Flowers for Maisie

Last summer this time, everyone was telling me they hoped I got a girl, so I could have some fun dressing her up. I always protested (truthfully) that I love sewing for my boys, but I had to admit that a girl would present some great stashbusting opportunities.

Case in point, a gorgeous border print skirt that's been in my sewing pile waiting for a new life. It's been too big for me for years (hard to complain about that), but I never quite got around to downsizing it. A total remake, though, was too fun to resist!

My pattern inspiration was the Bow Dress from Pattern Magic, but I drafted my version to make it work for this upcyled project, and added lots of room to move for an almost-toddler. It was fun to work out the engineering for this project. The front and back are each cut all in one piece, with the front bodice twisting around itself to form the knot for the bow.

I kept the original skirt zipper, moving it to the center back. The back bodice is shaped with inverted pleats, which allowed me not to waste an inch of that pretty print!

The skirt lining became the bloomers, cut from a vintage (and by vintage, I mean my age) pattern. Even for babies, pattern sizing isn't what it used to be; this one said "newborn," but I can even get it on her over a cloth diaper! I liked the more shorts-like fit of this pattern in particular; with any luck, this outfit may still work as a top and shorts next summer.

I had just enough left over to top it off with a bow headband, and even found some ribbons in my box that matched the flowers in the print exactly.

Total cost for this project was zero! All I needed aside from the skirt was some leftover bias tape for the facings, and ribbon scraps for the headband rosettes.

For more sweet May Florals, check out the Project Run and Play link-up!

Stripes! Maternity/Nursing-friendly Dress

Simplicity 1880 (OOP)

View B

Top:size 4, skirt: size 12

Fabric: Jo-ann Azure Tide pool stripe knit

Anyone who's done the pregnancy size yo-yo a time or three knows how easy it is to end up with a bunch of clothes that you only want to wear for a few months at a time before they cease to be useful or flattering, but you hate to get rid of them because they'll probably be useful for a few more months somewhere down the line. (That goes double if you're nursing, which has its own set of clothes needs.) So, this time around, I've been trying to focus on clothes that I'll actually want to wear for more than one stage of this process. Enter this knit dress, which I hope will replace some well-loved dresses that I borrowed last time around.

Even though this fabric was rather hard-won (I was majorly overcharged—not the first time JoAnn has done this—and fixing it involved both the manager and I pulling out our calculators for about 15 minutes before she finally tricked the system into something close enough and we both decided it was time for a margarita), this fabric turned out to be awesome. If you've ever handled Land's End swimwear or some of their knit dresses, it's like that. Very substantial feel, great stretch (about 50% both directions) and recovery, and the edges don't curl or fray. I'm really tempted to go back for more for a blazer. One caveat: like a lot of polyesters, this fabric does seem to hang onto odors, so you might find yourself washing it more frequently than a natural fiber.

This pattern is written for woven fabrics, so to adapt it to a stretch knit, I skipped the zipper, and cut the pieces with zero or slight negative ease (I'd decrease the ease even further for a less-stable knit). I skipped the facings to eliminate bulk, and instead extended the bodice front edge to make a 2” turn-under. Eliminating the front edge seam should also make it stretchier and thus easier to pull that edge down for nursing. I cut a wide bias strip (not on the true bias; just parallel with the edge of one of the skirt pieces), and piped the edge of the front yoke and back neck, tacking the seam allowance down in a couple of spots. Since the fabric is so stable, I left the skirt unhemmed. I may revisit that after pregnancy, when I have some hope of marking an even hem, but I'll probably leave it unless the fabric shows some signs of ravelling.

For the maternity alterations, the bodice is about 4” shorter than the original pattern. I added a waistband to help transition between the sizes, and also to break up the print a tad. I lengthened the skirt by 1.5” to make up for the shorter bodice, and cut the side edges of each gore straight, instead of with waist shaping. To do this, I traced the top edge onto the fabric, slid the pattern piece straight down 1.5”, and then used a yardstick to trace a line from the top corner to the bottom on each side.

Puffed sleeves seemed like a poor choice in this fabric, but I wanted a nice style detail there, so I used this tutorial to make tulip sleeves.

I converted the gathers where the bodice attaches to front yoke into pleats, because this fabric was too thick to gather well. I think if I did it over, though, I’d just pin that fullness out of the pattern piece before cutting. It wasn't at all necessary in a knit.

