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Today is a very exciting day for me!
I am today’s guest at luvinthemommyhood’s Babyhood Bonanza!
It’s the last week of a party that’s all about babies and new moms. If you haven’t gone over for a visit you must go check out all of the great tutorials. You may not be expecting a baby yourself, but I bet you know someone who is!
You might as well know that this is my first time guest posting and my first honest-to-goodness tutorial. Many thanks to Shannon for including me and for the lovely introduction. And many thanks to you for coming by the Southern Institute for Domestic Arts and Crafts! If you are new to my little corner of the blogging world then I welcome you. The Southern Institute is always accepting new “students”, so feel free to have a look around follow along if you’d like! There are great posts coming your way!
Now on to the task at hand!
As a mother of three there are a few baby items that I have found to be necessities. Tiny cloth bibs (for catching the spit up that was forever spewing from my children’s mouths), shoes that can’t be pulled off by tiny hands (Robeez were my faves until I learned how to make them myself!), and the all-important NURSING COVER! If you are a mom who is breast feeding or who plans to breast feed then you will find one of these to be a lifesaver… if you ever want to be away from home for more than 2 hours at a time, that is. This cover has boning along the top to allow you eye contact as your baby nurses… bonding is a powerful thing! Let’s get sewing!
(Go to the end of this post to find out how you can win this nursing cover!)
To make your nursing cover, you’ll need:
3/4 of a yard of heavier weight or home decor weight cotton material
Two 1″ D-rings
15″ of boning (I get mine at Joann Fabrics)
coordinating thread
1/4 yd. terry cloth material (if you have a scrap of terry, you’re in luck… if not, you’ll have quite a bit left over)
From your material you will cut:
-one rectangle that is 28″ x 38″ (the body of the cover)
-one rectangle that is 4 1/2″ x 27″ (the strap)
-one small rectangle that is 6″ x 5″ (this piece holds the d-rings in place).
From your terry cloth you will cut:
-one 7″x7″ square.
All seam allowances are 1/4″, unless otherwise noted.
To make the strap:
With right sides together, fold the 4 1/2″ x 27″ rectangle lengthwise.
Beginning at a short end, sew down that short side, pivot at the corner, and sew along the long end of the strap.
Leave the second short end open. Trim the corners.
Turn the strap right side out and press. Set to the side…we’ll come back to this in a little bit.
To make the D-ring attachment:
Right sides together, fold so that the long (6″) ends meet and sew.
No need to sew the two ends… they will remain open.
Turn right side out and press. Set to the side… we’ll come back to this later as well.
To make the body of the nursing cover:
Fold one of the long ends of the body of the nursing cover over 1/4″ and press. This is the bottom of the cover.
Repeat with the two short sides of the cover, folding each side over 1/4″ and pressing.
Now take your piece of terry cloth and fold it diagonally to make a triangle.
Lay the triangle (folded side away from the edges of the cover) on top of one of the bottom corners of the cover.
Fold the bottom of the cover again 1/4″, covering the edge of the terry cloth.
Press and pin in place and sew along the bottom edge of the cover, about 3/8″ in.
Now fold the side of the cover over again 1/4″, covering the side edge of the terry cloth. Pin in place.
This is what it should look like at this point…
Sew the side of the cover, starting from the top of the side and working down to the corner.
Backstitch at the corner.
And here’s your finished corner!
Repeat Steps 5 and 6 on the other side to create the other corner, this time without the terry cloth.
(If you’d like to make this a bit easier you can leave out the terry cloth altogether. I like to have it there to wipe up a milky little mouth. It also makes a nice little pocket for nursing pads.)
Now to construct the top of the nursing cover:
Fold the top raw edge of the cover over 3/4″ and press. Fold over again 1″ and press.
Take your piece of boning so that it curves upward, like this…
Lay it inside the fold, right in the middle of the cover, like this…
… and pin the fabric down over the boning.
Take your d-ring attachment and slide both D-rings on. Fold it in half.
Tuck the raw ends of the fabric under the folded fabric, just to the left of the boning, and pin into place.
Take your strap and do the same thing, tucking the raw ends under the folded fabric,
but just to the right of the boning. Pin into place.
Sew along the top of the cover, about 1/4″ from the inside fold, backstitching at both ends.
Now fold the D-ring attachment up so that the D-rings are above the top edge of the cover.
