Keeping your hands to yourself is an age-old concept, one that parents tend to teach their bickering children.

Matt Mostad used the idea to create a travel accessory.

The self-employed Kenmore resident used his mother-in-law’s sewing machine to fashion a device that keeps people from rubbing elbows on planes, trains, and buses.

His product, called the Pocket Arm Rest, is available at Savvy Traveler in Edmonds and at ProTravelGear.com.

The item, which consists of elastic fabric sewn in the shape of an infinity symbol, works like a straight jacket, only it’s less restrictive when you want to take it off.

Users can wear the device to keep their hands close to the chest, on the lap, or in a reading position.

Mostad says the idea came to him while working as a software salesman, a job that required frequent travel.

“I did a lot of flying in the coach section,” he said. “I routinely noticed I was trying not to impact the person next to me.”

Mostad tried a number of designs before settling on a final model. One concept included a pair of mitts that would fasten together with velcro, but that concept proved too scratchy.

“It’s all part of the entrepreneurial prototyping process,” Mostad said.

Mostad first entered the business world when his fifth-grade class started a popcorn ball company and made him the president.

“I was a shy student, so it was a surprise,” he said. “I must have shown some entrepreneurial qualities early on.”

Mostad eventually went to Seattle University, where he met his wife, Mary Beth Anthony, in the early 1990s.

While still in college, the pair created an outdoor experiential learning center at Saint Edward State Park and founded a consulting company called Teams and Leaders, which used the facility for organizational training.

The couple sold Teams and Leaders in 1999.

Mostad later helped found Enthusiasm Technologies, which was working to develop an online events database.

The business eventually sold for $5 million.

Mostad’s latest endeavor is establishing a consulting business for start-up companies.

Anthony, meanwhile, is a massage therapist and yoga instructor.

She also does personal-development coaching. It’s a job that compliments her husband’s aspirations as an entrepreneur.

“I help people live the life of their dreams,” she said.

Anthony praises the benefits of Pocket Arm Rests.

“As a woman, you often sit against larger people,” she said. “They tend to take up the arm rests and move into my space.

“With the Pocket Arm Rest, I feel like I’m taking care of myself and giving other people a little more space.”

Mostad is working to get his product to the nation’s major airports. His goal is to have it sell side-by-side at the kiosks with neck pillows, perhaps as a package deal.