Well, I made a bit more maternity-appropriate clothing in the past week or so. The following dress was made up from some fabric that is so pretty I may well wear it even after the baby is born.
The pattern is Simplicity 5034 from 1973.
With sleeves ganked from another pattern contemporary to it, as I wanted short, flowy sleeves, since this is to be a summer dress.
This is what I ended up with:
This configuration had been used once before, when I was a college-student and very inexperienced seasmstress. I’d used a rayon challis which was very pretty when pressed, but would rumple up into horribleness pretty much immediately.
I either threw or gave away this dress years and years ago. It was virtually un-wearable.
Also, to my enduring shame, I once used a variation on this pattern to make myself a Ren Faire dress.
I was in College. You experiment during those years. You make decisions you later cringe about. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.
The other thing I recently made, which isn’t as pretty, but is of immediate use is a new work blouse.
We have to wear white blouses, black trousers, and some sort of scarf around our necks as our work uniform. As my boobs are now exceeding the capacity of any of my extant blouses, and I expect my lower abdomen to start making itself obtrusive in the coming weeks and months, I figured rather than fucking around and buying other boring, white blouses a size up, I’d just go whole-hog and make a proper pregnant-lady smock of the old-school style.
I used Vogue 8709, which is a contemporary pattern which has elements of the Yves St. Laurent for Dior “Trapeze” line. This was the silhouette favored by ladies of my grandparents’ generation while they were making the Baby Boom. Watch second-series episodes of I Love Lucy, and you’ll see what I’m talking about.
In this case, I used elements from both options in the envelope.
I used the collar of View A,
And the sleeves of View B.
The peplum has a weird little offset pleat in back which I don’t really love, but didn’t really feel like drafting out, either.
What I do like is how the peplum wraps all the way around from back to front and becomes an integrated part of the draped pockets. I am already loving having the pockets in my work blouse, as I can keep a chapstick, my log-in ID card, my extra “paid” stickers, etc., right close and handy.
It’s not the most beautiful or exciting garment that one could make and wear, but it will do very nicely for what I need. I’ve determined that I am less in favor of the “enhance-your-bump” style of maternity fashion, and more in favor of “wear-a-colossal-tarp” dressing. It just feels more private.