Fractured humerus - Clothing tutorial!

Please note: This post is out of character for this blog, however I thought it might help someone out there. Please excuse the awful diagrams/illustrations - like I said - it's not a usual blog post but rather a straight-forward step-by-step guide for possibly non-crafty people.

On Christmas Eve, my boyfriend slipped on an icy pavement and landed with his full weight on his left arm, snapping his humerus bone clean in two! *Shudder* Aside from all the other misery this is causing him, it is hard to find clothes that work with his current situation. He has to wear over-sized t-shirts that fit over the entire arm, leaving his broken arm under the t-shirt, in the sling, against his body.

Having the sling, hand and lower arm constantly against his body was beginning to rub him, so I put my thinking cap on and came up with a solution – a vest which could slide up under the arm/sling and be fastened on the shoulder - a bit like a baby grow.

So for anyone out there with a broken upper arm and a sore torso due to a rubbing sling or too much flesh-on-flesh contact, here is my step-by-step tutorial on how to make the vest:
Tutorial:  

Step One: Get a basic vest (I got a pack of two from Primark for £4.50) 

Step Two: For which ever arm is affected (in my boyfriend's case it is the left arm), cut through that shoulder hoop of the vest straight across - you are not removing any fabric, just cutting a line straigh across. Follow the shoulder seam and you can't go wrong.

Step Three: You chould now have separated the front section of the shoulder hoop from the back section across the top of the shoulder, along the seam. In the illustration I have moved the cut line forward slightly just to show the straight cut. 

Step Four: Blanket stitch along the cut edges on the front and back parts of the shoulder hoop. Find a blanket stich tutorial here - it's a very fast and easy stitch! Then, sew corresponding parts of popper closures (aka: snap fastenings / press studs) where the blue dots are.

Step Five: Snap the poppers shut and you vest is complete! 

Step Six: To wear, open the poppers to widen the top of the vest then step into the vest and pull it up over your body then feed it under the sling and up to the shoulder. Fasten the poppers and VOILA! (You could of course also put the vest over your head and pull it down past your sling then under and up to the shoulder if you prefer)

Step Seven: Enjoy the relief from rubbing (and please excuse my truly awful drawings of your troubles!)

I really hope that helps someone out there, please let me know if you have stumbled across this blog post and found it useful as it would make my day. 

Claire x