Several months ago, I was asked to see if I was interested in participating in a refashion swap between 10 bloggers. There was no question if I was game or not. OF COURSE I'm game! The idea being that we all took a button up shirt and refashioned something for someone else with it. Here's my shirt before. It was one of Chris's old shirts, too small for him now, but I was too nostalgic about it to let go of it. It was one of the shirts he wore often when we were only dating! I was assigned to sew something for Krista of Lazy Saturdays. She's currently 30 weeks along, so I wanted to make something maternity-friendly. Then I got to thinking, why not make it both maternity and post-partum friendly? After seeing a really cool mom at the park, sporting a rad top with a cape-like top (the very top that inspired Penelope's refashioned top), a lightbulb struck. It looks cool with the extra fabric in back, but that extra fabric would be useful in the front for a pregnant gal. The maternity side is color blocked in front and longer in front to accomodate a growing belly. The nursing side has a flat front and flowy back, perfect for hiding bulges. The button-front allow for easy nursing access. I'm pretty excited about this top, I sure hope it fits Krista! Be sure to check out the other participating bloggers' projects: Grainline Studio • Lazy Saturdays • Cotton & Curls • Megan Nielsen Designs • One Little Minute • MadMim • See Kate Sew • A Fashionable Stitch • Adventures in Dressmaking More after the jump on how to make this reversible top.

REVERSIBLE MATERNITY & NURSING TOP

For this project you will need: one oversized button up shirt with a yoke in the back, a fat half of fabric (jersey or cotton), single-fold biased tape and your sewing materials. Measure out and cut your neck hole. I kept the necklines about the same on either side. Discard the old collar. Turn the shirt wrong side out, lay your favorite non-maternity top (one that has a bit of give) on top of your shirt, and mark where the shirt needs to be taken in. Align your tee to the top of your button up’s new neckline. Turn right side out, unpick about 4-6 inches (centered) of the yoke top stitching. Cut out the fabric (as seen in the diagram. Cut out a piece that is twice the width of your yoke hole and about 3 inches longer. Make it like a pie piece, getting larger towards one end.   Baste stitch along the top part of the insert and gather so it fits. Pin insert right sides to your button-up and sew together. Repeat for the other side. nest the insert inside the yoke and secure with a straight stitch. Cut and hem (I did a rolled hem) the sleeves to desired length. Cut the hemline to be shorter on the buttoned side and longer on the inserted side. Hem (again, I did a rolled hem). Iron out one of the folds of your biased tape and pin right sides together along your neckline. Sew along the pressed fold line. Fold biased tape over raw edge, iron and secure with a single stitch along the folded  edge of the biased tape (along the inside of the top). Press all seams and wear. Click the button below to download the printer-friendly version of this tutorial. Enjoy!