So grateful to have this little munchkin in my belly but wow, I wasn't prepared for the numbing influence on my brain! Actually I've found it hard not not to think of anything but cheese on toast with dark chocolate for the past few months...
When I finally got down to some selfish sewing all I could think about were shirtdresses though - and my obsession with a stretchy Meghan Nielsen pencil skirt (more below)
For the shirt dresses I drafted a basic shirt pattern with a narrow button placket and collar. I used the same pattern for both, with a little variation, and to make room for the bump I cut the waist a little higher than usual and added some gathers.
The fabric on top is a sheer cotton voile and the skirt fabric is is a lovely summery Ikat Indian cotton from Faberwood. I love this fabric so much that I purposely kept the skirt a dirndl style rectangle so that I can take it off and reuse it for something else when I don't need the bump dress anymore.
For the second shirtdress, I used the same shirt pattern but lengthened the placket to the hem of the skirt, cutting the skirt front in half so that the whole dress opens fully, and added a cuff to the sleeves and a belt. The skirt on this one is also gently angled at the sides.
The fabric is my own design - courtesy of Woven Monkey !
I spent a few minutes playing in Adobe Illustrator with triangles and then sent the image off to be printed - a week or so later and voila! My own fabric design. Can't wait to play with this some more - once the energy comes back (and a napping baby, right?)
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| www.wovenmonkey.com |
The other life saver has been this Meghan Nielsen Erin Maternity skirt - super fast, comfy and satisfying. It's also so versatile and requires so little fabric - I'm keeping the pattern and making it for my pregnant friends. I'll really miss wearing this one!
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| Fabric shopping in Palermo, Sicily |
Feeling my selfish sewing time is limited, I've managed to knock out three more shirt dresses for the summer...hoping they'll be the ticket for warm days pre and post bump.
The three on the left are for later this summer, the two on the right were made specifically for pregnancy - you can see that the waist is just a couple of inches higher from the natural waist.
Just wondering, do you all wear shirt dresses or is my current obsession pregnancy induced? What do you think of them - dowdy or fun?
Happy stitching x
