Accessible Sewing

Hello. I am a C6/C7 incomplete quadriplegic with an as of yet unspecified neurodegenerative disorder, which just means I have fairly unorthodox ways of doing absolutely everything I might need or want to do. This includes sewing. For now, since I still have two "half-a hands", the biggest adaptation I have needed to make is also the simplest; moving the pedal up to the table and learning to guide the fabric one (half-a) handed. There are other adaptations that I am still working on developing for things like cutting and pinning.

Are there any other disabled sewists here? If so, would you mind sharing what you adaptations you have either learned or developed that have been helpful for you?

This is such a great topic and one that I haven't needed to explore much so I'm really interested to hear more about what works, and equally what doesn't work for those who need to make adaptations. 

Have you tried any techniques for cutting and pinning?

Thank you for sharing. I have one of those machines with a start stop button, but not because I need it I just prefer it. 

I am very interested to see what other adaptations people have made. 

Happy sewing 🤩

There is an official Janome-affiliated store just down the road from me and I have seen many of their push button models. I was going to buy one about a year ago, but I just never found it in my budget to go for it. I may revisit that question at some point this year. I have seen people rig the pedal so they could press it with their foreheads and have both of their upper limbs free to manipulate the fabric, I have also seen that some people have been working on making adaptations to machines so that blind people can sew. There's a lot of interesting work being done in many fields.

For cutting, I depend heavily on my system of wrist supports and braces and I stick primarily to small projects so that I don't find myself in the middle of a long cut and having to stop for a few a few hours or days before I feel confident enough to try again. There are shears that are shaped to be able to be lain flat against the table so that the person using them needs only to push down from above to make the cut - but I don't have a large enough work surface to really support that kind of thing. (I do much of my piecing and marking while nested as comfortably as possible in a set of bean bags until I am ready to get back up in my wheelchair and head to the machine.)

For pinning, I haven't really found many adaptations or workarounds; I just take my time and use little helpers to isolate the pin points and push through heavier fabrics or numerous layers. Good question! Thank you for showing an interest!

It's always interesting to find out different ways of doing things - whether by choice or not. I love the idea of rigging the pedal to be used by forehead, that sounds like a great option.

I have fibromyalgia and Ehlers danlos syndrome so I tire very easily, and at the moment have a very painful shoulder. My daughter tapes and cuts out any PDF patterns for me, and my mother-in-law often cuts out the fabric for me (she's round ours at least every other day anyway).

I also have ADHD and find following written instructions really hard. I read through patterns a few times and make my own notes, or highlight bits I think I'll miss when I'm sewing.

I have to limit my sewing to an hour at a time, or I pay for it with tiredness and extra pain later so I try to do all the prep work like reading the pattern, or marking darts etc when I'm sat on the sofa.

Sounds like you have a great support system to help you access your crafty time, and that you have found some good tips and tricks to make it easier for yourself! 

Oh! I forgot the simplest adaptation hack for pinning (which I actually use almost all the time) - a whole bunch of Dritz large curved safety pins. I can grip them quite easily and use the shape to keep good tension, bite, and leverage throught the fabric.