Maternity Clothes

[theTramp]

Where is hot and where is not. Online stores worth checking out. High street stores worth visiting. Good for petites. Good for giantesses. Second hand e-bay bargains - worthwhile? Views and reviews of the maternity gear you have bought.. all for the benefit of everyone who is desperately looking.

Argh! New Look - nightmare! All of the jeans were on hangers that meant that they were in half and all the sizes were upside down, trailing on the floor - literally no way of knowing the sizes without either sitting on the floor or bending over and getting super dizzy. Frustrating!

Following on from advise on this thread I'll be making a beeline for H&M in Cardiff in a couple of weeks.

Anyone seen any corduroy skirts anywhere? I usually live in them through winter and can't find any :(

Also recommendations for where to buy petite stuff and a good denim skirt?

Also (sorry) can you buy funky opaque maternity tights?

sundae mamas and papas have a knee-length corduroy skirt - just saw it on their website.

I just went on H&M's website but the things I wanted (just some leggings and tights) weren't available for delivery until well into October.

Secondsop I can't find it :o( they have one denim skirt but not in my size.

This maternity clothes shopping is making me grumpy already!

Unless you need the warmth of tights, I switched to hold ups when I was pregnant. Much more comfortable, loads of choice of patterns and I havent worn tights since. You get what you pay for though. I have Wolford hold ups that are four years old and still perfect.

sundae I can't link on my phone but it's in the "Up to 50% off maternity clothes" section, if you click on that yellowish banner on the main homepage. On the second page of items, I think, just called "Cord skirt". It looks just like the denim skirt in shape.

Hold ups could be an option, good plan. I hadn't really thought of that Lambzig! I've only really bought these before as sheer, very special holdups, and tended to rip them easily so they didn't last! I got 2x pairs mat tights this week from mothercare online, one boring black but one pair sundae were a bit more funky. Yet to try on.

BonaDea I couldn't find much on Oxford street to try on at all, even in H&M, which people seem to recommend. Debenhams have a good size section of their own Red Herring label, which is ok though nothing special. I think there are these boutique places but they are all over London - and would mean a special trip.

I'm very pleased with the dress and top from Isabella Oliver I got at half price in the sale though. Fabric lovely and looks flattering.

Hmm, thanks. Had a look in H&M at lunchtime, but was very uninspired. I think for basics it will probably be ok, but they lacked a range of sizes and seemed to still have a lot of summer stock in.

John Lewis stocks pretty much exclusively Seraphine which seems to be nice quality and less expensive than Isabella Oliver.

Lemon - keep being drawn back to the IO website, but unfortunately the things I want are not in the sale. Typical! Think I will wait until I am a bit bigger, then invest (although I guess with something like the wrap top, if I start wearing it now the price per wear will come down!!).

So I went to H&M, Debenhams, Top Shop & a few other stores that had nothing at all today.

The maternity selection is woeful - and this is Oxford St. Top Shop seemed to have best jeans on offer, although at £40 I think over priced. The tops were horrid & everything looked cheap. Debenhams had a couple of ok dresses, but on the whole meh. H&M had bugger all. So I'm not impressed.

And being a total idiot I bought the size I didn't want to buy rather than the ones I did from Top Shop so need to go back. Argh!

Any other plus-size ladies out there, struggling with nice clothes? Think I'm going to stick with my existing stretch dresses that I make myself as I'm not having much luck instore or online although Hennes goes up to my size but the selection is very small. Also lots of overbump trousers seem to be really skinny-legged.

My husband's going away soon to a country where he can get stuff made cheaply so I'll send a dress for them to copy me a load more of, plus a wrap dress to get a few made for breastfeeding.

What I believe:

If you need professional clothes for work, buy expensive well fitting maternity clothes.

