Arm Splint Pattern - For Girls with Rett Syndrome This is a description of the pattern pieces (you can

make patterns from cardboar d or whatever) and instructions. The finished size is 11-1/2" x 9-1/2" (opened f lat). They fit my daughter at age 15 and she was fairly thin. Materials: Heavy Splint Material: 3/4 yard of 45" wide OR 1/2 yard of 54" wide OR remnants Cut 2 - Rectangles 11-1/4" (height) x 25" (width) Quilted or Soft Thick Lining Material: 1/4 yard of 36" wide or wider (actually, mattress pads or old blankets work fine) Cut 4 - Rectangles 8-1/2" (height) x 8" (width) Velcro: 1-1/2" wide - you need 18" of it Velcro: 3/4" wide - you need 16" of it Splint Sticks: (make/find 6): 1" x 8" (Make splint sticks by cutting Plexiglas s trips or use wooden sticks, cut rulers or strong paint sticks, metal, or whateve r is strong enough and works) Thread to match heavy fabric Instructions: 1. Have wrong side of heavy splint fabric piece facing up. Press under 3/4" on l ong upper edge of heavy splint fabric. Press under 1" on long lower edge of fabr ic. 2. Position 1 quilted fabric piece between creases on wrong side of heavy fabric , 2-3/4" in from right raw edge. (Have the piece positioned with the 8" side hor izontal and the 8-1/2" side vertical.) Position another quilted piece between cr eases on wrong side, 2-3/4" in from left raw edge. Pin quilted pieces in place. Baste around all edges of quilted fabric with long machine stitches. 3. Fold splint in half lengthwise, wrong sides together. Press. Mark center crea se with a pin. Open out flat. 4. Separate 3/4" wide velcro. Position one 8" piece of 3/4" wide velcro along up per folder edge, 1/8" from center marking and 1/8" from folded edge on wrong sid e. Stitch in place around all edges, so that you have 1 separated velcro strip e xtending from 1/8" in from center marking toward raw edge (it will not extend al l the way to the raw edge.) Position other (opposing) 8" velcro strip in the sam e way, starting at 1/8" from center marking and extending toward raw edge. Stitc h in place all around the edges of the velcro. 5. Fold piece in half lengthwise, with right sides together. Stitch along the (b ottom) 1" crease that you pressed under. Trim corner; turn and press. Edgestitch close to seamed lower edge. 6. Separate 1-1/2" wide velcro. Have folded edge on left and raw edge on right. Position one 9" separated velcro strip along folded edge from top to bottom. Sti tch in place around all edges of velcro. (Other opposing velcro strip will be us ed in the last step.) 7. Make vertical divisions for the splint sticks by stitching through the splint .; you can measure off the divisions and lay masking tape to stitch alongside. M ake the first line of stitching 1 from the edge, then 1 3/8 from that, then 1, the n 1/3/8, then 1, then 1 3/8, then 1, then 1 3/8, then finally 1 in from the other sid e. This will leave you with (3) 1 slots to insert the splint sticks. The 1" slots will be for the splint sticks; the 1-3/8" slots are for space betwe en the splint sticks. You might want to make the 1" divisions just a little wide r than 1" so the sticks will be easy to get in and out.

8. Turn splint over so vertical velcro strip is on the underside. Turn in and pr ess raw edge so that splint measures 11-1/2" in length. Turn in corners on raw e dges; pin and stitch. Press fold. Position 9" strip of velcro (opposing) along e dge, 1/8" in from folded edge, so that it covers turned in raw edges. Stitch vel cro in place around all edges. 9. Repeat steps 1-8 for second splint; however, when you reach step 6, have fold ed edge of splint on right and raw edge on left so that you will have a splint t hat wraps to the right and a splint that wraps to the left. (No biggie if you ge t this wrong but it looks better.) You can make several sets of splints in different colors or fabrics to match dif ferent types of outfits and use one set of splint sticks, since they are removab le. It's also good to remove them for washing in the washer as I've had sticks b reak in the washing machine. You could make the splints without the sticks being removable by just eliminatin g step 4 and stitching the top of the splint closed after inserting the splint s ticks.