Tag / Bags

by jo

Bags We Love – Mia Tui

There’s a new bag from the lovely world of Mia Tui, and mine arrived this morning!

It’s their smallest bag at 23x23cm, the Lottie and is a good size for essentials particularly if you’ve moved away from carrying nappies and wipes around (also – you don’t have to be a parent to have a Mia Tui bag – it’s one that everyone will love). The bag fits my Mia Tui purse, my phone, keys (and there’s a handy key hook) and there’s still space for more – there’s a zip across the top, plus a zip pocket at the front – and both inner and outer are waterproof. I’m going to get some tiny reusable shopping bags and I think I’ll probably have everything I need. It’s also a great price at £15 – the strap is a fabric one, so different to the other bags. It’s made from ultra-soft faux leather too.

There’s currently an offer at Mia Tui for Lottie bags – head over to their Facebook Page for a fabulous discount code. There’s also some fine-looking bags for men being launched soon (I’m very tempted to get Shaun one) – so keep an eye out! Mia Tui will also be at The Baby Show in London in a few weeks, so make sure you pop by.

by jo

The Leather Satchel Co – Bags We Love

I have discovered the wonderful hand crafted skills of The Leather Satchel Co – read on for more!

The Leather Satchel Co Purple

The Leather Satchel Co are a family-run business who make hand crafted leather satchels.

My old record bag I use for work slowly started to fall apart. I reckoned I had about a month left until one of the straps broke, so knew it was time to move to a new bag. I have a few bags, my Mia Tui ones don’t quite work for work (I sometimes have an evil commute with no seat on the train and rammed in a carriage with loads of others), so I wanted something which could carry my essentials – those being my MacBook Pro, Kindle, iPod Touch, purse and random toiletries. So I did as I have been doing lately, and asked for advice from other parent bloggers.

This sent me in the direction of The Leather Satchel Co – who provided some fabulous bags for Cybher (I didn’t go.. but I’ve bought a ticket for next year), and after spending approximately two minutes looking at the purple one, I had to try to get Jo who I sit next to at work to convince me not to buy it. (I had a load of Amazon vouchers)

Then came the next issue – would it hold everything I need it to? After having had a huge record bag I was pretty good at carrying around loads of junk I didn’t need (three packs of tissues, gloves, toddler leg warmers, a CD, badges I’ve been carrying in there since Christmas, etc. I even found a tampon in the side pocket which I think is meant to hold your mobile phone),

so actually downsizing and being careful would be a good thing – and I’m now using my Mia Tui clutch bag for my toiletries – so when I switch bags between work and parenting it’s even easier – brilliant! In the end after getting more advice and emailing the Leather Satchel Co people, I went for the 14″ version at £81.

Inside the satchelI placed the order on the 21st May, and it arrived on the 25th – in a beautifully wrapped up package. I tore it open, and realised that actually, the size I ordered is only just the right size, and actually I need to do some serious downsizing (in retrospect I probably should have gone for the 15″). Weighing things up, this isn’t actually a massive problem as I do have back trouble, so I wont overload my bag in any way – as the photos show! There’s exactly the right amount of space for everything – but nothing else! It’s an extremely snug fit.

I’m not complaining though – and the colour – it’s a gorgeous purple. It arrived on the same day I was wearing a purple striped t-shirt which matched which amused me and probably nobody else at all.

The Leather Satchel Co PurpleTomorrow the bag makes its official commute debut, so we’ll see how we get on… (I’m secretly hoping everyone who gets on gasps at the satchel’s gorgeousness while I grab the last available seat, but we’ll see)

The things I like about the Leather Satchel Co :

It was so well packaged – standard delivery, and it arrived the next day too.

There’s a beautiful choice of colours, and this purple is good. Very good.

It’s handmade.

They’re a british family run business – read a feature over here with more information about them.

This will be a good bag for my back. A very good bag for my back, and that in turn is a very good thing.

Jo at work is full of lots of very sensible advice. One of her flatmates likes to think that for anything you buy you should get £30 worth of use per year out of it. So going on this you’d expect just over two and a half years of wear – it comes with a five year guarantee – which gave me a lot of confidence in purchasing from them.

You can order from Amazon – as well as several other places – which is good if you’re like me and save up your gift vouchers for something really nice.

Check them out anyway, they’re very friendly and helpful and there are tons of options for your satchel too. (I didn’t get my initials embossed, I couldn’t decide what to get, and just ‘Jo’ felt a bit weird).

** I have a Leather Satchel Co affiliate code now – if you place an order using this code you’ll get £5 off your satchel – pretty bloody good, don’t you think? Use 0NDZPI2N6FZUO at the checkout process! **

by jo

Bags We Love – Mia Tui

I thought I wasn’t a handbag kind of girl, I really did. However, I’m also not twenty five any more, and carting around a record bag for my daily needs Does Not Always Work.

I’ve been on the lookout for a new bag – the old Boots freebie one served it’s purpose up until H was toilet trained (touch wood…), so a new bag was needed – we didn’t need two (ie, one with my things and one with H’s) – but I hadn’t found a bag which fitted the bill…

Then there was The Baby Show. I went with Rachel, and let me tell you, Rachel is a lady of many bags – many many bags. She’s going to be the Mum Friendly official bag lady (argh, how else to word it!) and will be sharing what she knows very soon. She persuaded me I needed to have a good look at the Mia Tui ‘Grace’ bag – but also there was a fabulous deal to get an ‘Amelie’ bag for free with it.

You know what? It’s a handbag, but it’s right up my street. I like how it’s described as Mia Tui’s own messenger bag, and that’s what drew me to it – but then – ohh then – inside – the space! Now from the outside this bag looks like a regular one, but inside you’ve space for a bottle, you’ve space for wipes, I can fit a spare change of clothes for H in there, snacks – oh and some of my things too – and it’s perfect, completely and utterly perfect. Obviously I bought one there and then – and I’ve been using it since.

 

The Amelie bag is something altogether more great (oh my, the space), and something I’ll let Rachel write about when she gets a chance – but right now I wanted to share some Mia Tui love. I’ve signed up to the Mia Tui loyalty scheme – which means as a recommended friend of Mum Friendly, you’ll get a 10% discount from your first order.

Shall I gush a little more about the Grace bag? Well, as you may be aware we’re toilet training – and the bag comes with a set of charms on the side of it. Several times now I’ve gone to the loo with H, and she’s done that old favourite of trying to open the cubicle door when I’m doing my business – the charms are a fantastic distraction! So while it’s purpose was never meant to be that, it’s spared my dignity, and for that I love it even more.

There’s an elasticated strap inside – I’ve used it to fasten my purse in there (a Mia Tui one, of course!) so it’s always easy to get to – though you can use it for keys – anything like that really. You also get a changing mat and a clear PVC bag for baby bits. Oh, and there’s also a co-ordinating clutch for personal items. Seriously, it’s great – it’s got everything you’d want and even more – and given my history with back troubles, I can pack enough and it’s barely heavy on my back!

Oh, and did I mention, it’s waterproof inside and out?

Read about Charlotte and how she started the company – and what’s more the bags are made in good working conditions which Charlotte has overseen.

We love Mia Tui! Do I need to convince you more? Do I need to send Rachel your way?