About Us

From Limited Edition Magazine Winter 2005

Christine Johnson's (now Marshall - married Dennis in Sept 2006) foray into bag-making was one of those serendipitous happenings that comes along once in a while.

Around 12 years ago, when she was studying for a City and Guilds qualification in embroidery and design, she ended up with a file full of lovely pieces of embroidered work she was never going to look at again.

“I thought, this is a sin – I have spent a lot of time doing this and I thought surely I can make them into something.” She was also taking a handbag-making course and decided to put the samples to good use. “So I just made these pieces into little bags – that's how it developed.”

Now the exquisite bags are sold from her New Shambles shop in the heart of Kendal. Christine has been stitching things since she was a child; she loves colour and texture, and comes from, “a family of people that have always made things”.

Originally from Sunderland, Christine started teaching textiles 30 years ago and, after moving to Cumbria in 1979, she also had a village shop and tearooms in Morland near Penrith. Two sons came along and family commitments put paid to the shop, but Christine continued to teach, part-time and supply. Nine years ago she started working at Ullswater Community College in Penrith, first in textiles, although she ended up as head of department, teaching child development.

However, having reached 50, she decided it was time to do something different and, with support from her partner and family and the Rural Women's Network, she was ready to open the shop at the end of July. Reticule is filled at one end with a treasure trove of all those useful haberdashery items required by specialist embroiderers, patchwork-makers and jewellery-makers, with beautiful beads and ribbons in pretty colours. At the other end are the beautiful bags which Christine, who lives near Shap, designs and makes. In fact, even the name of the shop is appropriate – the definition of Reticule is ‘a woman’s netted or other bag, especially with a drawstring, carried or worn to serve the purpose of a pocket’.

The bags, which start at £40, can take anything up to ten hours to make, but Christine can labour over some for an astonishing 40 hours, depending on the amount of hand-stitching.

A large part of what makes Christine’s bags unique is that she creates the design herself, starting with a plain fabric, and adding embroidery and embellishment until she considers it to be perfect.

They are special occasion bags rather than for everyday use, and are popular for all sorts of evening occasions and weddings, and for presents.

Buying a Reticule handbag means buying a unique, designer-made accessory.
As the modest craftswoman puts it: “Lots of people call them works of art ... I don’t know about that, but in other people’s eyes I think they are.”

To contact Christine call 01539-729947

Words: Michaela Robinson Tate
Pictures: Steve Barber
This feature first appeared in the winter 2005 issue of Limited Edition magazine, which is published by The Westmorland Gazette (www.thewestmorlandgazette.co.uk)