on maternity clothing

Right, I'm sure you saw this post coming ...
Well, I won't be complaining too much about how difficult it is to buy nice maternity clothes, or at least around where I live, it seems. After a bit of effort I managed to get some decent pairs of pants for a reasonable price which are getting a lot of wear, so I'm basically done with maternity clothes' shopping. Tops and dresses have not been such a problem, but I think it's foolish to spend too much money on something I'll only wear for a short time, and since I do own a sewing machine and have a pile high of stash fabrics, this got my sewing energy back on.



First, let me tell you that this tutorial on adapting regular pants to maternity pants is absolutely brilliant, and very easy to accomplish. I did this with a pair of corduroy pants and a winter skirt I no longer used much (I needed warmer clothes for the Switzerland trip) and the result was perfect.

And then, it seems that all those patterns I love so much on my japanese sewing magazines, but which in real life don't always turn out so good (not without some adjustments, and I hope it's not only to me that this happens, or else I've been doing something wrong all these years), seem now to be (almost) perfect for maternity.



My first attempt was the top above, #18 from this book. It was one of the first japanese sewing books I bought, and it's been a favorite ever since. I've made two tops and two dresses out of it (which reminds me I never showed you that second dress, which I made at the end of last year), and this top just looked perfect to accomodate a bigger belly.



Well, too perfect it turns out, since I made it according to pattern first, and it made me look more pregnant than I was. As a result, I made some changes:
- added some small darts at the front top
- bottom front was pleated instead of gathered (this was just a personal preference)
- added a fabric sash between the top and bottom pieces (front and back) to add length and make it look less 'puffy'
- totally remade the bottom part of the back so it wouldn't have any gathering at all and made it just as a simple piece with a couple of darts.

It turned out so much better, don't you think ?