Sewing necesities

Being exceptionally prone to clogged ducts and mastitis all constrictive garments are off limits. Even "nursing" bras, despite the lactation friendly design have caused plugged ducts and rounds of "boob flu," the feeling I experience when milk is backing up, makes me feel achy and tired. Pushing myself a little too hard, or wearing the wrong under garment can be all it takes to kick off an episode... or a stressful conversation...whatever...

But a gal still needs some undergarments, and so I've been working on the perfect solution for my body over the last several years. In the past I've made my nursing shirts more like tank tops, which was fine sometimes, but would stick out under certain tops. Since those first shirts are wearing out, I needed to make more, and began to tweak my original design.

Last week I made two light peach cami tops using some stretch lace and adjustable bra straps.

This week I figured out how to incorporate clips into the straps so I can cross the straps or even open the front entirely for nursing. While it's not necessary to unlatch the clip to nurse, my thought was that if there's any compression occurring from simply pulling the wrap bodice aside, then I could unclip the panel to eliminate any possible duct compression. This afternoon, while my big kids went to see the scary dinosaur movie with their father, and the youngest took naps, I completed two more nursing cami tops. These are made a light jersey knit soy rayon blend fabric I had stashed in my closet.  Wish I had more of this.