1st Place: Michelle Nelson, Nebraska

"I wanted to submit a variation of your swimsuit style in the sewing contest. I absolutely love your patterns and the fit is just incredible! Thank you for all of your hard work and exciting new styles that you have been offering!

For my entry, I converted the Elizabeth Lee Nursing Swimsuit (Nursing Classics #201) to a tankini style by dividing the pattern in half. This style features a crop top style suit with two nursing openings. It is much easier to maneuver and stay covered with this style, especially for those with a larger bust line.

To make the top, I lengthened the top half of the suit and extended the side seams slightly to add ease to this suit. I cut two nursing slits from the center front of the armhole down about eight or nine inches. I cut a separate tank to place over the top of first and just turned and topstitched them as one. No elastic was used in the top which made for a very easy fitting style.

For the bottoms, I raised the waistline a couple of inches to completely cover the tummy and added fold over allowance for the elastic. To complete the ensemble I lettuce edged the wrap skirt to match the lettuce edging on the crop overlay. It makes a very cute and youthful style that offers excellent coverage.

This suit was made for and modeled by Michelle Boley who is shown nursing her adorable 6 1/2 month son, Daniel.

Note from Elizabeth: Lettuce edging is a sewing technique that allows you to get a "ruffled" look on a knit fabric. It is popular right now on a variety of applications. To do this, you will need to practice a bit before you start working on the real thing. Set your machine on a narrow zigzag or a narrow serged edge. Then stretch the fabric as far as you can and stitch right along the edge. You will get a very pretty little ruffled hem. Once you get good results on your test fabric, go ahead and work on the real thing! This is a really fun technique! Thanks Michelle for this great entry! We hope it inspires some of you to get sewing! Swimsuit fabrics are all on sale right now, so it is a good time to think about stocking up for next spring!

2nd Place - Sara Gustason, Iowa

Enclosed is my entry for the 2nd quarter sewing contest. These mother and daughter dresses were made to wear at my cousin's wedding. My daughter Margaret and I were to take up the gifts at the ceremony. I bought the fabric for these dresses at JoAnn's. It was an Easter print for $7.99, but I was able to pick it up at 40% off.

For my dress, I used the NC#204 pattern. It was my first time using this pattern and I really love the fit. I have 2 more cut out and ready to go. Instead of using a facing on the neckline, I used a french binding. I found easy to follow directions on Linda Fitzgerald's website.

I also omitted the ties and used button tabs instead. For the button tabs, I cut 4 rectangles, 2" x 5". Then on one end I cut them into a point. I put two of them right sides together and stitched 1/4" seam on all sides except the one short side. Then I turned them right sides out and pressed. I stitched the tabs into side seams like you would the ties and added buttonholes.

I changed the skirt pattern slightly because I was afraid of disturbing the border print on the bottom. I measured the front bodice and it was 22 inches at the lower edge for my size so I cut two skirt panels 26 inches wide. I put 2" pleats in the skirt front to line up with the overlay on the bodice. Then I put the pleats in the same position on the skirt back. I put the buttons for the button tabs right above the pleats on the back bodice.

My daughters dress was made from Kwik Sew Toddlers dress pattern.

The dresses were a big hit at the wedding! Since the wedding was during Margaret's nap time, after we took up the gifts, we sat up in the balcony and nursed. The wedding photographer came up and took our photo. I am sure he had no idea she was nursing! I hope it turns out. I have always wanted a professional nursing photo taken. It was wonderful to be able to nurse her so discreetly at the wedding and she fell asleep within minutes. Nursing an almost two year old discreetly is not usually very easy! She loves to wear clothes that match me and whenever she gets dresses, no matter if it is something store bought or something I made, she says, "Look what Mommy made!" It is so nice to have such an appreciate person to sew for. Thanks for your wonderful patterns and support."

Tied 3rd Place Winner - Lily Richter, Kentucky

I'd like to share with everyone a great little dress -- I call it my Dream Dress -- because is sews up like a dream. This dress was sew easy to make -- I encourage each of you to make one! I used Elizabeth Lee's nursing crop top pattern #107 with the side access nursing openings from #307 and added a pleated skirt of my own design.

