DIY Nursing Cover in 7 Simple Steps
Ya'll. This is the easiest sewing project I may have ever made. Seriously. Super quick too. And cheap! It's like the ultimate DIY project triumvirate- inexpensive, easy, and quick to make. There's not many projects that tick all of those boxes but this DIY nursing cover does!
If you want to make a baby shower gift for an expecting friend then I totally recommend this one. I recently made one for an expectant mama. She had this one on her registry but I thought she could use a second one since babies pretty much get drool spit up, etc on everything and back-ups are always nice.
So here's what you need to make your own DIY nursing cover:
- 1 yard of knit fabric ( I used a nice, soft jersey knit that I got at Joanne's for $5)
- thread
- ballpoint needle
- sewing machine (or you could make this a no-sew project by using fusible tape and your iron)
- rotary cutter, ruler, & cutting mat (optional)
Tutorial
- Wash and dry your fabric.
- Next lay your fabric down nice and flat. Then trim the long edges so that they are nice and straight. You could use scissors but I find it much easier to do with my rotary cutter set.
3. Fold your fabric in half from selvage to selvage with the right sides facing each other.
4. Pin along the selvage edge (the edge opposite of the fold that is 36 inches long).
5. Sew along the pinned edge. You may noticed that I pinned mine in a little further from edge than I typically would... This is because I didn't bother to trim the selvages from the edges. I sewed just to the side of the little holes on the selvages.
6. Trim off the selvage nice and close to your stitches and trim the strings.
7. Now turn the scarf right side out and you are done!
You can wear it as an infinity scarf by sticking your head through the loop you made and then looping twice around your neck. Unloop once and drape over your body to cover while nursing.
Want more sewing projects? Check out my sewing tutorials page.
Love this scarf. Will be making two for my daughter and daughter-in-law. Thanks for posting this.
You're so welcome! I'm sure they will love their scarves.
looks great
Thank you!
Is the cut end finished or just left as a raw edge?
I left it raw. Since it's a knit it won't unravel and the ends tend to curl up. If you prefer you could finish it.
I bought a thinner fabric since we are coming into the summer months and my cousin lives in Az.. I plan to finish the edges. The knit though was great without finishing!
I am sure she will love it!
Great project...just wondering what is the width of the fabric you used? it looks wider than 45" - so I'm wondering 60" and if you only have 45" wide, what length would you need. Thanks.
My fabric was 60 inch. I'm not sure if you could do it with 1 yard of 45 inch wide fabric because you want to be able to loop it twice when wearing it as a scarf.
Ok, I was thinking about it for a few minutes.... If your pattern on your fabric works when you turn it the other way you could use a 45 inch wide fabric. You would need to use 60 inches, so about 1 3/4 yards. Then you could cut it to be 36 X 60 and it would be the size I used here. You would always adjust things to your liking too. Hope that helps!
thanks. I'll give that a try.
Best of luck! 🙂
Amazing tutorial thank you very much! I am sure my family members will love these at their baby showers 🙂
You're welcome! I am sure they will love it!
This came at the perfect time. I will be using my serger and metallic thread to make this glittery.
Yes! A serger would be great for this project. I am hoping to have one one of these days 🙂
At what point did you sew the ends together to make it an infinity scarf? I didn't see that in the tutorial.
You don not sew the ends together. Once you sew the one side up and turn it right side out (step 7) you are done. Stick your head through one of the open ends and out the other end. (like putting on a big necklace) That's the first loop. Twist the scarf once to make a second loop. Stick your head through that loop. Now it is looped around your neck twice (as seen in the last picture in the post.
Thank you Cindy for asking the question. I was wondering also & thinking I was being very dense. Since it is an infinity scarf, I knew it had to be a closed circle and couldn't make it work in my head. I didn't catch it nor did it dawn on me that you stick your head up the TUBE!!! I get it now!!
Sorry for the confusion. I see now that I should have included a shot of how to put it on. Thank you for your input! It will help me to better write future tutorials.
Hi, I am about to try this but what wondering what if I don't have a "ball" needle?
I also just finished making the bibs!! Yay! They are not perfect but ok for my first time out.
Thank you.
I'm not sure. I've never tried it before. Everything I have read has talked about how a regular needle will make rips in a knit fabric. You could try it, but as I've said I have never done it and so I can't recommend it. Glad to hear the bibs went well!