If you need clothes for socialising in evenings/weekends/lazing around the house, then just go to Primark and buy bigger sizes. Almost everything in Primark is elasticated so it easily goes over ones bump :)

Have IO completely changed in the last two years then?
Got away with larger sizes with DS as was 27, tiny and not client facing.
Bought a consignment of IO stuff when expecting DD at 35 and was hugely disappointed.
Completely different colours from the website pix, rubbish fabric/cuts/seams etc.
Even the bits I did keep were a bit crap tbh, badly cut, and looked worn with bobbling and threads constantly coming loose or simply felt scratchy and uncomfortable.

Found a local dressmaker who put jersey panels into existing workwear and converted it back again after mat leave.

I like a well tailored dress/suit and was lovely to be able to continue wearing my favourites. Worked up to my due date for all mine and most things carried me through till the end. Was a damn sight cheaper too.

Am doing the same again now I'm 14 weeks with twins. All mine have been winter babies though. Wouldn't work for summer.

Off to cast a sceptical bitter eye over IO again!

A - they must have, or you were just v v unlucky

maternalshop.com is great.

Just a quick add, just ordered some Leggins, jeans and trousers from h and m with 10% off and free delivery code and then £5 off code. Annoying thd leggings come in size 10-12 or 14-16 I am z size 12 grr ordered the bigger ones so hoping they don't fall down!!

The H&M on Regent Street has a pretty good maternity section in the basement, don't think any of their other stores around central London stock any.

My Seraphine jeans are a dream!!! Wasn't really sure how I would feel about under the bump and was really surprised how comfortable they were! Feel as good as my best fit non pregnancy jeans and get compliments on them all the time :)

Apparently Isabella Oliver have a 17% off discount this week - code is LFW2012

I've just received Seraphine catalogue, loads that looks lovely - want!

For those of you still early on I found that Mango's jersey dresses were really good for work. Had a variety of different styles and sizes with lots of ruching etc which stretched as i got bigger and only around £30. They fitted me until about 28 weeks and made me still feel presentable at work!

Other factor to consider is if planning to breastfeed, as this further affects your choices. I got pregnant again straight after stopping bf so have had to rely on a reduced stretchy wardrobe for two and a half years now! I mostly wear dresses which I just find preferable and tend to go for non maternity. Monsoon have good quality jersey which hangs well and sees you through pregnancy, post baby belly and bf. Hobbs and Betty Jackson at Debenhams also work for me. Next maternity leggings surpassed all others for chillier times or when as today my dress is shorter due to a 41 week bump!

I'm hearing negative reviews for Dotty Ps mat wear and customer service on other threads. Sounds like one to avoid ladies.

I'd contradict an earlier poster who said not to invest much in the early pregnancy stage clothes - if you can find regular clothes (no maternity) with stretch I would I invest away because it's likely your tummy won't disappear overnight once the baby is born and it's really lovely to have some decent clothes to wear to give you a boost during that early stage. White company roll top jobbers are perfect for this stage, as are wrap dresses (also good for breastfeeding in) and tunic / a-line shirts.

I don't fit gap clothes normally but their maternity jeans were perfect for me (5' 8" size 12-14), h&m vests fab, seraphine good, had some fantastic workwear from formes, bravissimo maternity bras were terrific, actually pretty with a decent shape.

Jobbers! Joggers even.... Stupid iPad autocorrect

I'm 27 weeks and still wearing my normal clothes most of the time as I had some nice flowy loose stuff and leggings anyway. If I need to look smart for work I chuck on a blazer and some nice jewellery over a black mat dress I got from Topshop.

As it gets colder I'll be wearing jumper dresses (all non maternity) with leggings and boots which is smart enough for me 90% of the time.

I'm holding out until the NCT sale in two weeks

Still in a limited selection of pre-preg clothes at 20 weeks and thoroughly frustrated with vanity sizing of maternity clothes. It really doesn't matter what size the label says if it fits! My ribs / shoulders are too big for standard ranges in my normal size but the maternity versions drown me even allowing for bump growth....... Does anywhere do petite maternity ranges in a 6-8 (ridiculous as 5'4 and size 8-10 normally so not particularly small)