diff --git a/itemloaders/__init__.py b/itemloaders/__init__.py
index 70a66de..d606a7e 100644
--- a/itemloaders/__init__.py
+++ b/itemloaders/__init__.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 """
 from contextlib import suppress
 
-from itemadapter import ItemAdapter
+from itemadapter import get_field_meta_from_class, ItemAdapter
 from parsel.utils import extract_regex, flatten
 
 from itemloaders.common import wrap_loader_context
@@ -24,6 +24,18 @@ def unbound_method(method):
     return method
 
 
+class _Context(dict):
+    def __init__(self, item_loader, *args, **kwargs):
+        super().__init__(*args, **kwargs)
+        self._item_loader = item_loader
+
+    def __getitem__(self, key):
+        value = super().__getitem__(key)
+        if key == 'item' and value is None:
+            value = self[key] = self._item_loader.item
+        return value
+
+
 class ItemLoader:
     """
     Return a new Item Loader for populating the given item. If no item is
@@ -102,17 +114,15 @@ class Product:
     def __init__(self, item=None, selector=None, parent=None, **context):
         self.selector = selector
         context.update(selector=selector)
-        if item is None:
-            item = self.default_item_class()
-        self._local_item = item
+        self._item = item
         context['item'] = item
-        self.context = context
+        self.context = _Context(parent or self, **context)
         self.parent = parent
         self._local_values = {}
-        # values from initial item
-        for field_name, value in ItemAdapter(item).items():
-            self._values.setdefault(field_name, [])
-            self._values[field_name] += arg_to_iter(value)
+        if item is not None:
+            for field_name, value in ItemAdapter(item).items():
+                self._values.setdefault(field_name, [])
+                self._values[field_name] += arg_to_iter(value)
 
     @property
     def _values(self):
@@ -126,37 +136,29 @@ def item(self):
         if self.parent is not None:
             return self.parent.item
         else:
-            return self._local_item
+            if self._item is None:
+                self._item = self.default_item_class(**self._values)
+            return self._item
 
     def nested_xpath(self, xpath, **context):
         """
         Create a nested loader with an xpath selector.
         The supplied selector is applied relative to selector associated
-        with this :class:`ItemLoader`. The nested loader shares the item
-        with the parent :class:`ItemLoader` so calls to :meth:`add_xpath`,
-        :meth:`add_value`, :meth:`replace_value`, etc. will behave as expected.
+        with this :class:`ItemLoader`.
         """
         selector = self.selector.xpath(xpath)
         context.update(selector=selector)
-        subloader = self.__class__(
-            item=self.item, parent=self, **context
-        )
-        return subloader
+        return self.__class__(parent=self, **context)
 
     def nested_css(self, css, **context):
         """
         Create a nested loader with a css selector.
         The supplied selector is applied relative to selector associated
-        with this :class:`ItemLoader`. The nested loader shares the item
-        with the parent :class:`ItemLoader` so calls to :meth:`add_xpath`,
-        :meth:`add_value`, :meth:`replace_value`, etc. will behave as expected.
+        with this :class:`ItemLoader`.
         """
         selector = self.selector.css(css)
         context.update(selector=selector)
-        subloader = self.__class__(
-            item=self.item, parent=self, **context
-        )
-        return subloader
+        return self.__class__(parent=self, **context)
 
     def add_value(self, field_name, value, *processors, **kw):
         """
@@ -305,7 +307,15 @@ def get_output_processor(self, field_name):
         return unbound_method(proc)
 
     def _get_item_field_attr(self, field_name, key, default=None):
-        field_meta = ItemAdapter(self.item).get_field_meta(field_name)
+        if self.parent is not None and self.parent._item is not None:
+            item_adapter = ItemAdapter(self.parent._item)
+            field_meta = item_adapter.get_field_meta(field_name)
+        if self._item is not None:
+            item_adapter = ItemAdapter(self._item)
+            field_meta = item_adapter.get_field_meta(field_name)
+        else:
+            item_class = self.default_item_class
+            field_meta = get_field_meta_from_class(item_class, field_name)
         return field_meta.get(key, default)
 
