I’ve been looking for an everyday bag for a while, because I hate walking around with my cheap Made-in-China Target sack. This messenger seemed like a nice pick because it’s roomy without being huge (I’m not a fan of the Olsen look; drowning in my clothes just doesn’t work for me), has a nice adjustable strap, is affordable but not cheap, and of course it’s handmade in the USA.

Every bag from TinyHearts is made to order, and I was impressed to receive my bag in just 11 days since it had to go across the entire United States to get to me. Kim very graciously made my bag with a custom red flannel lining instead of her standard brown flannel, upon my request. I also received a simple little red flannel bag as an extra, with a very nice handwritten note inside.

A picture is worth a thousand words, and the picture above shows the bag very well. So, let’s just move on to the pros and cons to sum it all up:

Pros

• Nice quality material, soft lining.
• Three interior pockets, two open exterior pockets, and a zip exterior pocket make organization easy.
• Plenty of room for all my stuff including my mini laptop, but still a very manageable size.
• It has a magnetic snap closure. I don’t know why, but I love those things.
• Beautifully structured shape, feminine and totally functional.
• Nice enough where I’m proud to carry it around, but not high maintenance – a perfect everyday bag.
• Easy to clean.
• Handmade in Brooklyn by the designer herself.

Cons

• One of the less important seams was quite crooked – I actually laughed out loud when I saw it, it looked like Kim had sneezed or something. It looks like a pretty easy fix, given a seam ripper, sewing machine, and the proper thread. There were no problems with any of the structural seams, and you would only notice the one that was crooked if you specifically looked for it.

Overall, I’m very satisfied with this bag and would definitely purchase from Kim again if I had occasion to. I’m still saving for a Rebecca Minkoff for more formal use – but for an everyday, functional bag, I would recommend the Bridgie Travel Messenger in a TinyHeart-beat.

This woman, while not fat, had a disproportionately large backside, short legs, and long torso. By “disproportionately large,” I mean it looked like she was wearing a bustle or something. But she wasn’t. She just had a positively enormous rear, with a reasonably small waist. Think Kim Kardashian, only not nearly as statuesque. Judging from my own height when standing next to her, the woman couldn’t have been more than 5 feet tall, and that’s being generous.

So, on to the jeans and what was wrong with them. Firstly, they simply did not fit. The cut was all wrong, way too tight in some places and loose in others, and made her rear look boxy and abnormally shaped. The back pockets were set too low for her – the upper half of the pockets were on her bottom, while the bottom half sat on her thighs. The result: Positively Saggy. And, of course, there’s the problem with wide hips plus skinny jeans. I’ve always maintained that skinny jeans are for very certain body types and must be paired with appropriate footwear (NOT Converse or flats, ever). This woman may have gotten away with it if she’d had a pair that fit well, tucked into some fantastic boots, but she was wearing sneakers.

So, what could this woman have done instead? I would have recommended a pair of dark, wide flares to balance her hips, fitted through the rear and thigh (her bottom was shapely, no problem with showing it off), and worn with heels to boost her short legs. I’m sure she could rock a pencil skirt with some strappy heels, too. What do you think?