I also played fast-and-loose with the grainlines on the layout, placing the front edge parallel to the stripes and cutting the skirt pieces on the crossgrain, since "Do you happen to have any clothes with horizontal stripes?" isn't exactly the question on the lips of pregnant women everywhere.

If you're looking for something similar, I'd try New Look 6069 (which seems to be available as a printable pattern only, but Simplicity's site has been a mess since they redesigned it, so it might be worth checking a store). It already has the high waist and waistband that I had to alter this pattern to get. The skirt would need quite a bit of fullness added for maternity, though. The Simplicity pattern is a four-gore half-circle skirt (or very close to it), and the New Look seems to be about half that. There are lots of circle skirt calculators online; just use the waist/length measurements from the pattern to create a new skirt pattern with the correct fullness. (Other similar patterns: B5030, Simplicity 6301 or 1801).

I'm already in love with this dress. As much as I can enjoy the creativity involved in putting together an outfit, it can get a little old when a piece that fit you last week won't zip the next, so I'm glad to be able to look put together with no thought involved! 

Butterick 5850 (with Nursing Mods!)

Perfect for chilling poolside.

The time has come to think about sundresses (Easter is my Memorial Day, as far as wearing white is concerned), but the parade of lovely frocks can just look depressing if they're impractical because you've got a little one who's nursing. With that in mind, I'm sharing some pattern modifications I came up with last summer to make Butterick 5850 nurseable (this method should work, mutatis mutandis, for most faux-wrap style dresses.) This tutorial is a combination of things I actually did, with a few things I wish I'd done. So you might notice it looks a little different from my pictures.

Butterick 5850 is pretty obviously emulating ModCloth's Awards Show Stunner Dress (it's also very similar to the lovely Front Perch Swing). The combination of retro style and an easy nursing conversion was too much to resist, so when Buttericks were on sale, I snagged it along with some linen my favorite shade of teal (I only see the orange colorway on their site right now, but they still had the teal in my store as of a couple weeks ago.) The bodice lining is just a muslin from the quilting section, though if lawn or all-cotton batiste were more readily available, that would be better.

The first thing to note about this conversion is that you'll probably have to keep the sash. The front corner of the overlap is just kind of there, and needs something to cover it up attractively. The sash also helps keep the front pieces nicely in place if one of the snaps should come undone. The other thing to note is that this conversion adds some bulk at the side seams, but I have some suggestions for dealing with that in the notes.

Here's Piece 1. To draft the underlay, you want to trace from the center front along the bottom edge, up the side seam, around the underarm, and along the shoulder, continuing straight along the shoulder line until you are even with or a little past the circle for your size. Then lay a ruler along the center front line and draw that line straight up until an inch or two below the fold line. Draw another straight line from that point to where you ended the shoulder line.

You can get creative with the underlay at this point, if you have specific ideas of how you want your openings
, but here's what I did: First of all, hold up the pattern piece and mark where you want the opening to sit. The bust apex is marked on the pattern piece by a circle with a cross through it, but your bustline may sit higher or lower. Draw a line horizontally across the pattern piece, through the point where you want the opening. Lay the center front on the fold of the fabric when cutting out this piece. For the top pieces, determine how much you want the top to overlap the bottom, and mark that line as the bottom of the piece. You will cut two of these pieces (one on each side), adding a seam allowance to the center front. Mark and sew the darts on these pieces, as needed, hem the top neckline edges (the line from shoulder to center front), and hem or otherwise finish the straight horizontal edges. Press those darts up, instead of down, to make the side seam less bulky.

When you assemble the lining, place the top underlay right sides together with each lining front, lining up the armholes, so that the shoulder seam is caught in between the lining pieces. When attaching the lining to the bodice (step 8), You will have the lining and the top underlay pieces right side together. Lay the fashion fabric with its right side against the wrong side of the underlay. Stitch the armholes.

The long seam along the front edge will not involve any of the underlay pieces, but you will need to modify it to turn your faux wrap into a real (partial) one. Sew the gathering stitches along the bottom edge in the fabric and lining separately. Gather each section until it is 2½" long. Stitch the lining and front together along the bottom edge, starting at the center front, to the front edge. Pivot, sew the front edge as shown in the pattern instructions, pivot again, and sew to the other center front.
(If you would like the front to open further, you may start closer to the side seam than the center front, but take it from me that if you go too far with this, your skirt front will start to sag.) Clip the seam allowances up to each edge of this seam before turning and continue as instructed.

