Photo by Maira Kouvara

Nursing Clothes Pattern Retailers

Blessed Designs – click on “Nursing Patterns” in the sidebar and you can find patterns for nursing lingerie (nursing sleep bra, nightgown, camisole and tummy cover), a hoodie sweatshirt and jacket, and nursing shirts.

Elizabeth Lee Designs – offers an entire Nursing Classics line with several patterns for nursing tops, nightgowns, swimsuits and coverups, dresses, slips, and jumpers.

Sew Baby – offers a collection of nursing patterns including ones from Blessed Designs, Elizabeth Lee Designs, Kwik Sew, and SewFast Nursing Designs.

Jalie – highlights a few shirt patterns that function as discreet nursing tops.

Kwik Sew – features a pattern for a maternity nursing gown. I have linked directly to the pattern but if you are outside the United States, you might wish to visit the main page to select your country.

Baker Lane Dressmaking and Design — “Catherine’s Choice” is a particularly modest dress that serves as a maternity dress followed by a nursing dress.

Common Sense Patterns – offers another modest women’s shirtwaist nursing dress that includes an option for a shawl to use as an extra nursing cover. (Note that this company is currently up for sale so check availability).

For Help with Your Nursing Pattern Sewing Projects

There is a Nursing Mothers’ Sewing List for e-mail support. Its pattern sources page also lists out-of-print nursing patterns like Butterick #6553 and McCall’s #8254 which sometimes can be found on eBay and the like.

Your Projects

Do you have a nursing pattern you particularly like? Do you have any tips for sewing nursing clothing? Please leave a comment!

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

5 Alternatives to Regular Nursing Clothing

While it’s great if you can afford nursing clothing (see Where to Find Nursing Clothes) and can find styles that you like, there are other options.

1. Layer a button-down blouse over a tank top. When you lift up (or pull down) the tank top to nurse, the sides of the open blouse will offer coverage.

2. Layer a regular shirt over a loose-necked tank top. To nurse, lift the shirt up, pull the neck of the tank top down to expose the breast, and your belly will remain covered by the tank top. Or instead of pulling down the tank top, you could cut slits in the tank top to provide openings for nursing. These methods are especially helpful in cold weather!

3. Use a sling or nursing cover! I have free patterns for sewing a ring sling and “Hooter Hider” type nursing cover.

4. Repurpose a pregnancy belly band under your shirt to keep your belly covered, or buy a special nursing belly band. Here’s a great free video showing how to breastfeed in public with a pregnancy belly band!

5. Sew your own nursing clothing. If you are really handy, you can even knit your own nursing tank top!

Your Experience

Do you have something that helps you feel more comfortable nursing in public? Leave a comment!

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

It took some time, and much begging and learning and ironing, but with the help of family and friends we have sewn our first (of probably many) slings. We’re still debating on the length of tail we want as I’d like for my preschooler to be able to hold onto it on walks and when we’re out and about (it gives him a sense of freedom). Any suggestions on making it more hand friendly? We were just going to make the hem a bit thicker so it was more noticeable in his hand but I’m not sure how, if at all, it will affect getting the tail through the rings.

Over all it was a very easy project but as neither I nor my husband had ever used a sewing machine we had to recruit some help. With the remnants of fabric from the first one we both have intentions of practicing until the fabric is thoroughly worn out so we can make our own. Our intentions are to have a back up in the car, plus another one just to have. I might consider making one with a warmer fabric as we live in the prairies and winters here are quite unpleasant.

Thank you so much for sharing this with everyone, this is my first exposure to a ring sling and was the only affordable option at the time, I’m now enamored even more and plan on making some pretty ones for friends who are expecting.

I’ve included a picture of us using the sling on the first out-of-house excursion – a test walk through toys-r-us.

Thanks for writing Angel! The sling looks great and it’s so fun to see you wearing it with your adorable little girl.

That’s a great idea to have your son hold onto the tail so that he stays near you when you are out in public. To make it more hand-friendly, you could sew another sling ring to the end (of course, that means that you could not take the sling apart completely anymore because you couldn’t get that ring through the other rings, but I can’t think of a reason why that would be a problem). You could also sew the end of the tail fabric into a loop. Anyone else have ideas for Angel? Leave a comment!

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

Have you been inspired by any of the following do-it-yourself projects?

