Sewing Maternity Clothes

Before I could start on Christmas sewing I had to whip up a few comfortable maternity items. Lately I've been feeling like that mad circus leader on Dumbo who's shirt keeps rolling up onto his face. Technically I only have 5 more weeks but if I'm honest with myself it could very well be 7 and I'd rather have a few more comfortable options to get me through it.  

*Please note: My 8 year old is the budding photographer here and my flash is having problems so the picture quality may not be perfect.

1.  Knit dress 

This first dress is my favorite! It started out as a simple tunic but then turned into a dress giving me another church option. I didn't use a pattern but it is easy to wing it when you are using knits. I got the fabric from yellow bird fabrics in Salt Lake, the main body is a dark eggplant and the bottom panel is a medium brown, both medium weight cotton lycra.  I especially like the pockets because they go along with my "mom wear" list.

2.  Long sleeve tunic



This next tunic was made from what was leftover from the lining of Henry's coat and out of one of the sweaters I picked up while shopping for all my recent furniture purchases. Again there was no pattern but just measuring, cutting and pinning draping it around myself in front of the mirror. I like that this is soft, casual and warm. Paul verbalized exactly what I was thinking but didn't want to admit. He said "now you've have a Lord of the Rings costume".

3.  Leggings



This photo is not very flattering but those those who sew understand the challenge of fitting extreme bumps. I just used a pair of Target maternity leggings to make the basic pattern adding extra length to bunch at the ankles and extra width and length in the panel. I splurged on the fabric, a tweedy gray Eileen Fisher cotton/lycra knit from Emmaonesock but for the same price as the Target leggings I have another pair but of much higher quality.

4.  Mock turtle neck sweater


Not much to say about this next sweater. I bought it at Salvation Army for $3. It originally was a men's XL but keeping the neckline and raglan sleeves in tack I took in over 6" from under the arm and upper torso then belled out the sleeve to the original ribbing then following the seam down to the original ribbing at the hem. It is hard to beat a 5 minute $3 sweater makeover!

5.  Hooded sweater



It's been several weeks that I've been itching to sew this last sweater up. Marie's sister ordered and sent the pattern from Japan (more pattern info here) and both of us made our own versions of it. I would have liked to use regular sweat shirt fleece but have been too indecisive about what fabric to order.  After seeing Marie's finished hoodie I decided to make it work out of two more sweaters picked up from Salvation Army.  In the end I like the contrast of the two shades and textures but admit it would have been nice to make it a longer and have enough extra scraps to add the pockets.  This may not fit over my belly too much longer but will be perfect for the first month after delivery.

Okay - now it's time to start sewing up some things for Christmas!