Sewing maternity clothes.

[CardiCorgi]

Has anyone made anything themselves? I saw that next month's Burda magazine has some maternity clothes in it so I bought it and also dug out an old Burda (bought at the time for the petite jacket which I still haven't made). I now have a choice of things which are far too difficult and a couple of tops and dresses which look as though I could manage them.

Bump bands don't look that difficult either.

Anyone else?

I haven't made anything specifically maternity yet but I started a dressmaking course before I got pregnant and happened to choose to make a tunic top in stretch jersey - I think it'll fit me for some time to come!

Atm, I'm making a silk chiffon bolero-type jacket for a wedding this summer, but I might make a maternity dress when I finish that.

I haven't made anything, but did see a woman at the antenatal clinic wearing a really cute tailored tunic and thought hmmm, that would be straightforward enough to make. Won't get round to it though as baby is practically cooked now.

Not made anything from scratch, but added big stretchy bands to waistband of a few pairs of trousers as lots of under-bump styles just fall down on me. Have used old tight-fitting t-shirts as hard find good jersey fabric round here.

Also done a lot of mending - I must be very hard on maternity clothes.

Great idea! I'm no seamstress but thought that the bump bands were a rip off for a bit of fabric, plus being a size 10 meant that the ones I bought were too big anyway and just fell down. Like Lastyearsmodel did, modifying your own clothes is probably the most useful. Some of my low rise jeans would have been perfect if they'd had an elasticated waistband put on to replace what was there. I've a 'neat' bump too, so putting a couple of darts into some of the maternity tops too would have meant it didn't look like I was wearing a tent.

I'm 38 weeks now so well beyond help on this, but will keep an eye on the thread to see how it progresses.

OOHhh - I shall have to get my hands on that issue of Burda then - I've scoured the internet, and all I can find are hideous mu-mus and pinafores from the eighties.....

I'm living in jeans with braces, and some non-maternity tunic tops from dorothy perkins at the moment, and it's just not enough.

I watched project runway recently where they did some beautiful dresses for a pregnant (at the time) Heidi Klum, but home-sew maternity patterns just don't seem to have moved with the times

There is a good preview on the Burda site. I'm not that taken with the straight blouse and dress as I worry that they could look a bit tent like, but the stretch wrap dress and top both look good.
The Canadian company Jalie do a lot of stretch patterns which can also be used for maternity clothing and I found a useful tutorial on making a full tummy adjustment here: rowena.typepad.com/rostitchery/2006/04/full_tummy_adju.html