Put the things you need to carry on a table for a moment. Phone, keys, a book, maybe a bottle and a sweater. Seeing the actual pile is much more useful than trying to decide whether you're generally a tote person or a small-bag person.
The Sketch Tote Bag and Medium Checkerland Clutch give you two very different amounts of room. The allover-print tote is available in an 18-by-18-inch size. The clutch is about 8 by 10 inches, made from cotton denim in San Francisco, with a patterned lining inside.
What really needs to come with you?
A phone and a card wallet are one sort of outing. A library book, water bottle and extra layer are another. Start with the things you expect to use, including the awkwardly shaped ones. You can leave out the collection of old receipts that found a home in your last bag.
Measure the largest object first. A book may fit against the outside of a bag and still be hard to get through its opening. A bottle needs depth as well as height. Those are the details that flat width-and-height measurements can't quite answer.
Room in a tote, a smaller group in a clutch
The Sketch Tote's larger format leaves space for several loose things. If you prefer to keep small objects together, you can use a pouch you already own inside it. Look at the interior photos before counting on a pocket or organizer being built in.
For the Checkerland Clutch, we'd picture the smaller group you want close at hand. Its denim exterior and party-like lining are part of its character, but its opening and closure still need to suit what goes in. Eight by ten inches describes the overall shape, not a promise that every object with those dimensions will pass through it.
If you're giving a bag to someone else, the one they already carry tells you something. Do they like having room for whatever comes along, or do they prefer the lightest possible handful? That is a better starting point than filling a new bag with things you think they ought to need.
The things inside have their own shapes
The 30 ounce Buoy Bottle, for example, has a rounded body. Its capacity tells you how much water it holds, but not whether it will pass through your bag's opening or sit the way you want. The Buoy carrying-fit guide takes a closer look at that.
A 30 ml tube of Surboom hand cream asks for less space, though you'll still want the cap protected. If small accessories tend to come along too, our clip and shoe-charm guide covers the hardware and scale worth noticing before tucking them away.
Living with the fabric
The clutch is 100% cotton denim; the tote is a poly-canvas blend. Use the finished bag's care instructions, including any lining and closure, when it needs cleaning. Neither fabric name supplies a carrying-weight rating or a washing method on its own.
You can see more gift ideas in our gift guide, but the table test is a good place to finish this decision. Put the essentials together, compare their shapes with the bag, and leave a bit of room for the things you haven't thought of yet.
Leave a comment