Nursing Willow Wrap Dress

I purchased the Love Notions Willow Wrap dress when it was a featured Friday pattern earlier this spring. I love the wrap style and this pattern comes with both maternity and nursing options - a huge win at this point in my life! Soon after buying this pattern I won a $20 gift card to Style Marker Fabrics through Love Notions and set to picking out a great fabric to make this dress - but I found too many options! After posting a few poles on Instagram you all helped me pick this gorgeous floral with a navy background - a favorite of mine.

I had the pattern printed through PDF Plotting and was working on cutting it out when I went into labor. I cut a size medium, based on my then current measurements, and was able to sew it together during a few extended nap times after baby's arrival. 

As a new mom it felt like a huge feat to spend any amount of dedicated time in my sewing room. I really appreciated that this Love Notions pattern came together so quickly and looks so polished. Most of the pattern is sewn flat and then one long seam up the side brings the whole garment together. Although this form of assembly is very quick, one drawback is the inability to fit the garment until near the end of construction. I used knit stay tape for the hem and, after serging the edges, used a regular straight stitch to complete the dress since I wasn't worried about this hemline needing to stretch. My favorite feature of this pattern is the knit neck binding, a skill that I will use on other knit garments in the future.