Tall girls' clothing corner...

[Longtalljosie]

Hi everyone...

Following on from a discussion about maternity jeans, I thought it might be a good idea to share tips on maternity wear.

I've heard of beanpole bumps - but is there anywhere else we should be looking?

Long Tall Sally seem pretty disappointing - one pair of trousers - are you kidding?

But I'm currently wondering about pyjamas or nighties - it's hard to order online if you can't be sure they'll cover your bum!

Any tips / advice?

My tip is these fab jersey trousers from Jojo Maman Bebe. They may say 30" inside leg but due to the heaviness of the fabric they are really far more like 34"! And they're incredibly comfortable too - I live in them...

I'm not as tall as some of you ladies at 5'8" but I did find Next to be great. I could try maternity jeans on in regular length at the shop and if they fit okay elsewhere and were comfortable could have them delivered in the long size to my home in a matter of days,and I seem to remember it being free, too. I also bought some non maternity tops in there that are big and long enough for the bump which is brilliant.

I'm also over 6' tall with 36" leg and Next extra long trousers are wonderful (although their lengths don't seem to be very consistent, I have bought some trousers that have been too long and others not quite long enough). Ignore what they say about the leg lengths on their website (they say long is 31" and extra long is 33", this is complete rubbish, in reality long is about 33" and extra long is about 35" if you compare with other brands).

www.next.co.uk/shopping/women/maternity/22/1

These have been a life saver for me - I wear them all the time. They can look quite smart or just worn as yoga trousers, they're really stretchy and comfy, don't fall down and best of all they're only £17. Because they have such a big waistband they can be worn a bit lower down if they're not quite long enough too. You can only buy extra long trousers from Next online though (as far as I know). There are quite a few specialist websites with tall maternity wear now, but I tend to find that their ranges always look slightly odd, and they are always very expensive.

Could try www.tallmaternitystore.co.uk, they have a sale on and are really helpful.

www.tallmaternitystore.co.uk

Hiya - I hope you don't mind me sticking my two-penneth in on this thread? It's a relief to find others in a similar position.
I'm only 5'8" and usually a size 14 but most of my height is made-up of my insanely long body/torso and so I always have to get my tops and dresses at shops for taller women or Topshop/New Look tall ranges, and usually it's hard finding tights/leggings that come up high enough. Now I'm pregnant (16 weeks) it's murder trying to get stuff to fit isn't it??

After trying for weeks in my rubbish town centre and online with no joy, today I've found and ordered the following which I think seem to solve the problem:

Pack of 3 Bump Bands from New Look for £9.99 (in grey, black and white) for wearing with pre-pg tops and trousers

60 denier tights (1 in black, 1 in purple) in Extra Large, from Mothercare Online, are over-the-bump and look like they come up high. Fingers crossed.

New Look's Maternity Range winter range has some good jumper-dresses that could be worn (in my case) as jumpers and there's £5 off them at mo!

New Look's pack of 2 over-the-bump black leggings in large (then, as they're stretchy and probably worn under boots it doesnt matter if they come up around mid-calf rather than ankle.

Keeping fingers crossed that these staples will be able to help me out of a complete sartorial hole! Hope those tips help some of you ladies out too.

Just to add my tuppence worth to the shoes debate - Amber and Jade specialise in sizes 8-13 and do a variety of widths in each style.

For clothes, I just stick to Zara, but then I am only 5'10" and wear a 34" leg. Their maternity jeans are very soft and comfortable and I find they are probably an inch or two longer than they need to be for me. I used to be a 10 pre-pregnancy and size M fits like a dream.

They are also great for knitwear and casual dresses - this one is cheap and size L accommodates my huge boobs (32DD - THREE sizes bigger than my pre-pregnancy ones and I am only 17 weeks!) and nicely flows over my bump with plenty of room for growth. Very flattering and did not break the bank.

Hi fellow beanpoles!