~ Nursing Cover
~ Knitted Nursing Tank Top
~ Pullover Crew Neck Baby Bib
~ Baby Bib with Neck Ties
~ Ring Sling
~ Nursing Necklace
~ Nursing Pads
~ Baby Booties
~ Cloth Diapers
~ Nursing Pillow, Nursing Shirt, Nursing Bra and Pumping Bra, Cloth Diapers, and More

Email me a picture and I will post it here sometime! Or write up your own post and send me the link! Or just leave a comment — I love hearing feedback on the projects.

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3

Supplies for one bib:
~ two 11×10 inch scraps of coordinating cotton print fabric (depending on the width of the fabric–generally 42, 54 or 72 inches–and the fabric print, you can get 12 or more bibs from one yard of each of the two fabrics)
~ one 13×12 inch piece of polyester quilt batting of desired thickness
~ 36-inch strip of solid fabric or wide (7/8 in.) single-fold bias tape for bib tie
~ thread
~ straight pins as desired to pin fabric in place for sewing
~ scissors or rotary cutting tool
~ cardboard or pattern paper

Difficulty level:
Easy for beginning sewers. I recommend that you read all the instructions through before choosing fabrics and again before starting to cut and sew.

Time needed, not including shopping and time to wash, dry and iron the fabric:
2 hours per bib, more or less depending on your sewing experience. (If you make several bibs all at once, it’s most efficient to cut all the fabric first, then quilt and sew each bib, then sew on all the ties.)

Bib care:
Machine wash warm, tumble dry low. These bibs are meant to be used and abused! If desired, choose a dark fabric with a busy print to help hide any stains.

Instructions:

Cut out a template from cardboard or pattern paper. Mine looks a bit rough and uneven after I used a rotary cutting tool to cut out about 70 pieces of fabric but you get the idea. The height is 11 inches, the width is 10 inches, the top sides are 2.5 inches each and the cut-out for the neck is two inches deep/in height. As I said, these measurements are easily adaptable to your own wishes.

Cut out the two coordinating prints with the template and cut the batting slightly larger than the fabric. Sew one of the pieces of fabric right-side up to the batting. You can quilt it however you’d like. In this case I took the easy way out and sewed down three of the straight lines on the print.

Lay the remaining piece of fabric right-side down on the other fabric and batting and sew the edges with a quarter-inch seam, remembering to sew the top edges but keep the neck cut-out open so you can flip the fabric right-side out again.

Trim the excess fabric and batting, leaving the quarter-inch seam around the edges.

Flip the fabric inside-out through the open neck hole. In this picture, I show how to use your index finger to push out the corners.

Here’s what the bib should look like at this stage (front and back).

Here’s another example of coordinating fabrics that would be nice for a girl’s bib.

This unisex bib illustrates an optional finished touch. You can iron the bib on low heat and then sew around the edge. I chose a scalloped edge for an interesting decorative detail.

For the 36-inch long ties (35 inches finished), either cut a strip of solid fabric (1.5 inches or more wide–the wider it is the easier it is to iron and sew) or buy wide (7/8 in.) single-fold bias tape. Bias tape is fabric cut on the bias, which means that the strip’s fibers are at a 45 degree angle to the length of the strip. That makes it easier to sew around the curve of the bib’s neck. If you use regular fabric, you can cut it on the bias (again, 45 degree angle) or not as you wish, and then fold it in on each edge and iron it to look like the bias tape.

Sew the neck of the bib closed as you sewed the other edges (but without any finished detail like the scalloped edge, because you will be sewing the bib tie over this portion anyway). Sew on the bib tie, finishing the ends by folding each end back half an inch and stitching along the length and width of the folded portion. I confess that sewing the ties is my least favorite step and I usually get my wonderful, more patient husband to complete it!

If you’re lucky, you get a finished product admired by a child like this! The trick is to use this two-sided bib to your advantage: the question is not, “Do you want to wear a bib?” but rather, “Which side do you want to wear, bunnies or stripes?” My child happily chose bunnies and there was no fight about her needing to wear a bib!

Note that fabrics are available with prints of children’s favorite television, movie and book characters. They’re a bit more expensive, but if Winnie the Pooh, Dora the Explorer or Raggedy Ann will get your child to wear a bib, they’re worth it!

If you sew a bib from this project, please consider sending me a photo of your finished project (preferably with the bib worn on your adorable child or grandchild) for publication on the blog!

For more fun and inexpensive projects, see:

How to Sew Your Own Baby Sling
How to Make Your Own Beaded Nursing Necklace

Credit: My husband’s aunt gave us bibs like these when my daughter was born. I liked them so much I figured out a way to reproduce them!

Post from: Breastfeeding 1-2-3