Customize!

 As some of you might remember...

... in March I made the Classmate bag by Terry Atkinson!

I immediately put it to use when I began my "hexie" adventure.  I enjoy having something dedicated to organizing a specific project ... especially a long range project like my hexies ... one where there are no concrete plans!  Hee-hee!  Everything I need in one place ... easy to take and go ... working on a whim!       It is the way we roll here in dillydallydom!

The bag has more pockets than I have needed for my hexies ... but it became inconvenient to take packages of needles and pins in and out of a pocket!  I decided to customize the bag by adding a needle case.  I put this old noggin to use and chose a location.  Rummaged through my limited felted wool stash and found a small piece of blue ... that sort of matched the focal fabric. 

I wanted to protect the use of the pocket behind this area ... used pearle cotton to hand sew the wool felt in place ... it was somewhat difficult to accomplish, but completely doable!

I created a cover for the needle case.  I didn't want anything catching on the needles and pins.  I used a remnant of "timtex" to give the cover the stiffness I felt it needed to have.  The button loop was made with a hair tie ... I wanted to be able to close and secure the needle case.

A hidden slip stitch was used to tack the cover in place securely.  Again it was a small space to work in,  but most things are possible in dillydallydom! ;-)

Applied the button ... added the necessary pins and needles ...

... I'm pleased with the result!  When I make my next Classmate bag, I intend to include this feature and will be able to add it easily by machine.

Suffering from Basking in hexie fever resulted in a bit of online shopping.  Last summer, while contemplating this journey I had purchased a package of 100 hexagon templates.  I panicked when I realized that I would only have enough for 14-15 flowers!  Who knows?  I might want to make thousands!  So I ordered a package of 1200!  Yep, I am an optimist! ;-) That amount should keep me busy for a bit!

Paper Pieces also had an acrylic ruler in the size I needed!  I had been using one I made.  It is much easier, faster and accurate to use the acrylic one!  By the way, the 1 inch hexie template fits perfectly on a 2.5 inch strip!

My noggin did not fail me on this idea!  I love the result!  Now my classmate bag is perfectly customized for my purposes!  And ... that is what the dillydally lifestyle is all about.  Customizing our lives so that we can dillydally!

Do what you love.  Customize! Do dillydally!

Mrs. DillyDally