Dress Conversion

I hadn't realized how much a wardrobe would change after having a baby until I had one myself. First off it was finding clothes that would fit my new body. But then it seemed that after my life had changed, so had my clothing preference. I looked at some of my clothes that I had pre-baby and thought, I'm supposed to wear that??

I did look into some nursing shirts, but so many of them are just SO ugly! They look matronly and simply, NOT CUTE! Dresses?! Who can wear those when nursing?? Wrap dresses might work, if you feel like undressing halfway while nursing your baby.

Recently a friend asked me to alter a dress that she'd bought from me while pregnant. It was this one:

She needed the bodice taken in and nursing access added, somehow. Since she is a smaller-framed girl, I had extra room in the bodice to work with. First I trimmed the top part of the bodice, leaving the straps connected. I re-stitched the bodice, making a new seam-line at the top and used the same gathers in the bust as before.

I serged the lower part so it wouldn't fray inside. This became the framework inside the bodice for the nursing panel. After I added snaps (this took about an hour because I didn't know how to use my snap pliers and I ruined lots of snaps on a scrap piece!), I realized that the center portion would droop if nothing was supporting it.

I needed to anchor it, but it still needed freedom when each side was released for nursing. A short piece of elastic gave the structure some support while still leaving room for ease.

I reconnected the new bodice, added the skirt and it was done!