In conjunction with my Quick Share post about RSI yesterday, I thought I would put up a tutorial on how to create your own wrist rest. You know, one of those thingys that you rest your arm/wrist on when you are using your mouse? I have no idea if wrist rest is the proper term, but that’s what I’ve got so… Yeah. Let’s begin! *warning* It’s a picture heavy post, but this is really easy to make and it doesn’t take that long. Promise! ^ u ^
Gather your materials:
~ A solid square/rectangular shape to use as the base. This can be made out of wood, plastic, polystyrene, anything you have on hand. I had a small wooden block 7cm long x 4cm wide x 3cm deep that I used
IMPORTANT EDIT ~ After using this for a while I realized the problem is not so much my wrist as the height of my chair! I made my chair higher and now my wrist rest is too high, : ( so I have turned it into a pincushion. You might want to make sure your chair is right before you start your project, and make your wrist rest much smaller ~ about 2cm or so. : )
~ Stuffing
~ Material to cover the block & stuffing
~ Thick cardboard
~ Felt
~ Glue Gun
~ Sewing Kit; needle, thread, scissors, ruler, material pencil/pen
~ Any decorations you want to add {sorry, this isn’t in the photo as I decided to add mine last minute!}
Step 1: Use your block to measure a square of material. Leave a good amount of excess so it can wrap around the block and the stuffing.
Step 2: Use the block to measure a piece of thick cardboard. This is going on the bottom later on, so cut it out and put it aside.
Step 3: Place stuffing in the middle of the material square with the block on top.
Step 4: Pin the edges of the material together and sew or glue according to your preference.
Step 5: On the end of the block fold the top of the material down, then fold over the left side and then the right so that it crosses over neatly and makes a point.
Step 6: Pin your material in place and sew or glue the loose fabric to the bottom of the block{sorry, I forgot to get a photo of this!}.
Step 7: Now we are going to use the cardboard and the felt to make a nice base for the wrist rest. Place your felt against the long side of the block and measure how high up you want it to sit. I decided on two centimetres for mine.
Step 8: Using the piece of cardboard you cut out earlier, mark around it leaving a gap the width that you measured in step 7. So I mark around my cardboard piece leaving 2cm on every side. Then cut out the felt.
Step 9: Now I decided to put scallops down the long edges of my felt to make it look pretty. I free cut mine, but if you want to measure them for neater results you can mark little dots 1cm apart ~ this is the width of your scallops. Make the marks 1cm in from the edge of the felt and that’s the depth.
Step 10: Cut out your scallops. I folded the felt in half to make the job quicker.
Step 11: Glue the cardboard onto the bottom of your wrist rest. It should cover all the material you stitched/glued down and not stick out past the edges of the wrist rest.
Step 12: Glue the wrist rest to the middle of your felt.
Step 13: Glue the long edges to the sides of your wrist rest.
Step 14: Fold the ends of the long sides over the short edge.
Step 15: Glue the folds down so that it sits nice and flat.
Step 16: Glue on any extra decorations. I decided to go with these ribbon roses, one on each end. Now you’re all done!! Enjoy your pretty new wrist rest and save your aching muscles.
> w < ~ ♥
xox,
bonita
