Friday 7 October 2011

Ch-ch-changes and Finished FESA item




























































Sit down... I have a confession to make...



I made the first pair of trousers on my Fall Essentials Sewalong list a few weeks ago. They are a grey chambray cotton with 5% linen blend. And now it is time to confess a little something... I have given myself an extra challenge in my FESA sewalong as I am expecting a baby! He or she is due in January. So I am about 25 weeks now. This was an unplanned surprise, so much so that I had given my maternity clothes away. To someone who lives in Poland - too far away and costly to post them back. I had also given away the cot, moses basket, car seat, highchair attachment, most of the baby clothes...etc, etc, are you seeing the situation? The only big item I still had was the pram.




So recently I have been thrifting and buying second hand things for baby. I managed to buy a beautiful cot bed (actually much nicer than our old one) from a friend of a friend, and a first stage car seat from another friend. I have been buying bits and pieces of baby clothes in the charity shops.
I cannot afford to be buying maternity clothes though. I just allowed myself one pair of second hand maternity jeans on ebay. They are at that stage where tend to fall down all day resulting in me permanently hoiking them up. I keep reminding myself that soon they will fit.




I have been lucky in that I happened to have made quite a lot of loose tops like Simplicity 3835 and my portfolio dress - these have been great to wear in this mid stage. BUT I am aware that at some point I may need a little extra space in my clothes.
So, I decided to start with maternity trousers. My trusty gap charity shop jeans saw me through to 22 weeks but just are too tight now. I searched for maternity patterns and to be honest the big pattern companies don't have many. I read some reviews of Easy Burda 8376 and decided to use this one as a good basic trouser pattern. Any pregnant readers out there, believe me, these are so easy to make. Only five pieces.



Seriously, this maternity sewing is great...no zips, no buttonholes, no waistbands. I loves it.



The trousers have a jersey panel that goes over the bump and they have a simple casing and elastic waist. I used an old t shirt to make the panel. The panel looks to me like a teddy bear's stomach but it is super comfortable. When it came to cutting out the trousers, being the meanie that I am, I tried to squeeze the 2 metres required from 1 metre of stash fabric. It worked but only just and I had to make an extra casing for the back from another piece of spotty scrap fabric. To give them a bit more length. They are just, just long enough but only because I have short legs! My only concern is that they won't be warm enough in a month or two. So I am thinking of making another pair in some winterish fabric, I am also thinking of using the jersey panel pattern piece to refashion some pre-made trousers into maternity but I just haven't seen any charity shop trousers I like recently.




However I liked making the trousers so much that I made some grey wool mix winter shorts from the same pattern. I have almost finished these. The photo shows the side pocket detail. I used the left over fabric from making my Uniform Project dress last year.



I am in love with these shorts even if I will look like a strange gender-mix of pregnant woman and school boy. That is weird I know. But they do look a bit like my son's school shorts. I will just have to make sure I don't wear them with a school jumper and satchel.

16 comments:

  1. What exciting news!!! And lovely trousers too! I found a refashion for regular to maternity jeans post about a year ago - http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=28377
    not sure if it's the same one, but might be worth a try if you're addicted to jeans like I am!

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  2. Oh congratulations!! I'm impressed you've managed to make maternity wear, it's one of those weird things in my head that you can only buy (don't ask me why!).

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  3. Congrats! Your pants are super cute too - I love the polka dots :)

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  4. Oooh, another little one coming along, how exciting! Hehe, I also always try to squeeze pattern pieces out of as little fabric as possible... good job on the pants! Do I need to mention that I love the polka-dot waistband?

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  5. congratulations...that is very exciting news indeed!XXXX

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  6. Congratulations! More little people means more fun!

    I've only just given away my maternity trousers or I'd have brought you some tomorrow - dang.

    Nice trousers though and they'd be lovely in a light wool for the colder weather ahead.

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  7. Congratulations to you and all the family with the new addition to be !!! How exciting! Enjoy your day tomorrow.x

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  8. I am do excited for you too! I think maternity shorts will be so cool. Is there any chance you could find a groovy 60s maternity pattern and make it up? There are so many I see that I feel drawn to and know in a similar situation would give them a go!!

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  9. Congratulations! What wonderful news! I think the patterns you show look great and very comfy and practical. Have you thought about sewing a belly band? I had one (store bought) when pregnant with my cabbages and it's a great help in extending the life of your trousers or even skirts. You can still wear them even when they no longer zip up. The bands are rather pricey, but I bet if you got a stretchy fabric with a lot of resistance, you could make one for yourself. Anyway, congrats again! :-)

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  10. I am with scruffy badger on the vintage patterns.There are some absolutely gorgeous maternity patterns out there from the 50's and 60's you have just got to have a go at one!!

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  11. Oh wow! CONGRATULATIONS!!! Super, super exciting!!!

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  12. Congratulations!!! I was so thrilled to see your face in Scruffy Badger's post. I was just at a dear friend's baby shower this weekend (it's her first child) and she's so enamored with her maternity clothes she can't imagine going back to tight waistbands again! Looking forward to all your new wares [even though I can barely comment :( only at my work computer]

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  13. Oh congratulations! And yes - Scruffybadger is right, there are lots of vintage maternity patterns out there that nobody seems to want, so they are cheap e.g. on etsy. Actually, I think I have something you might like - I will email you! :)

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  14. Congratulations! That is so exciting news, and I am loving the idea of winter short. Sounds very cool to me! :-)

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  15. Congratulations!!! that is such exciting news! Sending you very best wishes and a few virtual hugs... and don't worry too much about maternity gear, apart from keeping warm and comfortable but the time passes so quickly and then you have no need for them any more. (which you would know about, of course...! being a mother of two) I think I got by on a very skeleton wardrobe.

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  16. So pleased for you! Such lovely news. Debbie, I've been hoarding a few maternity patterns recently, (I'm not pregnant but I hope to be in a couple of years!) would you like me to post the to you? Is there time to make whole new garments/do you have the motivation? If so, email me your address and I'll get them in the post to you asap. I won't be offended at all if you don't end up using them.

    Zo xxxx

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