WHEELCHAIR CADDIES

A friend and I started a sewing ministry at our church about a year ago. We made up some walker caddies and took them to a few local nursing homes. While at one of the nursing homes, the Activities Director told us that what they needed even more was caddies for wheelchairs. She gave me an old, poorly made, ratty-looking one and I played around with that and made a pattern.

The original caddy had no lining and no interfacing so it developed holes easily and wore out very quickly. My version is lined and can use interfacing, but doesn't unless the fabric is really flimsy. (Since I buy plenty of remnants from JoAnn's, flimsy fabric happens!) This caddy is also designed to the specifications of this particular nursing home...different homes may want something different...and is also designed to tie on the back handles so the person pushing the chair can help put things in the bag. I'm working on a pattern to work with armrests on wheelchairs which will be more convenient for the person actually sitting in the chair. (My sewing group friend has a pattern which she wrote up, but I have lots of changes to make to hers...it will be coming in the next few weeks because my brain has gone into creative over-drive.)

Here are the bags I completed yesterday.

Burgundy Floral Wheelchair Caddy

Fish Wheelchair Caddy 

In the near future I will be posting the pattern/tutorial I wrote up for these and, if I can figure out how to do it, there will be a link for a pdf version. In the meantime, if your're interested, just leave a comment and I'll get in touch with you.

Do you have a nursing home near you that might need something like this?