I'm 5'11" and I take a 34 leg; not super tall, but it would seem offensively tall for a pregnant woman! Totally concur with the general consensus that shops think only ladies of average height have babies! Here's what I've been doing, if it helps...

New Look online have skinny jeans and bootcut in 2 colours at a 34" inseam. However, every time I've logged on in the last few weeks, they have only had a size 8 in stock. So you can be tall and pregnant at NL, so long as you are a model.

I ended up on ebay; usually I wouldn't really buy second hand gear on , but I figured jeans would be ok. Got a pair of last years Next extra long for 99p; they arrived today and are fantastic. However, upon logging on to the next site, nothing longer than a long, which might do in a pinch, I suppose...

I'm a costume design teacher so I have taken a pair of topshop jeans which I loved anyway, put them on, cut away anything that didn't fit below my bump in a sort of moon shape, and then stitched a panel of strong jersey doubled over to fit my bump exactly. The jersey cost about three pounds. I'm pretty happy with them. Have also put side panels into a pair of smart work trousers. Any half decent local seamstress should be able to do this for you, for a few quid. I figure I am probably going to need new clothes once bump is here anyway, if my hips widen or my shape changes, so no matter if I lose a couple of things to elasticated waistbands! I've got a funny sort of shape anyway and I'm used to letting hems down, taking waists in etc, but like I say, any local sewing shop, decent dry cleaners or seamstress should be able to do lots of alterations for you to make stuff fit better over a bump. I'm now eyeing up my wardrobe wondering if any of my favourite tops could take an empire waist or a couple of panels down the side... Hmm....

Good luck! Has anyone tried the catalogs, marisota etc? They definitely do a great range of sizes usually, but I have no idea if they do a mat range?

Any new tips / suppliers to add to this selection? Friend has a 36" leg & is beginning to wonder if she'll be stuck in 2 pairs of jeans from LTS. She's so pissed she's mailed a no of the shops to complain that they only do tall or maternity and not both!

A word of warning - Topshop's maternity skinny super soft jeans keep sliding down despite having an uncomfortable elastic - what is the point, I ask? They are, however, long enough.

Tallgirls (not sure if we mentioned them above) I have some of their mat jeans which are ok, SUPER LONG and reasonably comfy.

Have also found their normal yoga pants (they do mat ones too but I tried them and sent them back) very comfy with a bump and look ok as 'normal' trousers. They do them in 34, 36 and 38 inside leg...

Hi - so nice to "meet" other tall pregnant mummies! I'm only 5'10" but have 34" leg length so really struggle to get long stuff thats cheap! - Next Long are just long enough and Extra long is good, they are always too long for me. Mamas and papas long are long enough too.

strawberriesncream re Buggies - they are a problem, I bought a Phil and Teds when I had my second which has adjustable handle which was just big enough (sold it now though!) and have a Maclaren Techno XT which has 111cm handles they are good. I've just bought a Bugaboo Chameleon (2nd hand) as the handle goes up really high. My hubby is 6'4" so he really needs a high one too - if its too low you just end up with terrible backache!!

I haven't had any from there, but just got 2 pairs (one jeans, one black trousers) from Maternatall. They were quite cheap and arrived quickly. I am usually a 36" leg but found these marginally too long, so I took them up. If I am ordering any more I will get the 35".

The jeans I got were called practical magic. Thye are not like real jeans, the fabric is softer. More just denim trousers. Very comfy though.

Iv also found it difficult and have had to resort to legging and stretchy skirts - cannot for the life of me find Jeans that are slim leg and long enough. I'm also a bit of a bargain hunter and I am not going to pay a ridiculous amount for trousers. I would love a pair of maternity skinny jeans as with the baggy mat tops i find if the bottoms are baggy I look like some kind of wannabe rapper!

I have a wedding in a few weeks and would like to get a nice dress that flatters small bump any suggestions of places to look? Also quite plain no little house on prarie type patterns!

Isabella Oliver has some lovely dresses on sale.