     def _process_input_value(self, field_name, value):
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 85e0d3a..ea5d0f4 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@
         'w3lib>=1.17.0',
         'parsel>=1.5.0',
         'jmespath>=0.9.5',
-        'itemadapter>=0.1.0',
+        'itemadapter>=0.1.1',
     ],
     # extras_require=extras_require,
 )
diff --git a/tests/test_delayed_object_creation.py b/tests/test_delayed_object_creation.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ee144ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_delayed_object_creation.py
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+from collections.abc import MutableMapping
+from unittest import TestCase
+
+from parsel import Selector
+
+from itemloaders import ItemLoader
+
+
+EXPECTED_ERROR = RuntimeError
+
+
+class UninitializableItem(dict):
+
+    def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        raise EXPECTED_ERROR
+
+
+class UninitializableItemLoader(ItemLoader):
+    default_item_class = UninitializableItem
+
+
+class DelayedObjectCreationTestCase(TestCase):
+
+    def test_loader_creation(self):
+        UninitializableItemLoader()
+
+    def test_add(self):
+        selector = Selector(text="<html><body></body></html>")
+        il = UninitializableItemLoader(selector=selector)
+        il.add_value('key', 'value')
+        il.add_css('key', 'html')
+        il.add_xpath('key', '//html')
+
+    def test_context(self):
+        il = UninitializableItemLoader()
+        context = il.context
+        with self.assertRaises(EXPECTED_ERROR):
+            context['item']
+
+    def test_load_item(self):
+        il = UninitializableItemLoader()
+        with self.assertRaises(EXPECTED_ERROR):
+            il.load_item()
+
+    def test_nested_loader_creation(self):
+        selector = Selector(text="<html><body></body></html>")
+        il = UninitializableItemLoader(selector=selector)
+        il.nested_css('html')
+        il.nested_xpath('//html')
+
+    def test_nested_load_item(self):
+        selector = Selector(text="<html><body></body></html>")
+        il = UninitializableItemLoader(selector=selector)
+
+        css_il = il.nested_css('html')
+        with self.assertRaises(EXPECTED_ERROR):
+            css_il.load_item()
+
+        xpath_il = il.nested_xpath('//html')
+        with self.assertRaises(EXPECTED_ERROR):
+            xpath_il.load_item()
diff --git a/tests/test_nested_loader.py b/tests/test_nested_loader.py
index 1e193d3..9971ff8 100644
--- a/tests/test_nested_loader.py
+++ b/tests/test_nested_loader.py
@@ -98,3 +98,26 @@ def test_nested_load_item(self):
         self.assertEqual(item['name'], ['marta'])
         self.assertEqual(item['url'], ['http://www.scrapy.org'])
         self.assertEqual(item['image'], ['/images/logo.png'])
+
+    def test_nested_from_item(self):
+        """Check that everything works as usual when the nested selector has a
+        parent item"""
+        item = {'foo': 'bar'}
+        loader = ItemLoader(selector=self.selector, item=item)
+        nl1 = loader.nested_xpath('//footer')
+        nl2 = nl1.nested_xpath('img')
+
+        loader.add_xpath('name', '//header/div/text()')
+        nl1.add_xpath('url', 'a/@href')
+        nl2.add_xpath('image', '@src')
+
+        item = loader.load_item()
+
+        assert item is loader.item
+        assert item is nl1.item
+        assert item is nl2.item
+
+        self.assertEqual(item['foo'], ['bar'])
+        self.assertEqual(item['name'], ['marta'])
+        self.assertEqual(item['url'], ['http://www.scrapy.org'])
+        self.assertEqual(item['image'], ['/images/logo.png'])
diff --git a/tests/test_output_processor.py b/tests/test_output_processor.py
index 54bb1fe..14175b4 100644
--- a/tests/test_output_processor.py
+++ b/tests/test_output_processor.py
@@ -4,8 +4,13 @@
 from itemloaders.processors import Identity, Compose, TakeFirst
 
 
-class TestOutputProcessorDict(unittest.TestCase):
-    def test_output_processor(self):
+def take_first(value):
+    return value[0]
+
+
+class TestOutputProcessor(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def test_item_class(self):
 
         class TempDict(dict):
             def __init__(self, *args, **kwargs):
@@ -22,9 +27,8 @@ class TempLoader(ItemLoader):
         self.assertIsInstance(item, TempDict)
         self.assertEqual(dict(item), {'temp': 0.3})
 
+    def test_item_object(self):
 
-class TestOutputProcessorItem(unittest.TestCase):
-    def test_output_processor(self):
         class TempLoader(ItemLoader):
             default_input_processor = Identity()
             default_output_processor = Compose(TakeFirst())
@@ -35,3 +39,14 @@ class TempLoader(ItemLoader):
         item = loader.load_item()
         self.assertIsInstance(item, dict)
         self.assertEqual(dict(item), {'temp': 0.3})
+
+    def test_unbound_processor(self):
+        """Ensure that a processor not taking a `self` parameter does not break
+        anything"""
+
+        class TempLoader(ItemLoader):
+            default_output_processor = take_first
+
+        loader = TempLoader()
+        loader.add_value('foo', 'bar')
+        self.assertEqual(loader.load_item(), {'foo': 'bar'})
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 47c65ce..f074fa1 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ deps =
 
 commands =
     py.test \
-        --cov-report=term --cov-report=html --cov-report= --cov=itemloaders \
+        --cov-report=term --cov-report=html --cov-report=term-missing --cov=itemloaders \
         --doctest-modules \
         {posargs:itemloaders tests}