Jasper Sweater Princess Seam Nursing Hack
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Jasper Sweater Nursing Hack

Today I want to show you a very simple trick especially for all the nursing moms out there. It’s not easy to find clothing that is warm and nursing friendly in the winter and that is not a giant sweater. I have those too, but I’m always annoyed by all the fabric bunching when I hike them up. Plus, my girl likes to pull on my clothing while nursing so I keep pulling it back up and out of her face. The best thing would be a sweater that has easy access through the front so you don’t have all that fabric. The Jasper is perfect for this as I’ll show you below!

Jasper Sweater Princess Seam Nursing Hack
Jasper Sweater Princess Seam Nursing Hack

What I did with my Jasper was add a blind zipper in each princess seam. They start close to the armscye and end just above the pockets. I added them about two years after I made this sweater, which is doable but not the easiest way. That would definitely be to do it during the construction. You can choose to either sew them so the zipper pull is close to the pockets or to the sleeve, what you think is less visible. Choose a zipper that is close to the colour of your fabric so the pull doesn’t show. If you don’t have one you can also paint the pull with nail polish or a marker.

Jasper Sweater Princess Seam Nursing Hack
Jasper Sweater Princess Seam Nursing Hack

I could make a whole tutorial out of this but it’s so simple I’ll just describe it. If you’re inserting them during construction, do it at step 3, when you sew the side pieces to the front piece. You’ll need two blind zips of about 8.5″ (22 cm) or longer, as you can cut them off if they’re too long. Sew them in like you would normally sew a blind zip. You’re probably used to setting them in in lightweight fabric, but it works fine with sweatshirt knits as well. If you’re setting them in after making the sweater, unpick the princess seams from the pocket to the armscye, and also a little bit of the sleeve seam. Set them in and close the seams at the top and near the pocket. Easy hack for easy access!

What’s your favourite nursing garment? Did you buy special clothing?

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9 Comments

  1. Thanks for sharing! I’ve been contemplating nursing hacks like this a lot since I had my daughter a year ago. Do the zippers change the way your sweater hangs at all, or make it feel stiff? I’m slowing trying to record some of my nursing makes over on my blog if you’re interested.

    1. Hi Claire, I did this in a sweatshirt fleece which doesn’t really have much drape. So in this case it doesn’t change much, but maybe it would if you use a lighter weight French terry for example.

    2. Hi claire I ammaking nuring tops for my daughter who is about to have a baby. I was wondering could you send me your blog so I could see what you have written about them. Thank you

  2. Clever idea ! I didn’t buy nursing clothes but made some : open a t-shirt in the midle (front) and add a zipper, and an other one, just that my back can stay warm in any situation : I’ve made a tank top which doesn’t cover the chest, and I can wear it every day under any other top ! (sorry my english is not so good)…

  3. I did this on my Jasper sweater too! In fact I bought the pattern specifically because I wanted to do this with the princess seams. I put the pulls at the bottom right by the pockets so they’re hardly noticeable. I found that the zipper ends were scratchy in the armscye so I covered them with a little bit of soft jersey. I love this nursing sweater and I have worn it all winter long and get tons of compliments on it. Thanks for such a great pattern!

    1. See, I knew I couldn’t have been the first one to figure this out :) Thank you for the tip with the jersey Erin!

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