Maternity Sewing: Some Things to Do

(Warning: Cute baby pictures ahead, if you have an aversion to babies, better stop reading now.)

Maternity clothes, you either love them or hate them. Unfortunately, I fall into the latter category. With my first pregnancy I was still working at a hospital part time, so scrubs were easy. I also toured with a band that summer, so I had a few dressier things. Mostly though, my maternity wardrobe consisted of jeans, shorts, and t-shirts (baby was due Oct. 31, but born Nov.2). I didn't really like most of what I wore, but for some reason didn't see any other options. Even the modern maternity sewing patterns bored me.

Oldest daughter as a newborn.

Fast forward to my second pregnancy, due in March. Since I had mostly summery things, I knew I'd need some more winter appropriate maternity. I did go and buy a few things at a Motherhood Maternity store, but they are really expensive even on sale, and I had a few friends who were "done" having children and gave me their maternity wardrobes (for some reason a lot of people I know are "done" having kids and feel the need to give me their old clothes, lol). Again, I was less than excited. At this point I had some vintage sewing patterns, but it had never dawned on me to look for vintage maternity patterns until now. Immediately I started searching and bought some form eBay and Etsy. I felt so much better about how I looked after I was able to sew a few things that actually fit, had style, and flattered me.

Our first son as a newborn.

My third pregnancy was due in August, but I wasn't about to wear just the same old shorts and t-shirts. So, again I went to eBay and Etsy and our local charity thrift store and stocked up on vintage summery maternity patterns. I sewed a lot of summer dresses during that pregnancy.

Second son as a newborn.

Here I am on my fourth pregnancy, and no I don't know if it will be my last or not, but since I'm not too old to have kids yet, I don't feel the need to even think about it yet. And again I'm anxious to both start wearing the things I made previously and to fill in some modern maternity hand-me-downs with cute vintage sewn ones. I'm hoping to have a complete sewn vintage maternity or vintage inspired wardrobe, but I know that's not very likely, and donate the modern maternity clothes to someone who would really want and use them.

So, what are these gaps? Well, I have a lot of modern maternity tops, but have none that I have sewn from vintage patterns, so I'm hoping to sew some of them up as well as some pants, capris, or shorts. And here are some options from my bigger than should be allowed vintage pattern collection.

Simplicity 6024

I really like the sailor collar on this pattern and it includes the pants and shorts patterns, too. And I so want to make the dress for this summer!

Simplicity 1472

I simply adore the collars and pleats of this pattern and the sleeveless version would be perfect for this summer.

Simplicity 1174

Again, this pattern includes the patterns for both tops and bottoms, so very practical. These look really breezy and cool for the hot and humid southern august I'll be pregnant through.

Simplicity 7852

Another great loose summery top. I really like the peachy colored one.

Simplicity 6061

A perfect patterns for bottoms. I think I would like to make the pants version shortened to be capri length.

Okay, so the only problem I see with some of the vintage maternity patterns for tops is that I don't really fit in them yet, but that just gives me plenty of time to sew them up!

What do you think of vintage maternity clothes? Are they cuter than modern ones?