Beginning at the top outside edge, stitch across the top, pivot and stitch down the side, then pivot again and stitch across the bottom, stay stitching at beginning and end.
This will secure the strap and the D-rings.
Repeat with the strap.
Ta Da!
Or should I say…
Ta Ta!
You’ve got yourself a nursing cover, hooter hider, or whatever you want to call it.
I couldn’t resist.
Are you pregnant or know someone who is?
Would you like to win the nursing cover that I made for this tutorial?
Jenny Yarbrough
Administrator
Jenny is a wife and mother first and foremost. You can find her here at The Southern Institute, as the founder and owner of the blog, as well as at unboundbirth.com. She enjoys blogging and sewing, cooking for her three picky eaters, and playing tennis with her husband, Tom.
Latest posts by Jenny Yarbrough (see all)
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Welcome to The Southern Institute, an inspiring, creative community. My wish for your visits here is that you leave feeling inspired and encouraged to be your most creative self. I hope you find something here that lifts your spirits! Make sure you follow along in a reader or by RSS and join our community by signing up for The Southern Institute newsletter. Thanks so much for visiting!
Wow, Jenny I am truly impressed! What a magnificent tutorial. It leaves nothing to the imagination just as it should be. Putting these tutorials together must be a lot of hard work but you are really good at it and you should let us have even more!
Mind you, I don’t think it’s a good idea to breast feed your dog!
Cheers!
I just discovered your blog from luvingthemommyhood. Thanks for the tutorial! I loved your idea for a terry cloth corner, GENIUS!
BEAUTIFUL tutorial, jenny! so well done!!! great pictures, and detailed steps. perfect
Why do you do this to my dog? I can’t even leave the house anymore…
Thank you SO much for posting this…I REALLY need one of these to use at Relevant!!!
oh Jenny, you did such a great job! Well done! I never would have known it was your first tutorial
. You’re a pro already. WAY better than my first 
Cute!
Aaaaaah! The terry cloth! You are brilliant!! I’m going to trynit, but I all honesty im a little nervous. I’ll keep you
posted.
Thank you! This is a great one!!
Thanks =)
Thank you so much! I made this cover easily, and I’m no seamstress!
@JenI’m so glad that it went well for you!
What is the width of the boning? I used 1/2″ width on mine, but it droops down, when worn. (It won’t stay up) What did I do wrong?? Pls help me.
Anonymous, I had some leftover in my sewing box, so I checked and it’s 1/2″. I wonder what type of fabric you used? Is it extremely heavy? It may just be that you need to tighten the neck strap a bit to keep it up a bit better. I hope it will work for you!
That was so easy and took no time at all! Thank you
Stephanie
Bonjour,
I just made this last night. It is the first sewing project I can remember making start to finish with no mistakes! That was super cool!!! Thank You for a wonderful tutorial !
Wonderful tutorial!! I love tutorials with lots of photos for times when I’m lazy to read the text =p
I used this tutorial today to make a Nursing Apron for my daughter. Great easy to follow instructions and it went well. Thank you x
@French Hen #3, @Neuyer, @Karen UK I’m so glad you all had success! I try my best to make the tutorials easy for any experience level so your comments make my day!
I have made 4 of these since visiting you site…These are great (and so inexpensive to make rather than buy). I use white baby facecloths for the corners, they are already the perfect size! Thanks for the tutorial!
Oh wow, Leah! Thanks so much for leaving this comment! I’m so happy that you like the tutorial and even happier to know that there are mommas out there who are nursing their babies! Have you visited my other blog, Unbound Birth? You may find something you like there too.
http://unboundbirth.com Have a great week!
Thank you! Your directions were so easy to follow. My first baby isn’t due until the end of Feb, but my hooters are ready to be hidden.
Hi Carrie! I’m so glad to hear that! Congratulations! Have you checked out my other website, http://unboundbirth.com? Pay it a visit…:)
I purchased my fabric at Joann’s. I am sitting here measureing and I have enough with the 1/4″ seam allowance to get the 38″ but I am short by 1 1/4″ the get the 28″. Has this happened to anyone else?? Should I have asked them how the material was rolled on the bolt??
Hi Jess, most fabric measures a minimum 44″ wide on the bolt, so you should have plenty of fabric for the width of your cover. I’m not sure what happened.