Finally some sewing

Well I have officially upgraded my birth experience from painful to traumatic: I spent most of last week back in hospital after suffering a post partum haemorrage due to some retained placenta. It was an extremely scary few days but it has all been resolved now without the need for a further operation (a D&C). On the bright side however, Anna and I got to stay in the airconditioned hospital during the hot weather Sydney has been having (I feel for you Vicki, Melbourne has been ever hotter) and whilst the hospital is pretty noisy what with those annoying buzzers going off every few seconds it had nothing on the noise my builders create around here so a few days bed rest in hospital wasn't a bad idea in the end.

But the enforced rest gave me some time to finish sewing a top I have been making for the last two weeks and just needed to do those pesky handsewing of hems that we all seem to put off. I've made this pattern a few times before and I can get it done in about 2 or 3 hours, but now with all the interruptions thanks to a certain little miss who has suddenly taken to exercising her vocal cords loudly and often it has taken me two weeks. But slow and steady gets you there in the end, just ignore the lack of hair brushing and make up in this photo!:

I really need some half decent breastfeeding clothes to wear out on the few occasions I do leave the construction zone that is my home, and while I did make a few dresses that are b/feeding friendly last year, I wanted to make some seperates that I could wear with pants and that would be ok for the rest of the year as well.

For Elizabethe who is having her own baby in 5 months and expressed interest in seeing how I would modify patterns for b/f clothes (there's a challenge if I ever I heard one!) or for anyone else who wants ready access to their breasts (the mind boggles but you never know.....) I based this top on an Elizabeth Lee design. This pattern company are one of the few that do specific nursing patterns, and whilst I think the patterns use really clever techniques to enable access for nursing, the actual styles themselves aren't really me, so I decided to modify some patterns I already had inspired by these designs.

Using Simplicity 4589, I modified it based on this technique:

source: Elizabeth Lee designs

I used a crisp cotton pale yellow with khaki green leaf print fabric that I've had in the stash for a few years, from Spotlight originally I think. I also changed the pattern by making the sleeves a little longer because cap sleeves aren't so flattering on my chicken wing arms, and I also lengthened it a litle, but added slits to the bottom of side seams for movement ease. The print fabric was a good choice too, because by lining up the leaf print the opening is barely visible, especially since I topstitched the opening closed at the top and bottom along the vertical black lines:

I tested it out and it does actually work so I am pretty pleased with the outcome. I gave it a generous overlap so that there would be no peep shows, but it hardly gapes at all. I will make this again, but I will delete the gathers across the front and back under the yoke which are part of the original pattern because I think it adds volume around my middle and since my stomach is going back to pre-pregnancy shape (not my rear end though) I don't really want clothes that make me still look preggers! Of course if I'm going out somewhere fancy I could always put on a belt and cinch it like this:

And in exciting house news the works are nearly finished except for a little bit of wall lining and electrical work to do. Then we get to do the fun bits: painting, laying the flooring and setting up furniture. Well it's fun for me because all I have to do is pick out the colours and sit back while my husband and dad do the hard work LOL!