Reversible Nursing Cover

A friend saw me using a nursing cover I'd made, and she asked me to make a nursing cover for her daughter.  She's done a lot of favors for us, so I was happy to make it for her.  I had her come over and choose the fabric she wanted from my stash and she chose this.  (Her daughter is having twins...a boy and a girl!) 

In case you haven't seen one of these before, they're great for modestly nursing in public.  Mom can peak through the top at baby, while the fabric is tucked in around baby.  I LOVE mine.  These make great shower gifts if you know the mom is planning on nursing.

To make one, you need about a yard of fabric, 12'' of boning (available at sewing stores), 2 D-rings, and all the typical sewing stuff.  If you want yours to be reversible, then you will want about a yard each of two different fabrics.

As I made it, I started out taking pictures for a tutorial...

...but then I made several mistakes and there are already a lot of tutorials out there for making these types of nursing covers.  Instead of a full tutorial, I'll just mention a few things that I've learned making two of these.

• First, I like mine bigger than most people make them.  I use the full 45'' width of fabric where several tutorials I saw just called for 36''x22.5'', so you could get 2 covers out of 1 yard of fabric.  I get 1 cover out of a little less than a yard of fabric.
• This one is reversible, so it's double layer.  The one I made for myself is single layer.  There are advantages and disadvanges to both.  It's cute and reversible this way...it's also heavier and baby could get hotter underneath it, so those are things to think about.
• Don't skimp on the straps.  I didn't make the straps well on my original one.  They are way to thin and weasle out of the D-rings.  The straps on this one is much better, so I thought I'd give some quick instructions on those

 Cut two strips of fabric.  The width is going to depend on the size of your D rings.  You want it the width of the flat part of the D ring, plus 1/2 inch for seam allowance.  To give the strap added stability, I added some "interfacing."  This is actually the guts of an old tie that took apart for another project.  I trimmed it to be wide enough to go inside the strap, but not be sewn into the side seams.  I sewed one line down the middle to hold it in place.  You could remove this stitching when you're finished, but I didn't bother.

Then layer your interfacing and two fabrics, so that the fabrics are wrong sides together.

Then stitch with a 1/4 inch seam allowance, without catching the interfacing.  Stitch along both sides

Trim extra seam allowance.

Turn right side out.  Iron flat and stitch again for decoration and to help it lay straight.

Fold under twice to attach D rings. 

Sew into the edges of your nursing cover. and it should look like this.

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