Where's good for maternity clothes/normal clothes that are loose at the waist?

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I'm about 13 weeks pregnant with first baby. I don't really need maternity stuff yet but my usual clothes are all quite fitted round the waist (am an hourglass shape, petite with rubbish legs) and they are starting to get a bit tight. I've been undoing the top button but that's not the most dignified of looks!

Can you tell me where you found good maternity wear? I don't really know where to start looking. Gap? topshop? more specialist places?

I'm especially interested in clothes that don't look obviously "maternity" but just have a reasonably loose/expandable waistline, so I could wear them now and also post birth.

Thanks!

I don't know about stuff you could wear post-pregnancy but I found Next to have the best maternity clothes range. I also hear H&M is good. Mamas & Papas and Jojo Maman Bebe are good but pricey. What you might find useful
Is to buy a bump band which is a jersey band that sits over the waistband of existing clothes or waist expanders (I got bump band from Mamas & Papas and expanders/extenders from eBay).

I liked Topshop for maternity jeans first time round and stocked up on some New Look basic stripey t-shirts this time which have been surprisingly good (I don't normally shop there). They have ruching down the side so expand/contract to fit!
Jojomamanbebe has some nice bits although a bit boring sometimes and cut large. Look out for their sale though.
I have bought quite a few dresses/tunic tops in the H&M sales at various points. Just look for stuff with a waist band under the bust and not too short.

I just remembered I bought a few things from funmum.com as well. And just to mention that Next maternity is almost (if not totally) sold online.

Something like this would be useful for example as you can see it gathers in under the bust and then fans out a little!
www.hm.com/gb/product/97209?article=97209-B#shopOrigin=SA
It's very much trial and error though....you have to try stuff on.

I'm looking at Dotty P's, Topshop, New Look and H+M for new stuff. But pretty much the first thing off mate's lips after Congrats is "Ooh, I think I've got such and such in the loft if you'd like to have a look"

I will mostly be surviving the summer in maxi dresses and anything cut for larger people to empire line or natural waist, which seems to be most of places like Primark and Store21. I got a lovely Fat Face frock in the sale which ties under the boobs, bought 2 sizes up and Mum and her friend reckon it'll do for "best" till I'm 6m or so.

Oh, and Matalan maternity looks promising too :)

Jojo Maman Bebe, H&M, Gap and Pumpkin Patch.

Primark for stretchy Ts.

eBay.

New Look and Dotty P.

Matalan and Asda for jeans, new look and h&m for tops. For dresses, I just bought non maternity ones in a style that accommodated my bump :)

Thanks all - loads of ideas here! Bump band definitely sounds good.

Empire line/high waist line is a good idea, it goes totally against the grain for me though as I usually always choose the hourglass shaped clothes! Going to have to get used to the disappearance of my waist I guess

Do New Look and Primark do much in the way of cotton or is it mostly man made?

Never heard of pumpkin patch and funmum so thank you for those! And I hadn't thought of Asda and didn't realise New Look did maternity.

Purple I haven't told many friends yet, maybe the offers will come rolling in when I do! But the ones who've had babies are mostly quite different size to me.

I should have said, I also need stuff for work ("business casual" - no jeans but stretchy tops and chino type trousers are ok) - any ideas where is good for smarter maternity gear?

I got some black trousers for work from Topshop, they were lovely quality, and made my bum look great fit really well

I'm a fairly hourglass 12, and find low empire line quite flattering.

Luckily, I have lots of friends who are also 12-14. Unfortunately, one is my dsil who is 4'10 and another is my best mate who is 5'9. I think I'll be buying my own trousers

Mmm yes a lower empire line/high natural waist could work.

The other issue is, I have terrible acne at the moment, including on my chest so I need high neck lines which also makes empire line look worse. Hoping this will improve though as I get further through the preg.

good tip on the black Topshop trousers, thanks. Usually I find trousers hard to buy due to having large bum and thighs and small waist - but I guess that won't be such a problem while I'm pregnant

Scarf/big necklace/fuckit attitude I've gone for the latter :o

Jojo might be good if you need work clothes then they have lots of those classic basics. This is their workwear page www.jojomamanbebe.co.uk/pu+shop-by+outfit+1+link=page-b1

Primark have good cotton t shirts at the moment. New Look has cotton stuff. You just always need to check the labels.

Be careful simply sizing up. I remain the same size everywhere else apart from my bump (and a bit on the boobs) buying 2 sizes up for me would be like wearing a sack ...everyone's different but not worth spending lots on giant size clothes you may never wear!

The H&M maternity chinos are very good imo.

Gap have two good maternity maxis (one black, one b&w stripes) and I bought two of their bright coloured non maternity maxis too which fit well still at 33 weeks. They're easy to wear and to dress up / down. Gap also have a maxi skirt with roll top in their non maternity range which is great & has fit me all pg. I wore it today with a long Uniqlo silk non maternity tee and leopard print sandals.

I love the pyjama style trousers that are everywhere atm. They have elasticated waists so fit well throughout pg. Zara do some great ones, River Island and New Look too (they're not from their maternity ranges) I wear mine with simple tshirts.

Isabella Oliver is worth a look for work staples - maybe a tshirt or two and a dress. Some people swear by their wrap tops but I never got on with mine.

Oh yes, a big scarves are great if you're hiding your news for a while (Zara are good for these)

re work wear, I work in a very smart environment, and, although I never shop at next normally, they were my savior during pregnancy. I had 2 pairs of their work black trousers with a matching jacket, and a really nice black and white striped maternity shirt to go with. Plus I had two dresses from a US label that I can't remember which tied under the boobs as someone else has suggested. And an Isabella Oliver black wrap dress which was fantastic (and did not make me look pregnant until i got to 18 weeks or so). That got me through work wear.

I got quite a few of my work clothes from Seraphine when I was pregnant. Also Isabella Oliver, although I bought some everyday work trousers from Next and JoJo. IO wrap tops are a total pain for work - you have to re-wrap yourself every time you go to the toilet and I always ended up with a gap somewhere at some point in the day so I wouldn't recommend. I also found they didn't work that well until quite late on in pregnancy as they really need a decent bump to wrap around. (I was huge early on but still found them better from about 28 weeks.)

thanks everyone!

Roll top skirts sound like a fab idea, I could wear those post preg as well.

never heard of Seraphine, will take a look!

more votes for next and isabella oliver I see

Purple you're right about the scarf (and the attitude )

IO do really good sales although things tend to sell out quickly - if you sign up for emails on their website you should get notified when the next sale begins. They also have regular money off codes (latest was 30% off dresses I think - although that might just have been for non-maternity)

ooh thanks suburb

Isabella Oliver, I'm not a fan of wrap styles as my boobs aren't big enough but their long ruched jersey tops are amazeballs, I love them. Hang on for a sale though, I got mine for less than half price. They are lovely thick jersey, I lived in mine from about week 12 until the end and they are as good as new.

I am hourglass-ish and to my surprise I found that 2 of my stretchy wrap dresses from Bravissimo did me proud through to about month 7 of my last pregnancy, when I stopped working!

eBay is the other place for Isabella Oliver. I sold my as new wrap top last week for 1/4 of the original price.

Forgot to add Koka Mama and Pretty Pregnant to my original suggestions.

Duh! Second hand... why didn't I think of that.