Masks are required in so many places that it’s a good idea to take at least one with you every time you leave your home. Having a dedicated pocket (or two) especially for your mask and hand sanitizer is beneficial. I prefer an exterior pocket so that I can easily reach my mask and hand sanitizer and avoid contaminating either my mask, or if my mask is dirty, my bag’s contents. In this post I review the So-Sew-Easy Trinity Bag pattern, which features three main zippered compartments of equal size.
I purchased this pattern from the So-Sew-Easy website:
While this pattern is for personal use only, pattern purchasers are permitted to sell Trinity Bags on a small handmade basis.
For the purposes of my review, I’m going to summarize the steps, tell you what I did differently (if anything) and share my general thoughts about sewing the Trinity Bag.
This pattern is rated “confident beginner” to “intermediate”. The instructions begin with a photograph of a finished Trinity Bag and a description of the bag. Materials, cutting instructions, and seam allowances are covered next. Before the sewing steps, there is an additional section about things to keep in mind. In this section, the similarities to the method for a zipper pouch and this project are described.
Step 0 Gather Materials
My exterior fabric was a heavier cotton so I used medium-weight interfacing and didn’t interface the interiors. I decided to make the optional, adjustable strap. I omitted interfacing from ~2” at each short end of my strap piece to reduce bulk.
My lining fabric was a solid color so I marked the wrong side of each piece. My exterior fabric was a directional print so I marked the top of each piece on the wrong side.
Step 1 Sew Lining Pockets
The lining pockets are made using a common method for patch/slip pockets. I decided to sew two lining pockets and allocated one each to the middle and back pouches. I positioned the back lining pocket closer to the bottom seam to reduce bulk when both lining pockets are in use.
Step 2 Assemble Zippers & Ring Tabs
Long zippers are cut to the perfect length and their ends are finished with fabric to prevent the zipper pulls from sliding off. This is a method I’ve used several times before.
As per the instructions either closed round rings or D-rings may be used. I sewed all of my ring tabs at once so that they’d be ready to go. I mis-measured at some point as I had a short length of ring fabric left over. If you measure correctly, you’ll have exactly the right length.
Step 3 Assemble Bag Body
I had trouble conceptualizing how this bag was going to come together and my first bag section didn’t look like the picture in the tutorial. I had to rip some stitches and replace one exterior panel with the correct one. Once I had correctly identified all of my external panels, the bag body came together surprisingly quickly.
I used a magnetic lock and installed the thinner part of the lock in the Closing Flap prior to sewing the flap to the rear panel. I positioned the centre of my magnetic lock 1.5” from the curved edge of one flap piece. It was easy to install the thicker part of the magnetic lock to the front panel through the turning gap. I re-enforced my bag by fusing small pieces of fusible fleece to the inside of the panels prior to installing the magnetic lock halves and fusing larger pieces over the inside of the magnetic lock’s halves.
As per the instructions, do be careful to secure the finished sections out the way. You may wish to use ribbon or safety pins to avoid poking or scratching yourself when you are turning each section.
Step 4 Sew Strap
The method for creating the strap was one that I’ve used many times before. It didn’t take long to sew the strap and attach the hardware.
Here are some photos of my finished Trinity Bag.
Conclusion
Having experience sewing zippered pouches helps make this project go more smoothly. That being said, correctly identifying your pieces is far more important. I think the author’s rating of “confident beginner” is appropriate. The instructions are well written well photographed. I’m glad I double-checked my work with the photos when I was unsure. I was able to discover my mistake right away and fix it with only a small amount of time spent ripping stitches. I think a bag with three main sections is a great way to organize and look forward to using this bag.
Have you sewn zippered pouched? Have you or would your try the Trinity Bag pattern? Subscribe to be notified of new blog posts. Comment below and/or Pin me for later!
Tanya
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