things are usually fussy. This one isn't.
A jar of jam leaked in the bottom. One trip through the washer on gentle and it looks brand new.
Sharon P., Lexington, KYIt folds flat when you need it out of the way
It's light, it folds down flat to slide into a suitcase or onto a closet shelf, and then it opens right back up. When we drove to my son's for Thanksgiving and every inch of the trunk was spoken for, the tote cooperated. The canvas one never cooperated with anybody.
Folded it flat in my suitcase for a trip to my daughter's. Opened it up and used it all week like nothing happened.
Patricia G.Two sizes, and dozens of designs
A regular for everyday errands and a large for market days. And the Briar is just one design of dozens. There's one covered in a whole flock of woolly sheep that I've had my eye on for my sister, which is apparently how this starts.
Mine, and the sheep one I'm pretending I haven't already decided on.
A large for the market and a regular for church. The prettiest useful things I own.
Debra K., Columbia, SCThis tote, next to the one that just showed up
Nobody buys an everyday tote on purpose. That's the whole problem. One gets handed to you somehow and stays for decades. Here's the difference, side by side.
Thin straps that dig into your shoulder
Left in the car when you're meeting anyone
Goes limp, frays and fades with age
Somebody else's logo on your shoulder
Never chosen, never liked, never left
Wide sewn-on handles, easy on the shoulder
Comes along, and gets asked about
Holds its shape, even empty
A highland cow people stop you for
Chosen on purpose, finally
About the price
Right now the regular size is $34.95, down from $115.95, and the large, the market-day size, is $39.95, down from $132.95.
I'm careful with money and I won't pretend I'm not, so I'll just pass on what the studio told me: they're a small shop that sells directly, and they're clearing out this year's designs to make room for the new collection. Their words, not mine. What I can tell you is that at that price I didn't deliberate long, and Carol has since bought the large.
I don't trust perfect scores, so I read the reviews before I ordered. Over 11,540 customers, rating them 4.8 stars, and plenty of them wrote more than a line, which sounded like real people, so I kept reading. The same six things I just walked you through came up again and again, in other women's words.
Fresh out of the wash. The canvas one went to the donation box after all those years, and nobody shed a tear.
If your everyday bag also just showed up one day and stuck around, this is the one I'd put in your hands myself, while the design you want is still there.
Megan
BRIAR QUILTED TOTE
- ✓Holds its shape, even empty
- ✓Highland cow and sunflowers, stitched and padded
- ✓Wide, sewn-on fabric handles
- ✓Soft quilted fabric that goes in the washing machine
- ✓Folds flat and packs away when you don't need it
- ✓Two sizes, from $34.95 · dozens of designs in the collection
- ✓FREE US shipping & 30-day free returns
Studio Clearance on now, making room for the new collection. The popular designs go first.