One armed quilters?
 

I took a terrible fall in Dec that resulted in a torn rotor cuff. After the accident I only had about 40% mobility in my left arm. I’m grateful my hand works normally. Before I could have surgery we had to take care of a few other health issues I was having. I finally had the surgery 2 weeks ago and I have the same mobility as before surgery. Surgeon is saying give it some time and I’ll start Physical Therapy in 2 weeks.
I have not been able to sew since the accident. I’m going crazy not sewing. I figured out if I lower my sewing machine I don’t have to lift my arm so high. It’s very awkward but it’s a start. I’m trying to be creative to my new approach to sewing.
My question is there any one armed quilters out there? How do you do it? Any suggestion would be welcome.

So sorry to hear of your injury! The surgery you have been through is a really tough, painful one so I've heard from friends. Happy for you that that is behind you. Therapy will be a long haul, I'm sure.
I have no advice for one armed quilting but wish you a good outcome! I always wondered how people managed to sew on hand-cranked machines. Maybe one of them will have some advice for you. Best wishes!

I have had 3 surgeries on my shoulders. I did need to take a little time off but I figured out how to sew on the machine and even cut fabrics while wearing my sling. Ergonomics really plays in here. Get your machine at the right level. Use your bad arm to just direct fabric feeding into the machine. Thread the machine and all other "movement intensive" things with your good arm. It was tricky when my right arm (twice) was the one in the sling, as I am right handed. I had my DH help with any folding needed doing. Use your good arm for any pressing. Be really careful not to use the bad arm too much. You will pay for that!
Because mine were planned surgeries, I was able to get a few things done ahead of time that would have been much more difficult. Be careful and keep that arm close to your body, move your body to get in position not the arm.
I hope your heal quickly and fully.

it took me a full year to get my full range of motion back after my rotator cuff surgery. sounds like you have found a way to use your sewing machine.

You have to be so careful first. I usually only use my right hand to guide the fabric thru the needle. Take it slow.

I have a quilting buddy who was born with one arm. She uses a hoop to hold her fabric as she guides it through her machine.

be careful do not go moving your arm too much until you get into therapy. they know how to get you started

My Husband had surgery on both his rotator cuffs. He doesn't sew but finds it very hard to use his arms over his head. He had very bad tears, ortho doc said it was very hard to mend them. He did the physical therapy.

Are you interested in hand sewing or EPP?

I had rotator cuff surgery 2 years ago, and I was told to do nothing for 4 months, I followed Dr's instructions, now my should is good, I could not hand quilt, EPP or anything else, I did try, but very glad that I did not push it.

My quilting friend had the same surgery. She wasn't allowed to use her arm at all except for the PT for months. It took about a year for her to be completely recovered.

Wishing you a complete recovery - - - -

Thank you all for your words of encouragement and advice. It has been 5 months since I've done any quilting or any hand work at all. I have trying to follow all the dr. advice.

I too wish you luck in your recovery. Take it slow. Let your body heal. And maybe take this time to soak in the inspiration. Savor your stored fabric. Enjoy your orderly sewing space and keep telling yourself the time will pass and you will be back to sewing in no time.

As an exercise physiologist (gerontology) I work very closely with physical therapists. I get their patients when the insurance runs out. I work in an independent living facility with healthy, smart 65-93 year olds. My advice would be don't start doing any machine quilting until you have some physical therapy under your belt. Your first priority should be doing the physical therapy and not re-injuring the rotator cuff muscle. I cannot emphasize enough that you should do any home exercises the physical therapists have given you. This should be first priority. The people who recover from these injuries are the ones who work very hard in physical therapy and do their homework and don't do anything they're told not to outside of physical therapy. Talk to the physical therapist about starting to sew. Make sure they understand exactly what quilting involves as most of them don't really know much about sewing or quilting. Let them know this is a priority for you. If you're in a lot of pain as you sew, that's a sign to stop. It may make sense to do some of the physical therapy exercises before you start sewing so you're 'warmed' up.


