Welcome to day one of
Belly+Baby! I am kicking off the series with my must have maternity item. Pants that are comfortable. I don't know what the deal is with maternity pants but they are all horrible. I mean I guess I should be flattered that my butt is not as big as they think it should be but I guess my legs are too big? I don't know what it is about them but every pair I have (and I have tired a few over the past pregnancies) fall down every time I bend over, or the crotch sits 4 inches too low, of the butt is all baggy, or they make me look and feel like a bloated whale. So this time I said goodbye to the over priced horrible mom to be pants and decided to make my own since you know, I have no torso whatsoever so I break into maternity pants at about 5 weeks in. :)
I am also a full panel girl, I like the support of the full panel, and everything else makes my love handles stick out as much as the baby, who wants that? So the full panel helps smooth everything out in my mind, and since I made these myself they are a full panel with enough to fold down in the earlier months so it looks like a layered tank, and that means one less layer to wear. So on with the show.
I will just warn you now I was having some major lighting issues when I was taking the pictures for these, so bare with the grainy pictures and dark details :) I started with a super cheap pair of pants, these ones are actually from walmart, they were cheap, I liked the teal color, and they had a little stretch to them which I like. You just want them to fit comfortably, with these they fit fine, but zipping them up was out of the question.
I wanted to keep the back waistline in tact since I didn't want them feeling like they were falling down all the time and the back fit fine it was just the front causing me trouble. So I cut a big dip through the front. I cut right through the zipper and then picked the rest of the zipper stub out since it wasn't needed and I didn't want to sew through it. Then I pinned the pockets all flat and did a quick top stitch around the front to sew all the pockets closed. I also cut out the inside pocket lining since the pockets were worthless now and I don't need the added bulk at my thighs.
Next take some knit fabric. The more stretch the better since you will be growing :) I used a rayon knit I think... It has two way stretch and was sturdy but thin, I used less than half a yard. I just made a nice tall piece that could wrap around my belly tightly but still comfortably, then I sewed the piece up the side to create a tube. I tried the tube on over my belly to make sure I liked the fit. You want it to be snug so it stays up but not uncomfortable. Then I folded the tube in half so the top and bottom edge were together and the seam was on the inside of the fold.
With the raw edge at the edge of the pants I pinned to fit stretching the tube as needed. Then I sewed the tube to the pants only along the front where I cut. Remember the back band is in tact so we will sew that later.
Then flip the whole tube up and you will then pin the back of the tube to the back waist band and top stitch the whole tube around the waist which will sew it to the back of the pants as well. The back of the pants will look like the tube is being tucked into the pants. I hope that makes sense since I don't have a picture of that. With everything sewn in place now you have pants with a nice stretchy top. You can make the panel any size you want really I made mine really tall since I wanted to be able to fold it over and still cover most my belly.
So there you have it pants that can fit the way you want and be comfortable for the growing baby.
That wraps up this round of awkward pregnancy modeling. (in which the outtakes have been burned ha!)
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