SEW 'N SHARE - National Sewing Month

1 THE ANTI-OUCH POUCHby Deon MaasThis underarmhanging pillow isintended to add alittle comfort topeople s lives dur-ing a stressful,painful time. Thepillow hangs fromthe shoulder, fittingsnugly under thearm to cushion the underarm andbreast area after breast surgery orduring radiation treatment. Its wedgeshape holds the arm slightly awayfrom the body when the person isstanding. The shoulder strap isadjustable. The fiberfill can be adjust-ed via an overlapped opening. Thedesign is meant to look like a tote bag,and may be used on the right or leftside of the : Directions are for 44" 45" widefabric. Seam allowances are 3 8". 15" of 44" 45" wide soft fabric,preferably cotton (18" for largerwoman) Two large handfuls of fiberfill 6" of hook-and-loop tape, such asVelcroCut Two 21 2" x 22" strips for straps One 121 2" x 44" section for pillow(for larger women, cut one 151 2" x44" section) Straps1.

2 Fold each strap in half lengthwise,right sides together, creating a foldat one Sew or serge both long sides of Turn straps right side out and Place the loop side of the hook-and-loop tape on one of the straps andthe hook side on the other strap,each 1 4" from the folded Stitch tape in place with either astraight or a zigzag stitch. If yourmachine skips stitches, try a Set straps On the pillow section, make a dou-ble-fold hem at each end by press-ing 11 2" of fabric to the wrong another 11 2" to the wrong side. 2. Stitch hem close to inside Place fabric right side up. Fold thehemmed ends inward, overlappinguntil each hemmed edge is approx-imately 2" from each folded Sew or serge each : Here comes the tricky part. You will now form the bottom edgeof the 'N SHAREPILLOW: 44" x 121 2"STRAP: 22" x 21 2"STRAP: 22" x 21 2"FOLDFOLD2"FOLDSTITCH2"5.

3 Working on the end that is shownon the left in the previous illustra-tion (the edge with the hemmedend sandwiched between the fab-ric), maneuver the seam so that thecorner forms a triangle, with theseam in the center. 6. Stitch approximately 11 4" from pointas shown. Make sure (by feel) thatyou do not catch the folded endthat is sandwiched between the lay-ers in this stitching. 7. Repeat for other corner of the sameend. 8. Turn pillow right side out, gentlypoking out all four the Straps1. Place one strap on top of each longedge of the pillow with the rawedges 1 8" from the top edge. Makesure one strap has the hook-and-loop tape facing up and the otherstrap has the tape facing Stitch each strap approximately 1 2"from the top edge, through all Flip straps forward and topstitchthem near the top edge of the PillowPlease stuff the pillow lightlyvia theoverlapped to the sewer: If you have usedpins during any part of the Sewing ,please check that all are removed!

4 Deon Maas is a high school art teacherand a member of the ASG Central IllinoisChapter. She welcomes any comments orsuggestions for refinement. Contact herat 2006 Deon Maas. These directions may becopied and distributed for non-profit use only. Note: If you plan to make the Anti-OuchPouch as a community service project for alocal hospital/breast care center, it s best toseek their approval before proceeding withthe explain the Anti-Ouch Pouch to its recipient, photocopy and sign this para-graph, then cut it out and paste it to a 3" x 5" index Anti-Ouch Pouch was designed by Deon Maas and is dedicatedto her mother, Doris Lock, who taught her to sew. Both women arebreast cancer survivors and members of the American Sewing soft pillow is designed to be worn snugly against the underarmarea to cushion the area after breast surgery.

