Tuesday, January 11, 2011

No-sew Nursing Tops

I have been making these no-sew nursing shirts for myself since my first baby was born. 
I realized right away that nursing in public was sometimes a necessity, and pulling my shirt up not only showed way too much belly, but also made it obvious that I was nursing; two things a shy new mom didn't want. At the time I found lots of lovely nursing shirts and dresses online, but they were out of my budget. I started making these as a cheap alternative to the expensive ones I saw online, and after a while I found these to be so convenient and versatile that I wore them nearly everyday! I hope this idea helps you as well!

This is a really easy project and requires no sewing, so it is very fast! I often end up making one of these on my way out the door in the morning! 
*This post does contain (modest) pictures of the nursing shirt on, just so ya know.*

  1. Grab an old tank top out of your closet and put it on. 
  2. Take a pen and mark a dot at the top outside edge of each breast on your shirt. Then mark the bottom inside edge the same way. 
  3. Take the tank top off and cut from top dot to the bottom dot. -This does not have to be perfect, no one will ever see it, and the baby doesn't care. When you are done it should look like the picture below.
  4.  Put the shirt on (with a nursing bra underneath, not a tank top as seen in the pics.), and layer it with a shirt that has either a low cut neckline or buttons down the front. This also works great with low-cut and button down dresses!
  5. You are done! When you need to nurse/breastfeed just pull the top shirt to the side, and feed the baby through the "new" cut shirt. Your chest and stomach will stay well covered (Though you may still want to throw a blanket over your shoulder for a little bit of privacy.), and you can focus on your sweet little one without feeling like you just put on a show!
cut shirt
 
What it should look like finished (minus white tank underneath)

Layering example #1

Example #2

Example #3

Pull aside to nurse/breastfeed