One of the YouTube channels I’ve been watching while sick is diy Handy Mum Lin TV. Her sewing videos are quiet and soothing, and scratch the “I want to be sewing” itch when I don’t feel well enough to do it myself. My favorite videos are the ones where she sews everything by hand.* I have made extensive notes from a couple of them, so I can try her projects, but so far, I keep making the same one: small round boxes.

These little round zippered boxes are made entirely by hand and include some embroidery, making them a charming project. I discovered quite quickly that my hand sewing needs work, so I keep making another one. I was just completing the third when a friend mentioned she needed to make a new case for the neck brace she’d just bought so she could take it on an international flight. She was leaving in just over a week and already swamped with pre-travel tasks, so I offered to make it for her. With the measurements she gave me, I adapted the pattern from the video to make a larger “box.”

I pulled out some light-weight upholstery fabric I had in my stash and got to work.

Making a bigger box was easier in many ways. I could use the sewing machine for most of it, resulting in tighter and straighter seams. I skipped the bias binding around the circle edges, too, by sewing the two layers together and turning them inside out. I did have to stitch the top and bottom onto the body of the case by hand, and wound up doing a second round of back-stitching to really make it secure. I also added loops, one for hanging the bag off other luggage, and two at the ends of the zipper to make it easier to use.

The final result looks pretty good — definitely better than my wonky hand-sewn minis — and the neck brace fit inside it.

I love being able to take an idea and adapt it to a new use. Figuring out how to make a sturdier and larger version of the little boxes I’d been making was a fun challenge. It reminded me that I don’t really watch YouTube so I can copy the projects. I watch it to be inspired to do something new.

*I do wish she would use a thimble, though. Every time I see her shoving a needle through denim, I wince.

Do you like to adapt ideas to your own use or do you prefer following a pattern exactly? (Both have their challenges.)