Atenti Bags

I recently had a chance to try out a couple of the lovely bags from Atenti. According to their website their line features “innovative fabrics and embellishments from all over the world; from textile mills in the United States, Italy, Spain and Argentina to laces and buttons from France and Great Britain.” I tried out two of their needlearts bags: their accessories pouch and their caddy.

Atenti makes a wide variety of bags in heavy-duty fabrics. Their line is changing all the time, so if you see a pattern you like, buy it. They are sold only through retailers.

Both bags are made of heavy-duty upholstery fabric and cotton, with a sturdy canvas lining. They will stand up to lots of use and last for years.

The accessories pouch is more than 8″ wide and 7″ high so it is large enough to hold all the tools I might need and then some. It closes securely with a zipper that has fabric cording tied onto it to make it easy to grip. I used mine on a recent trip to corral my tools and was easily able to carry scissors, my battery-operated Ott Light, my Thread Zapper, and a bunch of needles poked in the lining. I’m leaving tomorrow for a short trip and it’s coming with me on that.

The front and back are made from different but coordinating fabrics, adding another layer of decoration.

The caddy is one of those things I didn’t know I needed until I bought it. Flat bottomed, it has pockets all around the outside, made in a heavy cotton, and pockets all around the inside, made in canvas. There are two on each side, making eight in all. They are over 3″ deep and 7″ wide, perfect for storing all your tools. The bag itself is constructed of two coordinating upholstery fabrics that also act as the pocket linings. The whole thing can be carried by the central Ultrasuede handle.

The caddy has a large central section that big enough to store a project on stretcher bars (up to 7×12) and all its threads. With it’s flat bottom it’s a perfect tote to bring to guild programs because it can sit prettily on the table. In fact I did this at the meeting last weekend.

Up until this point their marketing has been aimed more at knitting shops, so you might try there if your LNS does not carry them. One last note, their website collection pictures are wholesale customer only, so a better choice to see what their products look like is to do a Google image search.

Atenti bags are not inexpensive (the pouch is around $30) but they are so roomy and so sturdy that you won’t be needing another bag for a very long time.