When you stitch the side seams (step 21), you will be catching the edges of the underlay (top and bottom). Pin or baste the tops and bottom together at the side seams, overlapping the top over the bottom. The underlay will be between the two lining pieces as you stitch the side seams.

When you attach the skirt to the bodice, hold the bottom underlay as one along with the parts of the bottom front seam allowances that are still free (up to where you clipped). Sew to the skirt as directed.

To finish the underlay, sew the center front seam, joining the two top pieces. Pin the top pieces over the bottom with the proper overlap, and topstitch across the center of the bottom edge with a seam long enough to hold the pieces firmly together, without encroaching too much on the nursing opening. You may do the same at the sides, if you like. Overlap the front bodice pieces as they would be when wearing the dress, and mark the placement for a snap or other fastener at each corner to keep each piece in place. The left piece, which lies beneath, will fasten to the underlay, and the right piece will fasten to the left. and ... Ta-da! You're ready to go!

A couple of notes: With all these layers (and the JoAnn's linen being more medium- than light-weight), the dress can get rather heavy, with some bulky seams. One way to combat this is to make the sash an entirely separate piece, rather than sewing it into the side seams (gathered, no less!). This should make the zipper lie much more nicely, if nothing else. Sewing it into the side seams also restricts where you can put the bow; if you tie it off-center, as shown in the drawings, you end up with one tail quite a bit longer than the other. If you are sewing it in a medium-weight fabric, you might also consider cutting the skirt a bit narrower than called for. It's very full, and can get rather heavy. The pieces are just rectangles, so it's an easy modification. I also recommend adding in-seam pockets, because what mom couldn't use pockets?

Other than the sash, I really only have a couple of minor quibbles with the pattern. One is that the armholes are cut a bit low for a sleeveless dress, so I'll raise those and redraw the curve next time I make it. (And be sure to do the same to the underlay!) The other is that having the zipper closed at the top makes it a little difficult to get into the dress, and also has created a stress point that has already started to tear. I think when I repair it, I'll move the zipper to the top of the seam and add a hook and eye instead.

What We Wore Saturday: Handmakes and Bargains Edition

We went to Easter Vigil Mass this year, so no pics were taken the day of, since we weren't exactly running early, and didn't get home till 1:30 or so. But, DH is working late tonight, so it was a prime opportunity to pull out the tripod and torture the kids for a few.

Dress: Vogue 1302
Sweater: Ann Taylor
Shoes: Kate Spade (via eBay)

When this Vogue pattern came out, my very first thought was how it had great potential to be converted to a nursing dress (there was no way a non-nursable outfit would fly for a three-hours-at-bedtime Mass). There was a bit of origami involved in getting an opening in both the bodice and lining layers, but I think it was my most successful attempt at such a conversion yet. I had a couple of issues with other aspects of the construction, but the shrug mostly has those covered. The hat was one of three I made for Holly's wedding out of various Etsy components:

The shoes were a NIB eBay score from earlier in the week. Even at a huge discount from retail, they're close to the most expensive shoes in my closet. I'm trying to move towards buying fewer, high-quality pieces, though, and these will replace two or three pairs of shoes that I wasn't in love with, but couldn't get rid of because they were the only ones that matched a given outfit. So far, I'll say that they're way more comfortable than my usual Kohl's or Macy's heels, so I'm feeling good about shelling out.

"Don't mind me because I am totally NOT dragging my brother towards the wall by his jacket collar..."

Bean
Shirt: Gap
Shoes: Jumping Jacks
Jacket: Burda 9781 (OOP, replaced by this)
Tie: pattern here
Pants: Butterick 4002 (OOP)

Peanut (who seems to be doing his impression of "My Son John" here):
Shirt: Janie and Jack
Pants: mashups of various vintage patterns, but view C here is a similar idea

Jacket: OOP pattern (similar to the Eton jacket here)

If there's one sure way to get Bean dressed, it's to offer him something red to wear. With that in mind, I whipped together a pair of red pants, and a matching bowtie (out of real, mill-end bowtie fabric!) I convinced him that suspenders were the way to go, thus getting myself out of making belt loops. His jacket has been wearable for a record three holidays, though I did lengthen the sleeves a tad before Christmas.

