How big is a 22 × 22 cm bag in practice?

About the footprint of a vinyl record sleeve, in a soft knitted body that stretches around the load. In real terms: a paperback, a water bottle, a small pouch, sunglasses and a couple of lemons ride together comfortably — the everyday set, not the office haul.

Does a laptop fit in a 22 cm mesh bag?

No — and honesty beats optimism here. A 13-inch laptop is about 30 cm wide, so it belongs in a bigger bag. What does fit: a paperback, a Kindle, a folded cardigan, a wine bottle standing with its neck out of the open top, the way market nets have always carried one.

What do you do about small items in a sheer bag?

One small pouch. Keys, cards, lip balm and anything private go in it; everything else — the paperback, the lemons — is allowed to show. The pouch turns the bag's sheerness from a liability into the look.

Do soft knitted bags carry more than their size suggests?

Yes — knitted metal mesh stretches slightly in every direction and bulges around odd shapes, so a 22 cm knit regularly swallows what a rigid 25 cm bag refuses. The open top also lets tall items stand proud of the bag, net-bag style.

what fits in a mesh bag?

Real loads, measured honestly, from spoii.world.

Bag dimensions are useless until translated. Our Tonsiba is 22 × 22 cm with 18 cm handles — a record sleeve's footprint in a knitted mesh that stretches around whatever it holds. Here is what that means in actual objects.

The everyday set

The bag's natural load: a paperback, a water bottle, the small pouch, sunglasses, and the day's incidental shopping — fruit, a pastry, a card for someone. The knitted structure stretches around odd shapes and the open top lets tall things — a bottle of wine, a bunch of flowers — stand proud, neck out, the way market nets have always carried them.

The beach afternoon

A thin towel, sunscreen, a book, the pouch. Sand is the mesh bag's party trick: it falls straight through the knit instead of colonising the seams, and salt rinses off — dry it after, per the care guide. The full material argument is in the beach guide.

The evening out

This is where 22 × 22 earns its size: phone, cards, keys, lip balm — the whole evening set with room to spare, in a bag that reads as jewellery against a plain dress. The metal mesh evening bag is a century-old idea (the mesh purse); this is it at a slightly more generous scale.

What honestly doesn't fit

A laptop (13-inch machines are ~30 cm wide), an A4 folder flat, a full grocery week. If your daily carry is office equipment, this is your second bag, not your first — the sizing logic is mapped in the size guide.

The one-pouch rule

Every sheer-bag owner converges on the same system: one small pouch for keys, cards and anything private; everything else on display. The contrast between precious mesh and ordinary contents is the whole aesthetic — the styling guide builds outfits around exactly this.

The measurements, for the record

Tonsiba: 22 × 22 cm, twin flat 18 cm handles, knitted from fine brass wire, £95, made to order and dispatched within 14 days. Free UK delivery, worldwide shipping at checkout.

Last reviewed: 2026-07-16