Maternity dress finished! And a few other projects

First off, I finally decided what to do to finish of my black dress. I shortened it by a few inches and used more of the teal to do an outside casing over the elastic under the bust. I think I like it a lot more now!




We recently put our boys in a bunk bed. I had initially done Ian's half of the room in the IKEA "Barnslig" theme with duvet cover and animal prints for the wall. So we bought another duvet for Benny, and I had a piece of their fabric in that line, so I did a valance with some polka dot cotton to contrast. Still have to hang the pictures again.



And I whipped up a Charlie Tee for Project First Day. Super easy to understand pattern! A couple years ago I picked up a pile of men's tees in huge sizes on clearance, and as I can't find cute knits locally, I just upcycled one of them. I used existing hems with the fake layer for the sleeves and back, but had to cut the front higher on the tee to keep the screenprint, so did a new hem reusing the contrast fake layer from the original tee.

More maternity tops

Last weekend my friend and I sewed up the Perfect Maternity and Nursing Top together. I chose the wrong fabric for this - it didn't have enough stretch, so sadly doesn't really fit me. Too bad, because I love the fabric (bargin centre score)! Also, the cami piece underneath was stretchier than the outer, so it lay kind of funny...

My mods: added length to the top (long back); shortened the band - at the full size, it was way too wide - hit me way lower than it should, so I just cut it down to about 1.5" wide instead. I will definitely try this pattern again though!




























































The other top I did was Megan's Wrap Around Maternity Top. I used a soft drapey jersey knit in blue. My only mod was to add 1.5" to the sleeve length for my long arms.

Megan Nielsen pattern Giveaway!

Megan Nielsen is giving away one of her fabulous maternity/nursing patterns over at her blog, DIY Maternity! I've already used one of her patterns, the Pina Gathered Dress & Top, to make some maternity things for myself. I went shopping with a friend on Saturday, and we each bought fabric to make more of her patterns!

We both want to make the Perfect Maternity and Nursing Top


























and I'm also going to make the Wrap Around Maternity Top























Head over and check out her lovely patterns and enter her giveaway!

Tutorial - Adding a Faux Cami

Last week I made Megan Nielsen's Gathered Dress and Top pattern to make a dress and a top. First off, the pattern is fabulous - it's affordable ($5), easy to understand, well-illustrated, and fits well. I managed to get a dress and top out of the yardage given, as my fabric was a bit wider. I sewed them side by side assembly-line style.

When I tried them both on, I realized I didn't want to layer under this for summer, so I decided to make a faux cami. (Excuse the odd self-pics and puffy tummy this baby's already pushing out)

Dress with short sleeve option and contrasting ruffle and faux cami:


Top with kimono style sleeves (my alteration) and matching faux cami:






Basically I did half of a tube top attached to the side seams. I'm quite happy with it, as I can push the whole panel down to nurse after baby is born.

Here is my tutorial for a faux cami, in case you want to try this too!

Materials:
small amount of knit fabric to match or coordinate with your outfit
1/4" wide clear elastic

This top has raglan style sleeves, so I sewed the faux cami inside to the side seam and a little ways up the raglan sleeve. You will have to adjust for the style of sleeve your outfit has.







1. Start with the top on, and measure under the bust from side seam to side seam. To this measurement add 1.5" for ease and seam allowance. Then measure up over the bust to where you want the cami to end. This was 5.5" for me, and then I added 0.5" for seam allowance.

2. Cut a rectangle of those dimensions with the maximum stretch going side to side. Here is where you'll need to adjust for different style sleeves. You'll cut a triangular or semi-circle shape out of the top two corners of your rectangle to match your sleeve seam. Slide the fabric under your top to see how it will fit. My "rectangle" ended up being 18" across the bottom, 6" top to bottom, and 15" across the top. The side edges were 4" tall, with a straight triangle cut from each corner to the top.

3. Now you'll be sewing elastic to each of the edges. I used clear swimsuit style elastic, as it's much less bulky than a regular elastic. Cut two lengths of elastic, one about 4" or 5" shorter than the bottom edge of your rectangle, and the other about 3" shorter than your top edge.



4. Serge or zigzag the shorter piece to the top of your rectangle on the wrong side. Then fold that edge down over the elastic to the inside and zigzag it down, making a casing for it.

5. Serge or zigzag the longer piece to the bottom edge on the right side (so that it won't irritate your skin. You won't be sewing a casing for this to avoid bulk).



6. Serge or finish the triangle top edges.

7. Now try the cami under your outfit and pin it in place in the side seams. You can make any adjustments now, making it tighter if needed.



8. Turn the outfit inside out and sew the cami to the side seams and up the sleeve seams. Turn it right side out and tack through the elastic edge of the bottom corners and the dress in the side seam.



That's it - you're finished! Hopefully that was clear. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask! Good luck!