Comes in all kinds of colours too. The side flap has a magnetic lock, though I doubt you’d be putting your credit cards in there anyways. Oddly enough, there’s a video of the bag, and the woman showing it off calls the turny-button-thing a turn key. The little video gives a better sense of the size of the bag than the static photo, and it looks reasonable.
I have to keep reminding myself that I have no money, because I also know there’s a Fossil store nearby! For similar reasons, I cannot buy a new car, new clothes, or the pretty $600 000 house I made the mistake of looking at the listing of…! :eek:
I actually thought hard about getting it in “natural” (which is on clearance) and tarting it up with fabric paints, until I saw what they use for lining on that one. :eek:
Would you believe the prevailing term on eBay seems to be “turnbuckle”?
I don’t have any suggestions just some sympathy. Buying a purse is the worst. I use the same purse all the time. It needs to fit the things I carry in a way that I don’t lose them. It has to have the right number of pockets. I want cloth (so I can wash it) not leather.
And that’s just the functional side. I also am going to be carrying this thing everywhere for years. So, it can’t be a strange colour or too girly.
The last time I found one I liked I bought three. And yet, reading your post, I am already dreading having to find one again.
I came down with a cold yesterday evening, a nasty one, and spent the night not quite sleeping in that low-grade-fever way you do, and my addled brain started to obsess about making the perfect purse out of Tyvek, folded origami style, like the DIY wallets that were all the rage a couple of years ago. I wish I could sew properly.
It meets about half your criteria, but it’s leather, darker, a bit heavy, and has a real buckle rather than a clasp. The next size up from mine is 12"X9" and fits an iPad better, but I don’t like too big a purse and my ipad and even my 13" Macbook fits in mine if I don’t tighten the buckle all the way. It’s also too expensive. But it sure isn’t girly, is the right shape, has the handle, and cross body strap, and the right type and amount of pockets and it’ll be the last purse you ever have to buy!
Actually, it’s probably not quite right for you, I just wanted to show off my purse because I love it so much!
Actually if you look up recycled or tyvek bags you might find some. Or go to Etsy. A lot of times people will make things you like and you will be supporting a small business! And if it’s a tyvek bag, they are totally durable but still cute without being annoyingly cute.
How about this one? It comes in several colors, including blue, tan, and off-white/beige. It doesn’t have the handle going up through the flap, but it seems to fairly closely fit most of your other criteria.
Yeah, I like that one pretty well – the specific one you linked is in leather, but it also comes in fabric, and seems to be almost the same design as the “Wow” one mentioned above, except for the detailing on the decorative side straps on the front. I’m actually tempted by it in the pretty yellow leather. It reminds me of California poppies. The blue, though, is actually navy, and specifically disallowed by the OP, so I’m gonna have to take a point off for reading comp, young lady. :dubious:
I totally did. turns out there are some great Tyvek designs out there, but none close to what I want, and apparently the seams are an issue – I got sidetracked reading up about sewing vs. tape vs. various glues on a Backpacking Light gear forum – they rip out easily, like the perforations on old-fashioned stamps. hence my half-awake ruminations on folding. But I may very well end up posting a request for bids on Etsy. I temporarily abandoned that idea since it seems risky to be so picky about a fairly expensive item, and many of the better-looking custom purses I saw seem to be made far far away, like Thailand or Hong Kong, and I was originally hoping for something to take with me on our vacation next week. but that turned out to be unpossible.
Damn you all! This reminded me that I need to replace my big “going to the movies” purse (so named because it’s big enough to smuggle munchies into the theatre) - the existing one is 22 years old and wearing out.
And my wallet - which is one of the few I’ve ever found to have enough SLOTS for all the crap I carry (credit cards, health insurance, eleventy-bazillion “frequent-whatever” cards etc.) lost its zipper pulls a year or more ago and I’ve been making do with a split-ring keyring forced into one of the zipper thingys.
And I like a cross-body bag… I didn’t buy the exact Fossil one that was linked up above but I did get a different one with some similar features… and Fossil has a line of wallets called the “multifunction” which has all the same features my existing one does (except the keyring-as-zipper-pull standin)…
So, order placed :).
I sympathize on the Search For The Perfect Purse. I carry a couple of largish items with me at all times (that wallet, which isn’t that huge really), a cosmetic bag with some medications… and it seems every time I’ve achieved Purs-vana, the thing lets me down, or wears out, or something.
My mom just bought me the wallet that matches my purse (which she also bought me, earlier this year). Both are so pretty and I’m really excited about it. I know I’ve posted the pursebefore, but here’s the wallet, too!
She actually buys them from the Cirque directly, as she does occasional work with them!
The one thing this wouldn’t fix, with my current wallet, is that the part the pull attaches to was actually slightly bent, so the split-ring was able to simply fall off. The new gizmo would have the same issue. Of course, 30 seconds with a pair of pliers fixed it for the time being (until it gets pulled out again).
Which might be less likely with the linked gizmo - the split ring would catch on things, I think.
BTW, this is the bag I got. Hasn’t shipped yet, boo… I’d hoped that they’d do one of their “you’ll get it in a week… no, wait, we shipped it and it’ll be there tomorrow” dealies (this has happened in the past) but not luck. Oh well.
Try a zipper pull replacement, bend it back and then weld it! But seriously, they have a sort of sticky tack that is used for plumbing that you can put on there so it won’t come off…
If you see a picture of a purse that is very nearly it, if only it had a twek here and there, you could always put it out there as an assignment on etsy. Some crafter might take you up on it and make one for you custom made to your exact specifications.
Thisis a little like what you’re looking for. Unforch, it’s leather and lacks the threaded-through handle (although the handle is attached to the body of the bag, not the flap), it’s a bit wider at the bottom and there’s no slip-in pocket. So pretty much only meets about two of your criteria, but I feel like I should have something to show for the last half hour of drooling over purses on Bluefly.
ETA: Oh, and it’s a shoulder strap, not a hand strap. Extra fail.
This one sort of fails: the short handle is attached at the sides, and there are some magnetic clasps (though I’ve never found those to cause problems personally), and it doesn’t have a turnlock.
I’m noting it specifically because of how the handle attaches: It doesn’t come “through” the flap, but it does attach at each side vs being attached to the flap. That’s an option that might work for you - it won’t spill if you pick the bag up by the handle. So looking for that (vs. the handle through the flap) might open up some possibilities.
Fossil has another bag on Zappos, a hobo / convertible, that is pyramid-shaped, which you don’t like (and for good reason); the top is, however, elasticized. I’d bet there are some out there with drawstrings instead of elastic. Again, not necessarily what you want but if you prioritize features in order of “must have” vs “would like but can let go of”, it might be an option.