Upstaged!

Peanut's overalls were inspired by the ones in this post, and were made out of an old pair of men's linen pants. I had to work around a few spots and stains, but my only investment was about $2 worth of buttons! The jacket was all leftovers from other projects, and the shirt was an after-Christmas clearance find.

Both boys made it through all three Triduum liturgies (plus Easter Vespers) like champs. Bean got to hold his own candle at the Vigil this year, which was a significant help to his attention span (he still asked to go out for a drink of water three or four times, though). Peanut somehow managed to gnaw grooves in the varnish of the pew in front of us, but even he was pretty engaged in what was going on ("Oooh! Whatdis?"). I think it really helped to go to a historical church with lots of lovely things to look at, rather than our usual suburban eighties parish.

Though there was plenty of the usual writhing around the pew, Bean was definitely more engaged in the goings-on this year. For some reason, the Good Friday intercessions really caught his attention. He stood up straight the whole time, hands folded, and followed the deacon's chanted instructions to stand and kneel. Maybe he just really likes Catholic calisthenics?

On Easter itself, we slept in (as much as the kids would allow), and put Basilica Mass on the TV while I whipped up a steak-and-eggs brunch. Then we spent the afternoon soaking up the good weather (since gone) with some friends, and finished off with Vespers at the Basilica (more candles!) where Bean, who usually doesn't do any of the responses, chanted along with the Lord's Prayer, the intercessions, and lots of Alleluias. Maybe we'll have to make the effort to find inspiring surroundings more often.

Find more WIWS posts at Fine Linen and Purple!

Hungry Caterpillar Lacing Toy

I always fall down on my resolution to hand make more of the boys' presents, so, even thought it meant pulling a couple late nights and being okay with some flaws, I was pretty pleased to be able to pull this project off for Peanut's birthday. (With apologies for the unintentional alliterations!)

It helped that the initial investment was super low (twelve pieces of 25-cent felt, a quarter-yard of cotton batting, plus odds and ends that I already owned). I find it a lot easier to get the planning phases of a project rolling if I've already got the materials in hand.

To make the pattern, I found the images from the book online, pulled them into Illustrator and created outlines of each. I made a mock-up of the pattern layout so I wouldn't get everything printed out only to find I'd scaled it too big for my sheets of felt, and then squeezed the pattern onto a few pages and printed.

The pieces are three layers quilted together; a layer of batting, (optional, but gives it a nicer feel in your hand) trimmed about ¼" smaller so the edges don't show and sandwiched between two of the felt pieces. I learned along the way that it's much better to cut the holes in all three pieces before assembly. They're a little less stable on the sewing machine, but it's almost impossible to get that hole cut nicely through all three layers otherwise.

Some of the pieces, like the caterpillar and the cherry pie, got details appliqued on before assembly, and some, like the watermelon and the lollipop, got details hand-embroidered in with embroidery floss. I did this after assembly because I had lots of road-trip time to work on it, but beforehand would probably make more sense.

The caterpillar has a piece of pipe cleaner (with the ends folded over so they won't poke through) to make him stiff enough to thread through the holes. A round shoelace connects him to his egg, which keeps the pieces from falling off the other end.

And here it is all together! One is still a little young to actually lace the pieces together, but he loves hearing the story while his brother and I send the caterpillar through the food with lots of giggle-inducing munching noises. As a bonus, the food pieces do double duty as kitchen toys!

Seven Quick "Something Other Than" Takes

In honor of being back at Jen's for the linkup, I thought I'd go with a theme for this post. See if you can guess it (it'll be tough!):

1) Something Other Than Baby Clothes

After finishing off wave #1 of baby presents (before wave #2 of babies starts showing up, even!), I needed to shift sewing gears a bit. The Bean loooves the space jammies his grandma gave him for Christmas, to the point of asking for them even when it is definitely not fleece whether. So, when I saw this fabric on the JoAnn clearance rack, I had to pounce. I wasn't sure if I was going to like the white topstitching or not, but it all came together to look very mid-century retro, I think. Space Kiddo to the rescue!

Okay, I don't even know where he got that pose on the right. The rest? That's more like it.

Something Other Than Summer

What I'm wishing for this week. I kid, but DH found a house centipede (a creature from the ninth circle of hell if ever there was one) in the house, and I found ants inside a sealed container of graham crackers, all in one week. So... I'm glad to live somewhere that I can count on there being a hard freeze eventually.

