Argentium

So, I had a pacemaker put in last week and have very limited use of my left arm, about a month of boring recovery/healing and lots of fabric and projects to play with. Mom has graciously offered to cut my fabric for me, but I'm not sure about the sewing part. I've got an EPP hexie project that I can hand stitch on for the time being, but I don't get a lot of time like this to play with the sewing machine and was hoping to squeeze in some play time. So, anyone have any tips on sewing with a slightly useless left arm?

katier825

I had a similar situation a few months ago, couldn't do much with either arm. I had pieces already cut out and just chain stitched them. I took lots of breaks, but it was nice to be able to do something! It's amazing how much you can get done with a few minutes here and there during the day. I just did blocks, didn't even attempt to sew the rows together because I didn't want to overdo it.

barny

I also have a pacemaker. But they told me not to raise my arm above my head or out away from my body for about a month. Then after that I can do anything and I don't even know I have it now. I love it.

Jim's Gem

I managed to get in a bit of sewing with my arm in a sling from shoulder surgery. First my left, then my right. I very carefully fed fabric into the machine to sew. I had done some cutting ahead of time. I could even leave my right arm in the sling and still sew!

Bree123

I have a neurostimulator implant & had problems with one of the incision sites & one of the lead cords, so I've been out of commission for a while. I do a lot of hand applique since I can do that from my bed & prop my right arm up on pillows (be sure to check with your own doc about any restrictions you have).
I also saw this YouTube video (trying to find it) that had a quilter that made a special modification for a friend of hers to be able to still free motion quilt even though she had one of her hands amputated. She had pinned (with safety pins) these elastic loops on to the edges of the quilt (she put a bunch of them in a row on each side of the quilt so when one area was quilted, the quilter could just slide her hands into the next loop up or down. Then the friend was able to easily move the quilt through the machine. The lady tried it out herself & found that she also liked using the elastic straps because they reduced neck/shoulder strain. If it's not an outright restriction, but rather a limitation due to pain, maybe something like that would work to allow you to keep quilting. If it is an outright restriction like what I was given, it's best to stick to hand sewing. The leads can easily migrate until they're scarred into place & the last thing in the world you want to have to do is repeat the implant surgery. Maybe then you could focus on applique or hand-pieced blocks & know that you will be able to stitch them together quite quickly once you're cleared. Alternatively, if you prefer to hand quilt, you could purchase a pieced quilt topper & spray baste it so you could sit & quilt it.

Good luck & wishes for a speedy recovery!