Nursing Cover

Take a simple square piece of fabric.

Add another smaller square of that fabric lined with white cotton for a pocket.

Add a triangle of terry cloth into one inner corner.

Add a strip of plastic inside the top hem for peeking.

Add straps with D-rings.

Nursing cover done!

Week 29: Maternity Tankini (& some sewing tips)

There it is, my first homemade swimsuit. Or a maternity tankini, to be exact.



I love how it turned out, and believe me, it was much easier than one would think. And when I knew I would have a summer pregnancy and started looking around for maternity swimsuits, I could only find really ugly or really expensive ones. And since the price for this pretty spandex fabric was 5 bucks for the meter... there was no way I would pay 100 bucks for a pretty swimsuit I would only wear 3 months max. There is nothing to be afraid of when it comes to sewing a swimsuit, and you don't even have to buy a pattern to get this fabulous look. Since it was the first time for me to make a swimsuit, I didn't think to take pictures of the whole process, so I can't offer you a step-by-step tutorial, but I'll share some stuff I learned along the way:

Cutting/Pattern:
- I used the pants of a regular swimsuit as a pattern for the new one and I used a regular stretchy tank top that still fit me at 28 weeks for the top (I only had bikinis - so no actual old swimsuit to use as a pattern for the maternity one) To make the top maternity and actually fit around the belly, I simply added a tad bit extra to the width and about 10 cm/4 inches extra length to the bottom of the front piece (see pictures below) I also made the straps wider because I like it better.
-I needed only half a meter of 120cm wide fabric for this swimsuit, but you may need more.I am pretty small as you can see.

longer front piece and straps

back piece, normal length

Sewing - set up:
-before actually sewing my swimsuit I cut a small pair of swim pants for my 2 year old daughter to do a little test sewing to get the feel for spandex fabric. I tried different stitches (straight, narrow zigzag) to find the best settings for my sewing machine. I used the narrow zigzag stitch with relative short stitches (2 or 2,5 I don't remember) and a 75 ball needle. I also used the build in walking foot on my Pfaff, but this is not a requirement. You can totally do it without a walking foot. The test sewing was a good thing to do because it really gave me the feel for the fabric and I learned that pinning is a good thing to do because two layers of spandex are pretty slick. If you don't have a two year old who could use a pair of swim pants, you can just use a scrap and sew a few lines with different stitches to see which will work best.

Sewing -:
-sew front and back piece of the pants together, hem all edges. You can add lining to the pants if you want to but I didn't it is just fine.
-for the top, I first sewed the straps to the front piece
-next I hemmed the bottom of the back and front piece as well as the neckline including the straps. You could do this later also.
-then I sewed a basting stitch (straight stitch, length 6) from below the bust to the bottom hem on both sides of the front piece in order to gather up the extra length around the belly area.
-next I pinned the front piece right sides together with the back piece - first pinning the upper bust area straight in place as well as the bottom hems. Than I evenly spread the gathers around the belly area and pinned them in place and sewed everything together. After everything was sewn in place I removed the basting stitches (be careful with a seam ripper on spandex) I just pulled it out by hand.
-if you want a basic halter neck  top you are done now, if you want actual straps put on the top and get somebody to pin the straps in place on the back piece. Than sew in place. I intended to have regular straps, but than I liked the halter neck version, so I ended up leaving the straps attached only to the front piece.

-if you like to create a ruffled bust piece (like I did) you'll need to cut an extra strip of fabric to make the cord and a rectangle about 3 x 10cm/1,5 x 4 inches. (You might need a longer rectangle if you have larger boobs and your bust piece is longer.) Fold your top to find the middle of your front piece and attach the rectangle to it with 3 straight lines - one in the middle that lines up with the center of the top and one on each long side, leave top and bottom of the rectangle open. You should have two small tunnels on the inside of your top. To create the cord just stretch a strip of spandex fabric until it rolls up. Insert the cord into the tunnels so both ends of the cord are coming out on the top (one end from each tunnel). As you can see below, I didn't sew all the way down on the middle seam, so the cord is hidden under the rectangle piece.  I added plastic beads to the ends of the cord and tied a knot just for a pretty detail. Now when you pull on both ends of the cord your bust piece should ruffle up, you can adjust this according to your liking. Pretty simple thing to do to create a cool detail on any swimsuit.

the tunnel with cord

Oh, one more thing. I didn't iron at all in this project, since spandex can only be ironed on very low temperature it didn't really have a visible effect. I just pinned a lot more than usual to keep things in place while sewing hems and stuff.

Overall feeling: I loved sewing with spandex fabric, even though it seemed tricky at first. It doesn't fray, so you could easily leave raw edges if you like that (I might actually do that with a second pair of pants for this swimsuit). And it is forgiving and lovely stretchy. And just so much cheaper than buying swimsuits. Now off to spend the summer at the beach!

Week 27 & 28: Tiered Skirt and Simple Maternity Top

Technically I am now 29 weeks, but heck, I've been sewing a lot clothes lately (mainly because I owned hardly anything that fit me anymore...) But between sewing, wearing and washing not much photographing took place. So here two late projects... the tiered skirt in a lovely coral colored lightweight super soft fabric that is a dream to wear in the summer but not so much a dream to sew with. It's woven pretty loosely and frays like hell... if you need to use a seam ripper you might as well just cut of the seam incl. fabric with scissors. Anyways I like the skirt!

