I don’t pretend to have a lot of training or even much basic knowledge when it comes to sewing. I can thread my machine and press the foot pedal, and that’s about it. But I do enjoy being crafty from time to time, and an opportunity presented itself when Erin and Jones were here a few weeks ago.

We were at The Jumping Bean with Camille, and noticed a mother discreetly breastfeeding her baby beneath a blanket. But this wasn’t just a regular blanket – it had a handy neck strap to keep it in place.

Let me make one thing clear. I think mamas should feel free to feed their babies whenever and wherever, and I don’t think they should have to hide behind blankets if they don’t want to. However, I just couldn’t ever get comfortable breastfeeding Camille in public. When she was little, I’d use a blanket, although it wasn’t easy to get her in place without the blanket sliding down at some point. As she got older, even if I managed to get a blanket in place she’d often pull it down during feedings to be sure she didn’t miss anything going on in the outside world.

So the neck strap seemed ingenius, because it was simple and would keep the blanket in place. Erin struck up a conversation and the mom told her the blanket had been sewn by her sister. A quick inspection of the blanket showed that it was a pretty simple project.

So here is Erin, making a nursing cover on my sewing machine. And it really was pretty simple.

And although I have no personal need for a nursing blanket any more, I have a friend with a new baby and thought it might be helpful. So I stitched together this pink one.

All you really do is sew a rectangle for the blanket, then hem the fabric for the neck strap and attach the velcro.

Since Erin sewed her first one, she’s done a few more and discovered ways to make it even simpler. Instead of hemming the neck strap (which did get a little tedious), she used ribbon. Smarty.

Now if only breastfeeding itself were that simple.