Fleece, sewing needle, scissors, and a hammer

Makes a cover for Emma's knee braces so that she can wear them more often than just during actual therapy time!

Emma's braces are worn right now only when she's at PT or we're working on standing with her at the house.  This is my attempt at a solution to make it so that the braces can be worn under a little less than immediate direct supervision.  This brace cover is almost finished... (back)

It has a drawstring at the top and laces up.  These are the back of the brace.  The top portion of the brace goes around the back of the thigh and the bottom part around the calf.  The cover laces up the back of her leg.

 

This is a view of the front, there's thick Velcro across the front of the braces, and the front of the cover is just roses and pretty girly patterns :)

 

Brianna wanted in on the pictures too :)   Here Emma is leaning up against the couch wearing her knee braces (and ankle braces).  She's doing so good it almost looks like she could just walk away!

This shows one of the dangers of her wearing the braces without someone literally holding her... this hinge has a sharp point at the front of the hinge on both sides (4 total).  The hinge itself is dangerous for little fingers.

This is Emma wearing it from the back.  The bottom of the brace cover isn't hemmed yet so I just tucked it up inside itself... looks kinda weird in this photo.

But when Emma bends her knees... such as in a kneeling position, this is another danger of the braces.  The plastic pieces touch in the back.  This is bad for two reasons.  1- fingers might get pinched.  2- it sometimes pinches the back of her knee.

Here she's kneeling with the brace  cover on, and the fabric keeps the plastic from hitting itself... protects the fingers, protects the inside of the back of her knee!

So... the fleece is the fabric, I sewed pieces here and there, hems, a pocket for the drawstring, that kind of thing... but the hammer is for the 'holes'.  You cut a small slit in the fabric, feed the other side of this 'ring' through, then hammer it using a special tool which splits the other side open and grabs the fabric. 

It took probably 2 hours for me to make the one cover, and now that I have a pattern it won't take me as long for the next one... but I have to at least find the time to start it!!

We hope this will give Emma the ability to wear her braces much more often and thus to practice her skills more- especially standing and learning to put one foot in front of the other!