It also may make sense to start with hand sewing. Perhaps a crazy quilt?


When my 92 year old mother was injured she had physical/occupational therapy. One of us was there with her the first 6 weeks. She had 90 minutes a day. She had to do 1 hour and then take a nap and come back for the rest. 8 weeks later she went from skilled nursing back to independent living, walking a mile a day. It was hard work but its doable. It's tough having an exercise physiologist for a daughter. Every day I ask her what exercise have you done mom?


I wish I could make you better today.

I read in a quilting magazine about a woman who had had a stroke, loosing use of one side of her body. She was determined to not lose her quilting, her passion. She sews one handed, rotary cuts one -handed (using clamps to secure the ruler & fabric to her cutting surface.

I found these two: by googling "quilting after a stroke"

http://amarillo.com/news/local-news/...nded-adventure
http://www.strokesurvivor.com/Stroke...t06-3pages.pdf

Neither of them are the woman I read about.

That said, I want to acknowledge that an INJURY is a different thing from a stroke. You have healing to do. Please be wise with regard to your recovery. Find out from your Dr and phys therapists what you are allowed to do, movement wise before you try.

I am sorry you hurt yourself. I hope you heal quickly & completely!

My husband has had both his rotator cuffs repaired with bad tears. It is a slow and painful process. Follow the doctor's orders and stick with the physical therapy. In time you should have all or most of your range of motion back if you stick with the plan. The physical therapy is so important.

Exactly my thought. Do you have any interest in hexies? They can be addicting once you start. The only real investment would be if you purchase the hexie papers. But they can be found online, printed out and hand cut. Use up some of those scraps you have. Once you have the papers, the fabric can be cut in squares ( again by hand) Hexies are measured along the sides, not across. Add 1.5 inches to the size of your hexie to figure out how big to cut your squares. IE 1" hexie (what I started with) needs a 2.5" square and 5" hexie needs a 6.5" square. And everything in between! If this doesn't work for you, try googling hexagon graph paper. http://www.printablepaper.net/category/hexagon_graph

Friend of ours had surgery or her rotator cuff also. Few months later she fell and broke her elbow. Had problem to find a table that could adjust to her. Went to medical supply store and got her a bedside table like they use in the hospitals. They can go pretty low. Worked for her. it's her most used table now. Her DDs and DILs helped with her cutting needs.

Being basically one-handed after a stroke. I quilt and sew by machine
only but I do have a tendancy to pull quilt or item to the right I co mpe nsate for that if I notice it. I also use lots of sa ndpaper dots on rulers. Most of all you just adapt.

I had a bad torn rotator cuff repaired 2 years ago, and doing the physical therapy is key to getting your mobility back. Right now you are in the recovery phase where you need to be careful what you do so that you do not re-injure the shoulder. I understand your frustration, believe me. I was able to do some things on the computer with my arm resting in the sling, of course it was my right shoulder, my dominant hand. Just do the PT, but don't rush the recovery because it could set you back. Just listen to your Dr. and your therapist, do what they instruct you to do, be patient, and you should find yourself feeling and doing a lot better in a few weeks. I spent some of my recovery time, reorganizing my sewing space, planning projects, assembling the fabric, etc., etc., so that when I was able to sew I could get busy on my projects.

I have a quilting friend that was born without a left hand. She has a partial arm, midway to the elbow. She used her left stump to hold fabric down for rotary cutting and to assist the right hand in sewing.

Being born that way she has learned to adapt which is totally different to from one who suddenly losses the use of a limb. Be patient and work at what you "can do today".

I had rotator cuff surgery 2 years ago and my advice would be to take it easy for the time they want you to. Work hard at doing all of the physical therapy and in time it will get better. I was not able to sew for about 6 months and during that time I read, read, read. It took me a good year to be able to have arm movement that allowed me to put dishes in the cupboard. But it will turn out fine in the end.