5 The wedge shape gentlyholds the arm away from the body when the user is strapholds the pillow in place without having to use sore arm muscles to clutch it. The strap is adjustable and the fiberfill may be adjusted viathe overlapped pillow was made by:STITCHTOPSTITCH American Sewing Guild Notions Summer 2014having pain, I thought out the minimum steps needed to make my creation. By the time I was healedenough to sit at a Sewing machine, Ihad streamlined the steps. My new pillow instantly gave meback my normal life. By wearing itunder my arm, sometimes under myclothes, I was able to do all thosethings I had been longing to do: cook-ing, writing, and Sewing . I was aston-ished at how well the design workedand thought, I wonder what otherpeople s hanging mastectomy pillowdesigns look like.

6 When I searchedthe Internet and found no other pil-lows like mine, I was running the design past thelocal breast center representativesand my surgeon, I enlisted the aid ofmy local American Sewing Guildmembers to help me write the direc-tions and to test the design. The namecame from a fellow teacher, SarahBrahmstedt, who asked how my anti-ouchy pouchy was National CommunityService ProjectThe design was adopted as the ASGnational community service projectfor 2008. Thousands of the pillowswere sewn by volunteers that yearANTI-OUCH POUCH UPDATEby Deon MassIt has been nearly eight years since Iwas diagnosed with breast cancer andhad a mastectomy. The first twoweeks at home were routine, with meusing pain killers and laying still,cushioning my surgical area and armin fluffy pillows.

7 When I started feel-ing like I wanted do something suchas cook, write on the computer, orsew, I found I had mother had given me the mas-tectomy pillow she had been issuedafter her surgery, but I found it use-less. It was hard as a rock, havingbeen packed solidly with fiberfill. Ithurt and felt like a huge lump undermy arm. I got along better with a softpillow that my sister-in-law had fluffiness gently kept my sore armaway from my tender chest, but itwas painful when I had to clutch it tohold it in I was prone the first weeksafter surgery, I had a lot of time tothink. I had come from a farm familywhose attitude was, If we need it, wewill just make it! I was used to prob-lem-solving. As I lay there, I carefullythought out what I could make thatwould solve the problems that camewhen I tried to stand with an ordi-nary small pillow under my , I decided that I needed a pil-low that was triangular in shape, sothere was only a little padding in theunderarm area where lymph nodeshad just been removed, and a lot ofpadding at the elbow.

8 This shapewould hold my arm out at an angle,away from my body. Next, I thoughtof ways to keep the pillow in placeand finally settled on having shoulderstraps on the pillow. Lastly, it wasobvious that the pillow needed to befilled with just enough fiberfill to nes-tle my arm and body, but not so muchas to create a was eager to try the design thatwas in my head but since I was stilland continue to be donatedto mastectomy patientsnationwide. It brings tearsto my eyes each time I thinkof the tens of thousands ofwomen whose recoveryfrom breast cancer wasaided by my simple designand volunteer sewers dona-tion of time. When askedwhy I did not try to makemoney from my invention, Ihave two answers.

9 The firstreason is that I have no desireto profit from someone else spain. However, the biggest rea-son was, as my former princi-pal used to say, It is a Godthing. I had always felt thatthe hand of God was present when Imade the first Anti-Ouch Pouch(AOP), putting my problem-solvingskills together with my need. The sat-isfaction of having made the world abetter place is the only payment I llever the Basic InstructionsI have learned that the need for thesepillows has increased because of thenew types of imaging which are dis-covering breast cancer in women athigher rates. What follows are somesuggestions I have for sewers who aremaking Anti-Ouch Pouches for theirlocal mastectomy patients.

10 Thesehave come about because of questionsI ve gotten over the years. The basicinstructions for making the AOP canbe found at part of the AOPis designed the way it is for very spe-cific reasons, so be careful aboutchanging the design, as one mayinadvertently reduce its effectivenessor make it useless. For example, thehook-and-loop tape is 6" long, so thestraps can be adjusted for many sizes (continued on page 28) American Sewing Guild Notions Summer 2014instructions. The access flap will workif it ends up up or down, but Iprefer down for easier filling andeasier access for adjustment for withsloping shoulders may need to pinthe AOP in place at the shoulder.