Supporting wrist brace

After having considerable trouble with my wrists - joint pain which flares up intermittently - I've settled upon the supremely comfortable braces made by 'Wristeasy'. Unfortunately, I lost the left one, and the company seems to have gone out of business! After seeing the DIY post by livejournal user HKCreations (and being in pain), I decided to make my own.

I made a template by cutting a slit in some non-stretchy scrap fabric for the thumb, pinning it around my hand (with the lacing at the side, rather than inside the wrist as the zip of the original is, although with an easier lacing and grommets that would be best) and then gradually shaping and enlarging the hole with curved nail scissors while adjusting the pins. There's a dart in the back, as shown by the triangle drawn on the fabric template. Once I had the whole thing right, I marked it with pen, trimmed it to size and copied it in the leather.

Lacking grommeting means, I decided to lace directly through the very soft, thin leather I happen to have available. For lacing, fake suede ribbon. Fortunately the splint (blue, pictured) from the Wristeasy is symmetrical, so I can switch it between the two braces until I can make one.

The top and bottom rims should reduce the stretch around the top of the hand, which is where the brace will wear most quickly.

After sewing the dart with strong twine, I used the small leatherworking tool shown (a mallet drove it through three layers of the thin leather easily) cutting small slots. It's not actually sharp, so you could probably use a small screwdriver.

I threaded the suede as I went to avoid loosing alignment, with copper foil crimped around the end as a needle. The cord lacing up the side is ridiculously long, so you can loosen the stitches without re-threading. The loose cord is tucked into the top.

I was going to sew a pouch to hold the splint, but the brace is tight enough not to need it yet.

Roundup:
Appearance: pretty pleased with it, for a first try - functional rather than decorative. For a later version, I'd use darker, thicker, more durable leather with the opportunity for tooling and dying, but this is a nice start and very practical.

Comfort: very comfortable, with the right amount of stretch, just what my wrist needs.

Ease of use: a pain in the arse! As the lacing has so much friction, it doesn't come undone easily - both a curse and a blessing. Each stitch has to be loosened by hand. I may replace the suede with smooth cord.

Hopefully this'll be interesting to someone, and I'm really looking forward to making other versions in future. I believe that the splint could be replicated with steam-formed wood. Functional bracers, what endless possibilities!