At 27 weeks along, our little bean is moving and stretching and tumbling quite frequently, especially at night when his big sister snuggles up to the belly for her bedtime story. The excruciating lower back pain I had been experiencing has given way to a persistent but entirely bearable little ache, now that I have stopping doing projects hunched over on the floor in from of the TV and I have cut down on unnecessary hoisting of the constantly-eating, ever-growing toddler. Much like the last time around, chocolate and fruit cravings have kicked into high gear, though I get far fewer chastising lectures about dessert consumption from my Durham doctor than I got from my San Diego doctor. I tell myself that the fruit balances out the chocolate. Does eating an entire watermelon in one day negate that brownie binge? It does, right?
Speaking of mama indulgence, the first project I chose from Anna Maria Horner's newest book, Handmade Beginnings, was one just for me. The Four Corners Blouse is a nursing top ingeniously constructed entirely from rectangles of fabric. This was a pretty quick, simple project, though for most of the time that I was working on it, I was utterly confused about how it would all come together. I just chugged along, step-by-step, and it all worked beautifully (except for those straps... the placement of those are a bit wonky).
I used a lovely, drapey voile from Anna Maria's own Little Folks collection (Baby Bouquet in Dusk) with a coordinating voile solid. The lightweight fabric will make for a great nursing top next Spring and Summer and the privacy panel construction will work so much better than balancing a blanket around my shoulders while juggling a kicky little baby. I hope to make one or two more before the little one shows up.
This would also make a great early maternity top. However, my cute little belly is not quite so little anymore, thus the blouse is just a bit too short for me to wear right now. For future iterations, I might cut the panels a bit longer.