Maternity Wear

Hi,
I'm new to sewing and was wonderin if anyone had any good links to any online resources for making your own maternity clothes. I've seen see mama sews fab skirt but can't find much else. Would love to make some stuff for myself before I burst out of what I'm wearing! ;-)

Congratulations on the pregnancy! I found this blog that had some good ideas in the post as well as the comments. Check it out here:

http://loweryourpresserfoot.blogspot.com/2008/06/maternity-sewing-patterns-why-are-they.html

I can't wait to see any other contributions. You CAN be cute and pregnant, and hand made for that matter

I have some vintage patterns I would be happy to share with fellow SMS members.

• 1965 Maternity Dress or Jumper and Blouse in Misses  Sizes (Size 16 - Bust 36", waist 30") http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/lindsaygearing/DressmakingPatterns/photo?authkey=YxkLVJAvbxU#5238920018795179986
  
  and a 1980's VogueMaternity Tunic and Skirt (size 14 - 18 modern sizing) http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/lindsaygearing/DressmakingPatterns/photo?authkey=YxkLVJAvbxU#5238918545394949346

Let me know if you are interested and I can trace them out for you and post (I'm in the UK)

Good Luck with the pregnancy (I had a baby girl in January)

Lindsay

I find a lot of old (UGLY!) maternity clothes as handmedowns or at thrift stores. I managed to find a style I liked but horrible fabric, and cut it up to make a pattern for a new shirt. It worked pretty well. An old thrifted shirt that you can try on might be more promising than a scary new pattern.

Congratulations!  I also have a bun in the oven and am trying to sew some skirts.  Easy, fast, etc.  Anyway, the book "Sew What! Skirts" lets you take your measurements and make your own patterns.  They have options for elastic waistbands which is super helpful.  Gotta love elastic. 

Thank you for the ideas ladies. Never considered doing some "deconstructive engineering" on old stuff but that might be a good idea.

depending upon your style and your clothing needs you could make a simple t-shirt bands like the one here http://www.cheekymonkey.ca/BellaBand.htm
or a button extenders like this http://www.cheekymonkey.ca/bbuckle.htm

Hi there,

Found this blog on my travels too: http://seemommysew.wordpress.com/maternity-skirt-tutorial-the-gwenna/

If you think about it, maternity clothes used to be all about covering up, being conservative, hiding the fact that a woman was pregnant.
 Now you can be cool in more ways than anyone.

----------------------------
siva

SuperBabyGuide

Hi Dear Green Place, (Alison)

I wondered how you were getting on with the maternity dress???
Hope the copy I made is working well for you - can't wait to see the pictures.

Lindsay

I see someone already posted the maternity skirt tutorial I had found.  That's all I was able to find online as well, I'm hoping by the time I need it I'll be able to find more.

Hi-I've made a couple pairs of pants from thrifted clothing, similar to the new "secret fit" style that is at Motherhood and other maternity shops. I just bought a pair of jean capris and a t-shirt made from cotton lycra, and then unpicked the waistband from the pants, cut the shirt off at the armpits, and sewed the stretchy shirt to the pants. Here's a link to my blog post about it:

http://sewinspired.blogspot.com/2008/07/maternity-jeans.html

I also did this with another pair of pants that were already maternity pants but had an uncomfortably tight under the belly waistband.

I had a pair of maternity pants that were too short so I cut them off and made a skirt. Simplicity.com has a free tutorial on their site that's pretty good. Would work for thrift store items that are too short or not super cute- can embellish as much as you want.

Hey there!
Congrats on the little one!
I absolutely hated pretty much all the maternity clothes I could find, but being pregnant with one and then twins soon after, needed them desperately.  So, I got pretty good at making them out of non-maternity patterns.

Tip for tops/dresses: Look for any patterns with an empire or high waist.  Once I had a high-waisted bodice that fit, I added a "skirt" that was either gathered or pleated in the middle front (I also cut them a  little longer to cover the waistband).  This gave me the extra width and fabric that I needed. 

Tip for skirts/pants: Again, I took regular patterns, cut them low enough to accommodate my growing babies, and added some super stretchy knits in a doubled, rolled waist band at the top.  This gave me the option of wearing the band over or under my tummy, depending on how far along I was in the pregnancy. 

Good luck and blessings on you and your little one!

What a great idea.  I found it very hard to find maternity clothes that fit me, even in the beginning.