Free Pattern for a Nursing Cover

So... the other night I was randomly searching online. I say randomly b/c I don't recall what I was searching for or why, BUT I ended up finding something really awesome.

If you're a newish mommy you've probably seen the nursing covers that have a strap that goes around your neck and then boning that holds the fabric out slightly so that you can see you're baby. I've always thought these were a great idea, but frankly was not willing to shell out $40 plus bucks for one. Well, the other night I somehow stumbled upon a pattern to make one! I was so excited b/c I didn't know how to go about it myself.

Here's a picture of the finished product.

Needless to say I'll be working on this project whenever we have another baby. Let me know if you make this cover for yourself! I'd love to see pictures and hear how it went for you!

Here are the instructions from http://www.blisstree.com/:

Materials:

• 1 yard of fabric.

• D rings. They are the rings that you can adjust your strap with. They are in the shape of a D, hence the name, and come in silver or gold. I got the 1 1/4 inch size, but you could go a little bigger.

• Corset Boning. It comes in white or black and it comes in different strengths (or stiffness). I chose the stiffest one they had and bought 1/2 yard. It is ~1/4 inches wide.

• Of course you need thread. The whole project cost me $8.00 to make two, the fabric was on sale and I had the thread.

1. First, I cut the fabric 26×38 inches. The finished product is 24×36 inches (that is the size of the original Hooter Hiders) so cut it a bit bigger so you can sew the hem around. This size is perfect because the longer side wraps around your sides under your arms and covers anything that might be sticking out.

2. I cut the strips for the neck straps. The longer one I cut 31 inches long (this seems just a little long to me as I have a lot of excess when I make it the right length for breastfeeding) by ~3 inches wide. The shorter strip which will hold the D rings I cut 10 inches long by 3 inches wide. Here are pictures of the straps below:

Long strap

Short strap

3. To sew these, I just sewed down the middle turning the fabric under (you can see on the long strap my stitch down the middle). I sewed the long strap to a point by just folding the corners down and stitching over. I sewed the short strap the same way and just put the D rings on the end and sewed the fabric over. The raw ends of both straps will be sewn into the hem so you don’t have to worry about finishing them.

4. Now set the straps aside and sew a hem around 3 sides of the large piece of fabric (leaving the top, or one long side, unsewn). I just folded the edge under and sewed around, no pinning needed because I just held it as I went.

5. Next I sewed in about 10 inches on one side of the top where I will put the straps and boning. I then put one strap with the raw end folded under the hem and sewed over it.

6. Next you want to put your boning in between where your straps will be. All you need to do is place the boning under the hem and stitch the hem just like the other side. Make sure you put the boning in so the curve is going to face the right way (It will have a definite bend/curve to it). The distance between my straps is about 13-14 inches.

7. Next, sew your other strap on and then finish stitching until the end. I did make another stitch on my straps above the original stitch (see in picture of short strap above) to give is reinforcement.

View from back

View from front

Boning in neck

8. Now you can add a little pocket to the bottom corner on the backside. I didn’t do that yet on this one, but what works really well is to take a baby washcloth (I bought some on clearance) and sew it on three sides. That way, you could put breast pads in there and use it to wipe your little one’s mouth or your breasts if you need to.

The finished product

Nursing Necklace

Have you ever heard of nursing necklaces? I never had until recently when I stumbled across a blog post on it. A nursing necklace is basically a very sturdy, colorful necklace that you wear while nursing to distract your baby and give them something to play with if need be. Often they have a safety clasp that will come undone if your baby pulls particularly hard. They're usually rather chunky too. Some are designed more for kids and others are designed to be really fashionable for mommy.

I really wish that I had had one of these when Daniel was younger b/c he is the classic case of distraction while nursing. He took great delight in pinching me incessantly (often right on a very tender nerve), kicking, pulling and biting, hair grabbing, teeth and lip examinations, grabbing for my glasses etc.!!! If my next child is anything like Daniel I'm hopeful that a necklace like this would at least be slightly distracting to him or her!
So, here are the instructions for making the necklace should you decide to make one for yourself. There are some safety cautions to consider, mainly that the beads be safe for your baby to chew on because you know that will happen at some point!

Instructions taken from http://www.blogger.com/www.blisstree.com.
You’ll need the following supplies:
10 - 12mm barrel-shaped onyx beads
8 - 3mm sterling daisy spacer beads & 1 - 8mm sterling tube bea
1 - sterling southwestern style charm
36 inches of rat-tail
2 - 2×2mm crimp beads
flat-nosed pliers or crimping pliers
Scissors
12 inches of .014 beading wire

1) Secure a crimp bead to one end of the beading wire, and start to thread on beads and charm alternating stone beads with daisy spacers, and making sure to position the charm in the middle so there are 5 onyx beads on either side.

Note: Make sure the loop on the beading wire that goes back through the crimp bead is large enough so that you can thread the rat-tail through it later.

Another note: I usually use crimping pliers because I like the way that looks better. However, newbie jewelry makers may want to use flat-nosed pliers and just flatten the crimping bead down with these. It can take a good deal of practice to be able to use crimping pliers. For that reason, I flattened them in the piece pictured for this project.

 

2) Once you get all the beads in the right order on your beading wire, secure the other end of the wire with another crimp bead. Again, like I said in my previous note, feel free to use flat-nosed pliers to flatten them.

3) Now insert one end of the rat-tail through both loops of beading wire, and pull so that the rat-tail is doubled.




4) Holding both piece of tail together, tie an overhand knot, and push the knot so it’s up against the wire loops.

5) Thread on the sterling tube bead over both pieces of tail, push it down against the previous knot, and tie another overhand knot pushing it up against the tube bead.

6) Finish with one more overhand knot on the end of both tails, which will tie them together, and trim off excess tail. This is worn to go over your head.

The final length between the end knot and the next knot up against the tube bead is 24 inches. If you’d like this larger, just start with a longer piece of rat-tail. The length of the entire piece is about 30 inches long.