Maternity Fashion

Since I am fast approaching the end of this pregnancy (approximately 1-1/2 weeks to go!) I thought I'd take a moment to capture some of the creative fashions I've made this time around. Maternity clothes are kind of a funny thing. I know at least for me that when I first discover I'm expecting, I can't wait to wear some cute maternity clothes. I love to browse the thrift stores looking for lovely tops and just-the-right pants (decent skirts are a very rare find, but I did find one that I really liked). But by the time the ninth month rolls around, I am looking at my non-maternity clothes in the closet ever so longingly! Probably because there are fewer and fewer of my maternity clothes that I can actually wear comfortably. I most definitely look forward to getting out of compression hose! They do the job and I am grateful for them, but they are cumbersome. I think sometime I may do a post on "things I know now that I wish I knew in earlier pregnancies." But that's another subject...

I really do love to wear skirts. And some days I just plain like a comfortable pair of jeans or khaki twill-type pants (I don't know what you call them). I have managed to find a couple of those for this pregnancy. To be quite honest, most of the time I just find the pants to be not-so-comfortable in later pregnancy primarily because I always feel like they're falling down and then that I have 3 or 4 layers I have to wear altogether. Compression hose under pants aren't so comfy. And they're very hot in the summer!

So this time around I wanted to create some lovely things by upcycling (I love the trend of taking used things and re-creating them)! I made myself three maternity skirts, each a little different. This is what I am wearing today.


I call this my "Army skirt makeover." I found this skirt at Goodwill and picked it up to look at it. I discovered it was actually a women's Army uniform maternity skirt. I thought I could probably make something creative out of it and I liked the dark green color. I added some ruffles to the bottom and voila! Here it is! (If you didn't know already, I DO like pink!)


Last year I made my Country Girls some skirts modeled after an inspiration I received on a trip to North Carolina. I adored some skirts these young ladies had made and I asked them about it. On our drive time back to Virginia, I sketched out some plans and designs. So I decided to do the same concept with a pair of maternity jean shorts I found at a thrift store. This was the result.




This one has a definite Western flair and closely matches the skirts I made for my girls. The only bummer is that I won't be able to wear it soon! I really like it.

The final one I made was my motivation to try a technique I had been wanting to try for a couple of years and hadn't quite got around to--making a skirt out of a pair of jeans. So I took an old pair of maternity jeans from my box and went to work. This is what I came up with.

This one is very comfortable on the tummy. I'll be trying this technique again on a regular pair of jeans sometime. My girls have already made their own too.

These were fun ideas to implement and I'll be using the ideas as springboards to more adventures with the sewing machine, I'm sure. I'm glad to have made some practical and pretty items to get me through this pregnancy. I've never had much of a maternity wardrobe, having borrowed many throughout my season of motherhood and maintaining a rather small maternity wardrobe otherwise. It's nice to have some classic items or ideas to make them. The modern maternity trends don't strike me as very lovely. Everything seems made of knits to cling to the belly, and made out of cheap fabric. I think pregnancy should be a time for loveliness (I think every thing should be an opportunity for loveliness in a woman's life). Because what God is crafting in the womb is one of the most amazing, lovely things there is.