About Me

My photo
I’m a diy, penny pinchin’, first time home owner, wife to my amazing helper of a husband, one sweet little type 1 diabetic daughter and one smart creative little boy(or should I say young man!). There isn’t a thing I won’t buy if I think I can make it myself. So I hope you enjoy my attempt to save a little money and share my attempts to make our house a home.

Shop adore:made

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Making Diabetes Comfortable

We have our insulin pump start fast approaching and to prepare Ava we have been having her wear the pump around to get used to it. The only problem we have encountered is bed time. She has NO desire to wear it to bed and I don't blame it's a little bulky for a little one and she sleeps like a tornado always laying on her front back and sides the one night we tried it I went in after she fell asleep to find it on the floor. Now mind you it will be tethered to her which in my mind causes a bigger issue! Having to replace an infusion set when the darn thing gets thrown across the room ;) so I brain stormed some ideas with her a pocket in her jammies....NOPE, a stuffed animal....NOPE and pocket on her pillow....NOPE a comfy soft waist band to help reduce the bulk....MAYBE plus she can wear it under dress's and what not so really whats the loss?! Nothing! We will keep trying till it works for her but she is pretty pleased with her Yoga band pump holder :D It was super basic so I documented how I did it. Just in case anyone else out there needs one and has a talented friend or mommy to make it!

Yoga Band Pump Pouch Tutorial

Supplies: 16 inches of knit fabric
Velcro the softer the better some can be really stiff I happened to have some cheap quieter softer stuff

Sewing machine and what-nots - Insulin Pump or measurements will help too - if not Ava's is about 2x3 and about 1 inch wide (it's a junior size)

Cut fabric 16 inches by waist measurement plus 3 for Ava it was 16x23" (20+3)


1: Fold fabric in half so it's 8x waist and sew/serge long edge (my sewn edge was the 23 inch measurement)

2: Turn it right side out so now you have a long tube about 8x W (waist)

3: pres seam open or to one side if you serged it

4: fold with seam on the inside of the fold Serge or zig zag stitch the short edges shut - now it should measure about 4x W
Serged short edges

5: place pump in side long folded fabric and mark along the sides from top to bottom to create a pocket so the pump won't slide around the whole waist band
Pins mark where seam is going for pocket
Leave enough room on sides to accommodate pump width
6: Sew the top layers together minus the area you marked for the pump

7: sew from top to bottom where you marked for the pump pocket - mine isn't directly in the middle as I assume she will wear it to the side slightly but anything works it will end up being a tube really ;)

8: attach velcro to the back making sure soft faces in, scratchy out, I did an additional soft strip to make up for clothing and what not being on or off
9: sew velcro to pocket area to hold in pump leave room for tubing to stick out I did about 4 inches on a 6 inch gap.

DONE! Sorry if it 's hard to follow trying to zip through this to make it to the new story time hour :D Please email me if you have questions :D

7 comments:

  1. You are a doll! We actually bought out first band like this and I have the material to make one but... I don't really sew so your directions are priceless. thanks! By the way- this is my daughter's favorite style to wear.

    Great job thinking through the logistics of what she'll need. When my girl wears a dress, I've altered a few to have pockets to hold the pump and a buttonhole in the pocket large enough to thread her tubing through that way when (not if) it alarms in church, its easily accessible. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your great thanks with 2 daughters both on pumps it was getting expensive to buy pump bags all the time. I can make these for just a few dollars each. Thanks again from Australia.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you so much for this tutorial! My 12 yo son is wearing his new belt right now. He wanted snaps for the pocket, and that seems to work as well. He gets a rash from the belts provided by the pump company, so this is great!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you! I was hoping to find a pattern!....not having the pump up and running, I wasn't certain what it needed to be. Do you just have the tube out the top?

    ReplyDelete
  5. I’ve made 3 belts with your pattern I just love how easy the instructions are to follow. My daughter likes these homemade belts much more than her spibelt which is amazing cause I paid so much less on the fabric. Thank you so much for sharing this.

    ReplyDelete