Something Other Than Beer

While it is summer, though, we like to have plenty of refreshing adult beverages on hand. This seems to be the summer of beer for us, as we've had more around than we ever have just for the two of us (four cases, at once!). I was ready to change it up, though, and we had lots of egg whites on hand after making pistachio gelato, so it was time to break out the gin fizzes. Makes me want to reread "Love in the Ruins".

Something Other Than Bulbs

The summer perennials are finally taking the place of the remains of the daffodils, with the campanula going gangbusters. Bean loves the flowers that look like bells, but these lilies are my favorite. They always remind me of holy card pictures of St. Joseph.

Something Other Than Radishes

We actually got some peas this year. Only a couple plants germinated, but they went nuts and we've gotten some good eating out of them (sauteed with asparagus and garnished with mint, for one). There are also some cherry tomatoes coming in. Unfortunately, I didn't decipher Bean's exclamations of "The tomatoes are planting!" quickly enough, and he got several off the plant and "planted" before I stopped him. Oh well, there'll be more, right?

This isn't what I wanted for you, little tomatoes!

Something Other Than Boxes

...for my books! The other night I went on a stress-fuelled whine/rant to my husband (which he kindly listened to), including certain state-of-the-house issues. A few minutes afterwards, he hands me his phone and asks, "Was this what you were looking for?" Ethan Allen, $100. The only thing I've ever found on Craigslist are people who thing rusty (but not actually antique) tricycles are worth $40. Twenty-four hours later, we were filling it with games and all the books that were boxed up or double-layered on the other shelves. I'm sending him to do all the Craigslist searches from now on. The shelves were just exactly enough space, too (or so I thought until I found one last set of books from Christmas still in the box. C'est la vie.)

Bean's books are now next to the TV. I took a picture because they will never look this good again.

and, oh yeah, "Something Other Than God"

I wasn't planning to read this, because, well, conversion stories are okay and all but I read Surprised by Truth in high school and figured I'd pretty much heard it all at that point. After Mom handed me her copy and said she hadn't be able to put it down, though, I finally decided to give it a go, and subsequently neglected all housework for the next 36 hours while I couldn't put it down. It reads like a novel, and the fast pace makes it a great beach (or wherever summer takes you) read. So, yeah, tolle et lege, y'all.

See the rest of the quick takes at Jen's!

Tiny clothes!

Since the last of these shipped out a couple of days ago, I thought I'd share what's been on my sewing machine and knitting needles for a while now:

Top to bottom: Burda 9505 (OOP), modified to be a onesie, with my take on the My Little Man Sweater Vest; McCall 4865 (sleeveless, with a 9"x45" rectangle for the skirt), with my version of Petit Artichaut; The same dress with a cropped version of Seamless Yoked Baby Sweater (with a little crochet trim on the cap sleeves); and a little raglan sweater I came up with myself.

Father's Day Gift Ideas

Over at the Church Ladies'.

What I Wore Sunday: Mother's Day

Since it's Mother's Day and allergies have left me kind of blah this week, I decided I needed a pick-me-up and wore something oh-so-pretty and springy and just crossed my fingers that Peanut wouldn't get hungry during Mass, since it's not super easy to nurse in this one (though technically possible).

Dress: Vogue 2960
Cardigan: Loft
Shoes: Macy's

My plan seems to have payed off, since he fell asleep before Mass and was okay when he woke up midway though. The tradeoff was that he decided to fill his diaper instead, so we ducked out the back way to avoid the post-Mass May Crowning crowd and changed him in the back of the car. Cause we're classy like that.

Bean was in a belligerent mood because I told him he couldn't wear his moon buggy shirt to church, which discussion ended with me literally sitting on him to get church clothes on. The ride to Mass was peppered with "We can not go to church?", and, when that wasn't panning out, "We can go to a different church?" But as usual, he was quiet enough in Mass, he just crawled all over everyone and everything. And stared longingly at the bag of Goldfish in the pew behind us.

A couple of sewing notes on the dress, while we're at it. The pattern is listed as "easy," but this is Vogue we're talking about, so that's only true if you consider welt buttonholes and a front placket "easy". The fabric is a bottomweight sateen from JoAnn, and it would be a dream to work with on a lot of projects, but the satin weave didn't play nice with all those little clipped corners, so I had to hand overcast over a couple of spots to cover frayed edges.

