This is a project I’ve been needing to make for the longest time! I’m sure more of you can sympathize with that kind of situation. I could just as easily have purchased a wrist rest for myself, but I just kept telling myself I’d have time to make one. It took a while, but I finally did 😀

I wracked my brain trying to think of a character I could do that would mimic the shape of a long wrist rest, and nothing seemed to feel natural to me. That was when I realized that I don’t have quite enough stuff that shows off that I’m a seamstress! So I thought a wrist rest shaped like a zipper might take care of that handily. Mine is filled with tiny micro pellets, which seem similar to poly pellets but they’re much smaller and are made of Styrofoam instead of plastic. The outside is made from fleece which is slightly stretchy so when you rest your wrists on it, it has that nice squishy feeling that a woven fabric can’t really match.

Difficulty:

The appliqué is likely the hardest part of this project, but otherwise it’s quite simple.
Makes one 17” x 4” wrist rest.

Materials & Tools:
• 2/3 yd. or 13” x 22” scrap of fleece (1/4 yd. if you don’t really care about grain lines)
• Micro pellets
Appliqué Supplies:
• 9” x 9” scrap of gray appliqué fabric
• 2” x 3” scrap of black appliqué fabric
• 10” x 10” scrap of light or heavyweight fusible web

Before you begin:
1. Print out the project pattern here
2. Assemble the pattern pieces, see the page here for more help
3. Lay out the pattern pieces on your fabric and interfacing and cut them out.
4. Mark the fabric pieces with the markings from the pattern.

1. Up first is all the appliqué. Trace the appliqué shapes to your fusible web, then iron the fusible web to the corresponding appliqué fabrics. Cut out the shapes, then fuse the appliqué fabrics to the right side of one of your zipper pieces, following the pattern guidelines. Assemble the zipper teeth as shown, and don’t forget to add the zipper tab hole with the bit of black appliqué fabric. Don’t fuse the zipper slider loop just yet, set that aside for now. If you used heavy duty fusible web you can leave it as is, but if you used lightweight fusible web you’ll want to sew around the edges of all the appliqué shapes. I personally used a zigzag stitch.

2. Create the zipper tab by aligning the two pieces together with right sides facing. Sew around the perimeter, leaving a pretty small opening for turning (about 1/2”) along the top edge as the pattern guidelines indicate. Clip the corner seam allowances and turn the tab right side out.

3. Use the zipper slider loop to attach tab to the slider. Center the slider over the tab, covering halfway, and align the other half over the slider. Iron the appliqué piece in place. You’ll want to sew around the edge of this shape to anchor down the tab and permanently attach it to your wrist rest. I used a zigzag stitch but a straight stitch would work as well.

4. There! The hard part is all over. All that’s left is to sew the actual body of the wrist rest. Layer your wrist rest pieces together with right sides facing each other. Sew around the perimeter of the shape, leaving an opening at one side (as the pattern indicates) for turning right side out.

5. Clip the excess seam allowance in the inner and outer corners and turn the wrist rest right side out. Poke out the corners with a chopstick or similar blunt tool, then fill the wrist rest. If you’re using micro pellets, do this in an area that’s easy to vacuum, because they make a huge mess. Fill the wrist rest a cupful at a time until it feels about 2/3 full. This will give the wrist rest room to squish when you have your wrists on it.

6. To finish up the wrist rest, bring together the seam allowances from the opening for turning and fold them inward. Sew the whole thing up with a ladder stitch and you’re done!

And that’s it! It’s pretty easy really. I imagine if you just made this a plain tube without appliqué you could whip out several of these in an hour.
If you do try making the project, I’d love to see it! Send me a photo and I’ll send you exclusive free patterns as a reward!

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