From foam & fabric towers to ....... knee pads!

The finished item (well, six pairs actually - not including the three prototypes made on the way to my final version).

Hayley and some of her classmates at the Australian Ballet School (ABS) needed to have knee pads that matched their uniform colour which is a purple (but with not too much red and not too much blue). It looks a lot pinker here than it actually is and the purple proved to be rather a difficult colour to find in a stretch fabric. Thankfully I finally found a very close colour match in Spotlight.... which came just in time as I had various dye colours in my hands thinking I was going to have to go down that route! 

Ideally I would have preferred to use a cotton lycra but ended up with a Polyester Brush Back Knit with 5% spandex which should be very soft, flexible and comfy.

Knee pad - inside 3mm EVA foam

Knee pad - outside 38mm HD foam

My aim was to improve on the bright red knee pads they were already using by giving them a bit more protection so an extra layer of 3mm EVA foam was added on the inside.
 

What the???

The profile view (below right) looks a bit 'bunchy' behind the knee but as I modelled these for the photo, I did a bit of a test 'kneel down on the floor' and couldn't feel the fabric bunching so it should be good. I can always cut a small hole behind the knee if needed.

(Note the black stockings ... which were essential as my winter legs are not always as smooth as they could be!!)