First, I wanted to record some shirts I've made this summer. I've purchased/borrowed a few maternity shirts along the way but found myself running into the same old problem I have with non-maternity shirts... I have a very long torso and shirts are often too short. Add a baby bump to the situation and many shirts, even so-called maternity shirts, are now ridiculously too short. So I exercised my drafting skills and used up some knits in my stash to make some shirts. I made them when I was about 25 weeks or so, these pictures are taken around 30 weeks, and unfortunately I grew out of them pretty fast. They were useful for about a month or so before they became too tight, both around the bump and around the chest/armhole areas.
I started with my trusty made-to-fit Renfrew block and went from there. On most shirts I made two adjustments - I added width/swing to the front bodice piece and also added 3-4'' of length to the front which I then gathered to meet the length of the back bodice. That allows room for the bump but keeps the bottom of the shirt snug instead of 'tenting' out in front. Each shirt had slightly different results due to different knits, but they're all workable and do the job of covering the bump. The necklines and armholes are a mix of knit self-bindings and turn-and-coverstitch hems depending on how much fabric I had to work with.
This white one was truly a scrap buster in that I had to piece the front to have enough fabric. It worked well, though, to add a few gathers under the bust as well as along the side seams.
Thanks to Leah and Grace for taking these photos one day. We won't talk about how many outtakes had to be deleted to get these couple of halfway decent shots....
Overall I'm happy with the shirts, they definitely served a purpose, I was glad to use up some of my knit stash, and it was fun to do a little drafting experiment. We'll have to see if I take the time post-baby to remake the shirts into non-maternity or if they just live a good life this summer and then disappear somewhere.
The other experiment I'll share is my rush-job whack at a maternity swimsuit. I whipped this up in one week's time right before we went on a vacation in early June. I didn't have any swimsuit elements that fit, didn't find anything cheap at our local stores, and thought it would be worth the work to try and make something so I could swim on vacation and over the summer with the girls.
Its not beautiful by any means, its an embarrassment as far as drafting goes with some pretty glaring errors (bust dart placement for one), but it works. It keeps me covered at the pool, and it hasn't fallen apart. I used up lycra I already had in my stash, with literally only inches of spare fabric when I finished, so it was even cheap/free in that respect. I have to wear a store bought sports bra underneath for support, but again, for the little use this is going to see I'm fine with that.
Its been an interesting summer because I'm drawn to sewing clothes and following lots of blogs about sewing clothes, but don't find it worthwhile when I'm pregnant and changing shape all the time. So I've been sewing other things (big quilt finish post coming soon) while making a HUGE mental list of all the clothes I want to sew when I'm back to 'normal' size.
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