With two months left to go on this pregnancy (less now!) and a belly that doesn’t seem ready to stop growing, I realized my non-maternity yoga shorts and oversized t-shirts might not be willing to go all the way with me. But I could do something about this! Obviously, buying would have been the easiest route, but I didn’t really want to spend money on short-lived clothes. That, and I had some lengths of fabric that seemed very likely to go unused unless for a non-committal project like this.
To be clear, this pregnancy has put me at peak laziness. Sewing has been a struggle so my goals here were clear: make things that would be quick, easy, and comfortable, and that would use supplies I already had on hand. Here’s what I came up with.
Ruched Maternity Tee
First off, I made this striped, ruched maternity tee. I used this tutorial from Oliver+S for basic instructions, but the process is pretty straight forward. The only additional steps are to add extra length to the front bodice, and then to sew elastic down each side in order to create the ruching effect. Aside from that, you sew everything like a normal t-shirt! One of the best parts is that any tee pattern can be used for this maternity hack, so whatever you have on hand, or can find for free, should work just fine (although a boxier pattern will lead to boxier results). Here, I used my Union St. tee pattern because it’s slightly more fitted, and it gave me the ability to do a v-neck, which I’ve been missing as I’ve mostly been wearing oversized graphic tees.
The fabric I used is some I bought years ago at SAS fabric. I already made one t-shirt out of this fabric but must have bought plenty because I had enough for one more, with plenty of wiggle room. I don’t know the exact fiber content, but I’d guess it’s some sort of poly/spandex blend, which isn’t my favorite (and that’s why it’s sat unused for so long!). Sewing this was pretty straightforward although my neckline did end up a little wonky but I chose not to fix it. As I’m airing grievances, I will say I wish I’d added one more inch of length to the bodice front, as the top does occasionally ride up. Also, I wish I’d stretched the elastic a little more tightly. The ruching is minimal (but this also might be due to the elastic being a bit older). Even with the gripes, the top is still perfectly wearable so I’ve been wearing it!
Pattern: Union St. Tee (but almost any knit top pattern should work!)
Size: M
Alterations: Maternity tee shirt hack (I added 4 inches of length to the front bodice)
Fabric: scrap fabric from SAS, most likely a poly/spandex blend
Cost: $0–everything from stash
Would I make this pattern again?: Yes
Loose T-Shirt Dress
Next I made a loose t-shirt dress, also using the Union St. pattern as my base (although, again, pretty much any t-shirt pattern would work here!).
I planned on using Chalk + Notch’s Waterfall Raglan for this dress (it’s an excellent pattern and very maternity friendly), but I didn’t have enough fabric, so I chose to just alter my Union St. pattern. I didn’t follow any guides for this, but just crossed my fingers and hoped it all turned out! Instead of folding the fabric once in the center, I folded the selvedges in toward the center of the fabric, so that I could have two folded edges. Thankfully, this fabric was quite wide, so I was able to fit sleeves and front bodice on one side and my neckband and back bodice on the other side. I was trying to get as much length as possible so I squeezed everything in as best as I could. You can see I was able to make this plenty long! To make the dress looser, I angled the bodice side seams out gradually from the armpit to the hem. I didn’t have a ton of room to work with, but I was able to add probably about 12 inches total to the sweep of the hem to make sure the dress didn’t lean toward bodycon.
As for the hem itself, I chose to keep everything raw! This was partially out of laziness and partially out of truly believing it would look better this way than trying to eek hems out of this very stretchy and very lightweight fabric. I can certainly go back and add some folded hems in later if I choose to do so, but for now I’m happy with the raw edges.
Once it was all finished I tried it on and felt like it could use some sort of “waist” tie. Happily, my scraps had the perfect unhindered strip of fabric that was not terribly long, but long enough to wrap around me without cobbling pieces together. I cut it out and decided to keep it raw too. It was the easiest finishing piece I’ve ever had the pleasure of making!