The back of this dress doesn't really work with a normal bra, so I added lingerie strap guards to the shoulders, which also helps keep the cap sleeves in place. The original pattern had a center back seam, but I had enough fabric to skip that, so I did. Other than that, I think the only thing to change if I made it again (and I very well might) would be to add pockets.

To see some other great Sunday outfits, check out the "What I wore Sunday" linkup at Fine Linen and Purple!

Five Favorites: Maternity Sewing Projects

Off-the-rack maternity clothing just does not work for me. Maybe it's because I'm firmly in the petite size range, but I'm always swimming in anything I try on. Aside from one pair of capris that I love to death, I've bought zero actual maternity clothes. I always go for the misses section and some combination of stretchy, flowy, long, high-waisted, and/or a size up (Juniors' dresses worn as tunics are also not a bad option). I've been going with a similar strategy in sewing patterns, especially after the one maternity pattern I tried (for jeans) ended up being almost a total bust. So here's the benefit of my maternity sewing experience thus far:

1) McCall's 6464 Kate Middleton Knock-off

Kate's dressmaker probably didn't forget to put in a hook-and-eye ...

I loved how this bespoke Emilia Wickstead dress looked like a high-waisted '60s style rather than a maternity look. I made lots of modifications to the bodice (honestly, the waistline is about the only thing I kept), but the only change necessary to make this a maternity style was to lay the two front skirt pieces out on the fabric with the seamlines matched just at the top corners. Then I swung out the bottom corners as wide as the fabric would allow. I added a seamline to the center front, and changed the grainline to run down the center of each piece, instead of along the center front of the dress. The back got a similar treatment.

I made this in blue linen from JoAnn, and it fit me through month 7 or 8. A fabric with a bit more give (stretch cotton, or a crepe as in the original dress), and this could get you through the whole pregnancy.

2) McCall's 6084 Cardigan

Not a maternity pattern per se, but after reading this article on dressing your maternity body type, I decided that a long cardigan was in order. I'd never sewn a cardigan before, but this really was a one-hour project start to finish, even including making modifications to the sleeve and shoulder line that were recommended on Pattern Review. In fairness, though, that's only because I skipped hemming of any sort.

The fukuro knit fabric was $15 on clearance at JoAnn, and has proved to be machine washable (which is key, since it's also a great cardigan for nursing!) despite the instructions on the bolt.

3) Rub-off Linen Capri Pants

After Burda 7165 turned out to be a total bust (the front pockets hit me right at the widest point, and, even after careful measurements, fixing the fit took me probably 8-10 try-ons, I decided to go another route and do a rub off of a pair I already liked. Much better, though there was enough difference in stretch between the two fabrics that these end up looking a tad pajama-ish by the end of the day. I might have to take them in a tad. Next time, I'll get a regular pants pattern and add the stretch panel, or maybe just modify a thrift store pair.

4) Simplicity 1612 Upcycled Lace Dress

With guest appearance by The Flash, but you get the idea.

Definitely the favorite. The only modification I made to this pattern was to actually cut it at the recommended size for my pre-pregnancy size, rather than eliminating the excess ease that sewing patterns always allow, even in patterns written for knits. Holly passed along a stretch lace dress that had always looked better on the hanger than on an actual person, and I knew right away that I wanted to pair the lace with an aqua colored underlayer.

I liked this dress so well that I wore it (belted) for Peanut's baptism. The great thing about this pattern is that it also works for nursing wear, but I'd recommend using something other than the 17% spandex swimwear fabric I used for the lining. You'd think the stretch would be a good thing, but it kept trying to snap back into place, and Peanut was not amused.

5) Other patterns I'm digging
I only have four finished objects that I'd really call favorites, but I've got my eye on some others for next time around:

McCall's 6557

I have a couple of store-bought dresses with a similar double-v-neck silhouette in jersey that are very flattering. The reviews say that this is a circle skirt, and the bias could work very well in a drapey fabric.

Simplicity 2774

I bought this pattern due to its resemblance to this beauty, but never found a fabric that particularly inspired me. I'm keeping my eyes open, though, and I'm hoping to have it for next time around.

Vogue 8489

I actually own both pattern and fabric for this one, but got a little too busy to sew it up. Since I was planning to make this one nursing-friendly anyway, it may still make an appearance the next time I feel like a project.