This dress is very full and works beautifully for nursing during a pregnancy. However, the skirt pattern piece is just two big fabric squares (or rectangles) so you can make your dress as long or as full as you like. You will need to modify the underlay pattern piece so it is several inches shorter than the overlay. The skirt gets attached to the crop top underlay hiding the waistline completely. The waistline could be gathered, sewn straight, or pleated in numerous ways. I have found I prefer to use a knit fabric for the underlay -- the skirt attaches effortlessly and will easily accommodate a pregnant belly or the fluctuations of a postpartum figure.

To dress it up a bit I added appliqué and coordinating trims. Other ideas would be to add embroidery, fabric paint or dye, stamping, beading, or even a quilt block.

Note from Elizabeth: This entry shows how creative you can be with any of our patterns! Don't be afraid to do your "own thing" and make each pattern your own!

Tied 3rd Place Winner - MelRae Ambs, Texas

"I am so glad your company is available for those of us who love to sew, nurse, and have babies! I've used patterns from your company for four years now, and recently had a lot of fun making new dresses for our county fair!

My little girls and I like to dress alike, so I used your pattern NC #203, and matching fabric to create triplet dresses for my girls and I. We live on 3+ acres, with a garden, chickens, and dogs, so I made a basic denim dress, with a little pizzazz. I found some darling plaid fabric with red apples, shaped liked hearts. I made the top from the red plaid, and trimmed the denim skirt with a wide, red plaid border. I trimmed the sleeves with denim, and made my own collar from denim also. I added a little lace trim around the denim collar, for a little bit of dressiness.

Because I have little ones (three under the age of 5), I am constantly bending over to pick up a baby, or tie a shoe, and I don't like to grab my neckline to make sure I'm covered! So, I made the neckline a little higher on my bodice. I hope God will bless our family with more babies, so I made the dress with the maternity cut, and used narrow red plaid ties, to gather in fullness for my not pregnant days. That makes this dress very useable, year in and out! (When I made this dress, I was pregnant with little girl #3. I can still use the dress now, because I just tie it tighter! This dress has such a nice fit when you are pregnant, too. It's not too tight at the waist, yet it's not shapeless, either.) Finally, I added pockets in both side seams, because I need my hands free as much as possible!

I reversed the fabrics on my daughters' dresses. They have denim bodices, with red plaid skirts, and red plaid trim on their sleeves and collars. We were shopping for just the right buttons for the front of their dresses. My oldest is learning to count and add, and she saw some darling red apple buttons! I asked her, "If we need four buttons on each dress, how many button cards do we need?" She got the number just right, and was so proud to help pick the buttons!

We love our matching dresses, and I love nursing our baby easily and modestly. Thank you for providing a resource of sewing patterns. I especially enjoy reading about how other mothers are adapting the patterns. I am usually such a rule follower, that it helps me to see how others creatively adapt the patterns to their unique style.

I have three dresses from this same pattern (and more from your other patterns, too - my friends call me the "Queen of Nursing Wear"). It was a lot of fun to make changes to this pattern and come up with a completely different look. My friends are surprised that it is from the same pattern as the first two dresses. Thank you for encouraging me!"

5th Place Winner - Lucia Schlib, Florida

This photography was especially beautiful! Thanks for taking the time to create such a beautiful entry!

"I love this pattern! (Nursing Classics #105) When I was expecting our fifth miracle, I was terribly excited because I thought we could have a brother for my lonely little boy.(He's the oldest). However, the ultrasound revealed that it was indeed another girl. I made this beautiful gown for me and my daughter the same week I found out she was coming. It created a time for me to adjust myself to the idea and to begin a bonding with my precious daughter. The pattern was so easy! It is made from an inexpensive cotton sheetingand lace which I bought in bulk.

Thank you Elizabeth for making sewing so fun and easy!"