As for the fabric, it’s lovely. It’s silky smooth, stretchy with great recovery, and very lightweight. I could have sworn I got it from ISee Fabric’s clearance section for cheap, but I can’t find the receipt anywhere, so who knows where it actually came from and what the fiber content is. If I had to, I might guess a modal spandex jersey, but I have very little experience with any jersey substrate that’s this lightweight. In any case, it’s a shame it sat unused for so long!
Again, this is not perfect. It’s not hard to see that my front bodice piece was longer than my back bodice and there’s rippling where I eased to the two together. However, I’m still very happy with how this turned out. And thanks to the adjustable waist tie, I can definitely see myself wearing this postpartum as well!
Pattern: Union St. Tee, hacked
Size: M
Adjustments: Detailed above
Fabric: A mystery fabric (maybe a modal/spandex jersey?) from my stash
Cost: missing data
Would I make this pattern again?: Always
Maternity Pencil Skirt
Finally I made a new to me pattern, the Elemental Pencil Skirt from Sew House Seven. This is not a maternity pattern but it includes standard fit and curvy fit (including hip measurements ranging from 34-65 inches), and has plenty of length, which I figured would be good for hiking the waist up past my belly. And it’s FREE! So I thought it was worth a try.
Perhaps it’s unhealthy of me, but during pregnancy, I tune out body measurements in every form, including measuring myself for sewing! Rather than measure, I erred on the side of caution and cut out a size 18 curvy fit. The skirt is very simple. With only 4 pattern pieces, I was really hoping I could get the whole thing sewn in less than an hour. But after sewing the side seams, it was obvious that I’d cut out the wrong size and needed to spend some time figuring out fit. That seemed like way too much to handle mentally so even though I’d only been sewing for 10 minutes, I shut it all down and set it aside for 2 weeks! I might not have even finished it but I wanted to sew something else and needed to change my thread, but didn’t want to have to change it back. So I got back to it, and truly it did take less than an hour to finish, even with my trial and error with fit. I ended up taking the skirt in about 1 1/2 inches from each side.
The waist band sits just under my bust and I wanted the hem to be at my knee. Even though I used the shorter version of the pattern (the “below the knee” length), I still removed 5 inches from the hem of the skirt as well as included a 1 1/4 inch hem. But I’m shorter (5’3″). The skirt is in absolutely no danger of falling down, so I opted not to include elastic at the waist, but I did leave an opening to the channel in case I want to add some later. There is a bit of gaping without the elastic, but nothing I’m concerned about since the waistband sits under whatever top I’m wearing.
The fabric is a Ponte Twill (in olive) that I bought from Surge Fabrics. It’s a seriously great fabric that combines the body and structure of a ponte with the lovely texture of twill into a heavier-weight knit. It has good stretch and great recovery. I can think of several projects that this fabric would be perfect for. The problem was that I didn’t love the color in person, which is why it’s been sitting in my stash for a couple years. However, now that it’s sewn up, the color is growing on me. It definitely reads more as a neutral but I think that’s appropriate for something like a pencil skirt.
I was not excited at all to finish this skirt after the fit issues, but I’m so glad I saw it through to the end! I’m very happy with how this turned out! I’m hoping I can wear it after having the baby, but I realize that might require some more adjustments.
Pattern: Elemental Pencil Skirt from Sew House Seven
Size: n/a
Adjustments: shortened length at hem
Fabric: Ponte Twill in Olive from Surge Fabrics
Cost: pattern FREE; 1 yd fabric $16
Would I make this pattern again?: Yes!
And that’s it! I had bigger plans for maternity sewing, but this was reality. I’m guessing sewing for myself will be put on hold for the next little while, though I did have a dream of making some nice, comfortable nursing-friendly pajamas, so maybe I’ll make that come true! Otherwise, I have a couple not-for-me sewing projects as well as some blog posts to catch up on, if/when I get around to them. These maternity projects were just the right speed for me currently, and I’m glad I squeezed them!
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