A plain old brown skirt

I just realized today that I totally never blogged this project.  Probably because it was pretty darn boring.

Because all I did was make a brown version of Megan Nielsen's great Ruched Maternity Skirt pattern.

And well, it's just kinda boring and brown I guess.

Good news?  It still fits me at 36 weeks pregnant! Unlike the lovely blue polka dot one, which I can't get on anymore.   I made this one almost two months  ago, so it's gotten some good wear.  Now I'm off work though, so it's comfy leggings for me till delivery methinks!

I did make the bigger size which probably helped, and visited my sister to use her machine with extra special stretch stitches which made the waistband more co-operative.

Please excuse the crappy pictures (again)  I can never catch good daylight these days, and I clearly should work on my indoor photo lighting skills. :-)

Anyways, this will be it for maternity projects for sure.  I'm taking it easy this week in order to keep this baby inside till at least 37 weeks (little M was early, and I don't want a repeat of that!)

I'm hoping I feel up to finishing some newborn projects, but no guarantees!

All wrapped up in red

And finally here's my third Megan Nielsen maternity pattern complete!  And it turned out pretty good I think!

Its the Wrapped Maternity top.  It uses a ton of fabric (and a ton of thread hemming the two wrap pieces, but was well worth it.  Still a pretty easy sew, and it looks cute.

It does though take some time to wrap and adjust properly, but I like that I'll be able to adjust the length later and wear it post maternity too.  Its cross over front will make for a good nursing top too!

I made it about 2 weeks ago (pre-KCWC), so that's my 30 week belly, and it's growing these days!

Also a few words on the pants.  I got my hands on a pair of second hand, barely worn Gap maternity cords, and used this tutorial from Cotton and Curls to make them into skinnies.  Perfect for fall!

I had a few more maternity projects planned, but I may give up soon, as I only have 4 more weeks of work left, and a ton of other stuff I need to get done for this baby!  We'll see, perhaps you just start seeing more sewing for teeny babies here instead!

A Green Rie

I love green.  It's definitely my favourite colour.  My wedding dress was actually a very pale green even.  So not surprisingly, when shopping for knit fabric for this project I bought green.  Plain, simple, and awesome.  It's a pretty nice shade to I think. Some may think it kinda snotty in colour, but I just think it looks luscious!

And so my maternity sewing continues, not at the pace I would have liked, but seeing as 3 weeks ago we decided kinda last minute to throw our house up for sale in hopes of moving to another lovely house (don't worry it's old too!), my sewing plans have been side tracked.  It's hard to sew when half your supplies are in your sisters basement 20 minutes away so your sewing nook can look tidy.  It's hard to sew when most of your energy (the littler you have) is focused on keep the house tidy in case of a showing.  So it's been a bit stressful, which sewing actually helps, but I think my pregnancy tiredness is making it all harder.

So here's to hopefully selling very very soon (so we can move before I deliver!) and to hopefully more maternity and baby sewing being squeezed in somewhere!

But back to the dress.  It's the Rie Dress pattern by Megan Nielsen.  Another simple yet awesome one.  Definitely nothing too complicated here, and this time I even put on my double needles to sew the hems and neck line!  

I made up the XS like I normally do, but I forgot I have these behemoth shoulders in comparison to the rest of little me.  So at first the bodice was pulling across the front like crazy.  Ack.  So I thought of cutting the next size up in bodice as I have tons of this fabric, but I didn't feel like taking everything out.  SO I thought I'd try resewing the arms with the tiniest seam possible (it's cut with 5/8ths)  So I sewed them in with about a 1/4 seam and undid the original seams, and voila! no serious pulling and it fits just fine!

I also cut the longest length as I usually need it, but I probably didn't as I intended it to be worn like a tunic, but at this length I probably could wear it without tights (or jeggings in the photos, that's right everyone, I bought maternity jeggings, and they are awesomely comfortable)  Don't worry though I'll only be wearing them with long shirts, unlikes all the young kids these days :)

Oh and I thought with such a simple dress, I should make me a fancy belt.  So I used up some scraps of the girliest fabric I could find and made the Empire Cinch from Anna Maria Horner's Handmade Beginnings book.  It makes me look rather like a present, but hey, I am kind carrying a very important package!

But for those simpler days, I can just belt it like this.  And the good thing with this dress is that post baby, I should be able to belt it at the waist and keep wearing it, yay!

Oh and in case you all don't know about it yet, in a few weeks is the Fall edition of Elsie Marley's KCWC (Kids Clothing Week Challenge).  I'm hoping to get a few things done for this new baby, and maybe something for little M!  Check it out!

Polka Dot Ruched Maternity Skirt

I've been eying several of Megan Nielsen's patterns for a while, long before I knew I was pregnant again.  So after acquiring a few on a recent trip (from the only store in Canada that seems to physically stock them (love you the workroom!)  All I had to do was wait until this cute little baby gave me an evening I didn't want to just spend on the couch to make something!

Last pregnancy I was mostly pregnant in the winter and wore lots of pants, so while I have a fair number of maternity tops, I wanted more skirts!  Hence the ruched maternity skirt seemed a good start!

It is SUPER quick and easy to sew (especially when one doesn't bother to switch to a double needle to hem, which I think I might resew with as it needs the stretch!)  It took maybe an hour or so.  I have a pile of this navy and white polkadot fabric as well, and seemed good for a trial of the skirt.  A bit thin perhaps, but super stretchy.

Results?  As other bloggers/sewists have noted, its sure is one sexy little skirt!  No room to hide any bodily imperfections!  Which also makes it awesome to show of your growing bump!  Yet very, very comfy.  I do love that pregnancy makes it ok for a grown woman to wear lots of elastic stretchy waist stuff to work!  So much more comfy than fussy waistbands, zippers and buttons.

Poor yellow grass!  We're in a serious drought up here, it's been super hot and dry for weeks, something not too common here.

I made up the XS (which is my normal pre-pregnancy size, although I think if I make it again with a slightly weightier knit I'll make a S.  I just barely got it over my hips, even with the stretch!  I'm thinking I've widened more than I thought from my pre-pregnancy size!

I see at least one more of these in my near future, along with attempts at a few of her other maternity patterns hopefully very soon (assuming baby junior co-operates of course)!