For the top I harvested some fabric from leftover XL T-shirts. I used a top that fit me for orientation but made the front piece about 10cm/4 inches longer than the back so I could ruffle it a bit for a better fit around the belly. It has still room to grow which I will need...

Week 23 - Leggings?

or maybe pajama pants? Not sure yet. As for now these are my "hang out at home in the hot weather pants"... No pattern used, just some other leggings for orientation. By mistake the back was too low, but it turned out perfect for maternity, since I added the extra wide waistband the front fits nice around the belly without bulk on the back. A perfect fit cutting mistake.

They reach just over the knee.

happy turquoise and white... makes me want to go on a sailing trip.

with little ruffles...

and the bump of 23 weeks, well almost 24.

Week 21 - Linen Skirt

Today just two shots of my latest addition to the maternity wardrobe - a simple linen skirt. I used an old skirt that I loved and that almost still fit as a pattern and added an inch or two for ease. Instead of a button or zipper I added a typical maternity stretch waistband.



The fabric for the skirt is Robert Kaufman Essex Linen (a 55% Linen, 45% Cotton blend) in colors Aqua & Linen. It was really easy to sew. After the first wash it had a really nice texture to it and I loved how it looked like - no ironing necessary. I was just not so smart to fold it up and put it on top of my dresser to wait for it's turn in picture taking... sorry for that crappy fold in the middle of the skirt.

As for the waistband - I am not sure what it is, I told the lady I wanted fabric that is used for maternity waistbands and she answered back in Hebrew 'ah, spandex' and showed it to me. It has a cotton feel to it though so i think it's a cotton knit with a higher amount of elastane added. Sometimes fabric shopping here is quite adventurous since I have yet to find a dictionary that lists all fabric names, usually it sounds somewhat familiar to English or German terms, but sometimes it's not used in the same way - similar to the different use of "Muslin" in UK/USA.

Week 20 - The Elephan-Top

Here I am at 20 weeks. The bump is growing, the boy is starting to be more and more active. And the sewing fun has started... When I first saw that lovely elephant print on jersey I knew I had to buy it. I love everything about it: the combination of colors, the floral elements in the design and of course the beautiful elephants. I couldn't decide right away for what to use it, I wanted to wear it right now, but I didn't want to waste the beautiful print on a maternity shirt that I might only be able to wear for a short time. So one day I was looking for something in my shirt drawer and I found an old worn out beach jersey tunic, that I loved and I remembered wearing at the end of my first pregnancy when spring started and I had nothing else to wear after a winter pregnancy with only a couple of ultra-warm maternity sweaters. So that seemed like the perfect project for my lovely elephant knit!

The tunic is really a simple construction, perfect to show of a nice print and I love the bold solid strips. I added the faux layered look (the solid blue strip on the bust piece between the triangle...). The original tunic basically required you to wear a top underneath for modesty, but with the integrated layer that is now not necessary (yeah to one layer less to wear during a hot summer ahead!) and at the same time this converts the tunic to a nursing shirt!  Because the triangle is cut so deep the tunic enables easy access for nursing. The solid blue layer is a simple rectangle of fabric which is only attached to the sides of the tunic and the bottom middle - so it can be pulled aside easily for nursing.

I also added a pleat to the front  to create more space for the growing bump. I really love this tunic, it's so comfy to wear and looks nice, too. Actually I am looking for more nice jersey print to make one or two more... Any suggestions for a cute print?

Week 19 - Spring Ruffle Top

Here is my take on Rae's Spring Ruffle Top (without ruffles though...) I made it just before the winter came and wore it once... which is why I haven't shared it until now. After the wash it was shamefully burried in a drawer with nice warm sweaters. So now that spring is here and I am pregnant I thought it's time to share this top that's so perfect for maternity wear!


It is made out of an old vintage sheet (fancy fancy... I thought I do a test version first) but you know how these things are... it's not perfect but I love it, so I wear it. I love the green tone of the sheet and I have used some of it in different projects (here or here.)


And since we are talking about Rae's spring top, there is another spring top sewalong going on right now! Check it out!

Boy, oh Boy!

We are expecting a boy! I am currently 18 weeks pregnant, so that's almost halfway done, yeah! I was blessed to have no sickness at all this time, I only was really really tired, but after a few days of springy sunshine that's all over now! I am totally excited, because really, this is just two new sewing adventures ahead of me: Making some of my own maternity clothes and sewing for a boy! Since it's a summer pregnancy there are just tons of options for nice maternity tops, skirts, dresses etc... My brain is already going wild for a while now and I couldn't wait for the bump to finally appear, so I can start dressing him up! I've got a pile of most pretty fabrics on my sewing table and my sketch book is getting filled with random pattern drawings... I think of posting one maternity project a week from now on and I'll see how far I get. (I don't think I'll make new maternity clothes in week 39...) But if you're pregnant and like to sew or would like to make your own maternity clothes some day, check back often!