Stripes! Maternity/Nursing-friendly Dress

Simplicity 1880 (OOP)

View B

Top:size 4, skirt: size 12

Fabric: Jo-ann Azure Tide pool stripe knit

Anyone who's done the pregnancy size yo-yo a time or three knows how easy it is to end up with a bunch of clothes that you only want to wear for a few months at a time before they cease to be useful or flattering, but you hate to get rid of them because they'll probably be useful for a few more months somewhere down the line. (That goes double if you're nursing, which has its own set of clothes needs.) So, this time around, I've been trying to focus on clothes that I'll actually want to wear for more than one stage of this process. Enter this knit dress, which I hope will replace some well-loved dresses that I borrowed last time around.

Even though this fabric was rather hard-won (I was majorly overcharged—not the first time JoAnn has done this—and fixing it involved both the manager and I pulling out our calculators for about 15 minutes before she finally tricked the system into something close enough and we both decided it was time for a margarita), this fabric turned out to be awesome. If you've ever handled Land's End swimwear or some of their knit dresses, it's like that. Very substantial feel, great stretch (about 50% both directions) and recovery, and the edges don't curl or fray. I'm really tempted to go back for more for a blazer. One caveat: like a lot of polyesters, this fabric does seem to hang onto odors, so you might find yourself washing it more frequently than a natural fiber.

This pattern is written for woven fabrics, so to adapt it to a stretch knit, I skipped the zipper, and cut the pieces with zero or slight negative ease (I'd decrease the ease even further for a less-stable knit). I skipped the facings to eliminate bulk, and instead extended the bodice front edge to make a 2” turn-under. Eliminating the front edge seam should also make it stretchier and thus easier to pull that edge down for nursing. I cut a wide bias strip (not on the true bias; just parallel with the edge of one of the skirt pieces), and piped the edge of the front yoke and back neck, tacking the seam allowance down in a couple of spots. Since the fabric is so stable, I left the skirt unhemmed. I may revisit that after pregnancy, when I have some hope of marking an even hem, but I'll probably leave it unless the fabric shows some signs of ravelling.

For the maternity alterations, the bodice is about 4” shorter than the original pattern. I added a waistband to help transition between the sizes, and also to break up the print a tad. I lengthened the skirt by 1.5” to make up for the shorter bodice, and cut the side edges of each gore straight, instead of with waist shaping. To do this, I traced the top edge onto the fabric, slid the pattern piece straight down 1.5”, and then used a yardstick to trace a line from the top corner to the bottom on each side.

Puffed sleeves seemed like a poor choice in this fabric, but I wanted a nice style detail there, so I used this tutorial to make tulip sleeves.

I converted the gathers where the bodice attaches to front yoke into pleats, because this fabric was too thick to gather well. I think if I did it over, though, I’d just pin that fullness out of the pattern piece before cutting. It wasn't at all necessary in a knit.

I also played fast-and-loose with the grainlines on the layout, placing the front edge parallel to the stripes and cutting the skirt pieces on the crossgrain, since "Do you happen to have any clothes with horizontal stripes?" isn't exactly the question on the lips of pregnant women everywhere.

If you're looking for something similar, I'd try New Look 6069 (which seems to be available as a printable pattern only, but Simplicity's site has been a mess since they redesigned it, so it might be worth checking a store). It already has the high waist and waistband that I had to alter this pattern to get. The skirt would need quite a bit of fullness added for maternity, though. The Simplicity pattern is a four-gore half-circle skirt (or very close to it), and the New Look seems to be about half that. There are lots of circle skirt calculators online; just use the waist/length measurements from the pattern to create a new skirt pattern with the correct fullness. (Other similar patterns: B5030, Simplicity 6301 or 1801).

I'm already in love with this dress. As much as I can enjoy the creativity involved in putting together an outfit, it can get a little old when a piece that fit you last week won't zip the next, so I'm glad to be able to look put together with no thought involved! 

Butterick 5850 (with Nursing Mods!)

Perfect for chilling poolside.

The time has come to think about sundresses (Easter is my Memorial Day, as far as wearing white is concerned), but the parade of lovely frocks can just look depressing if they're impractical because you've got a little one who's nursing. With that in mind, I'm sharing some pattern modifications I came up with last summer to make Butterick 5850 nurseable (this method should work, mutatis mutandis, for most faux-wrap style dresses.) This tutorial is a combination of things I actually did, with a few things I wish I'd done. So you might notice it looks a little different from my pictures.

Butterick 5850 is pretty obviously emulating ModCloth's Awards Show Stunner Dress (it's also very similar to the lovely Front Perch Swing). The combination of retro style and an easy nursing conversion was too much to resist, so when Buttericks were on sale, I snagged it along with some linen my favorite shade of teal (I only see the orange colorway on their site right now, but they still had the teal in my store as of a couple weeks ago.) The bodice lining is just a muslin from the quilting section, though if lawn or all-cotton batiste were more readily available, that would be better.

The first thing to note about this conversion is that you'll probably have to keep the sash. The front corner of the overlap is just kind of there, and needs something to cover it up attractively. The sash also helps keep the front pieces nicely in place if one of the snaps should come undone. The other thing to note is that this conversion adds some bulk at the side seams, but I have some suggestions for dealing with that in the notes.

Here's Piece 1. To draft the underlay, you want to trace from the center front along the bottom edge, up the side seam, around the underarm, and along the shoulder, continuing straight along the shoulder line until you are even with or a little past the circle for your size. Then lay a ruler along the center front line and draw that line straight up until an inch or two below the fold line. Draw another straight line from that point to where you ended the shoulder line.

You can get creative with the underlay at this point, if you have specific ideas of how you want your openings
, but here's what I did: First of all, hold up the pattern piece and mark where you want the opening to sit. The bust apex is marked on the pattern piece by a circle with a cross through it, but your bustline may sit higher or lower. Draw a line horizontally across the pattern piece, through the point where you want the opening. Lay the center front on the fold of the fabric when cutting out this piece. For the top pieces, determine how much you want the top to overlap the bottom, and mark that line as the bottom of the piece. You will cut two of these pieces (one on each side), adding a seam allowance to the center front. Mark and sew the darts on these pieces, as needed, hem the top neckline edges (the line from shoulder to center front), and hem or otherwise finish the straight horizontal edges. Press those darts up, instead of down, to make the side seam less bulky.

When you assemble the lining, place the top underlay right sides together with each lining front, lining up the armholes, so that the shoulder seam is caught in between the lining pieces. When attaching the lining to the bodice (step 8), You will have the lining and the top underlay pieces right side together. Lay the fashion fabric with its right side against the wrong side of the underlay. Stitch the armholes.

The long seam along the front edge will not involve any of the underlay pieces, but you will need to modify it to turn your faux wrap into a real (partial) one. Sew the gathering stitches along the bottom edge in the fabric and lining separately. Gather each section until it is 2½" long. Stitch the lining and front together along the bottom edge, starting at the center front, to the front edge. Pivot, sew the front edge as shown in the pattern instructions, pivot again, and sew to the other center front.
(If you would like the front to open further, you may start closer to the side seam than the center front, but take it from me that if you go too far with this, your skirt front will start to sag.) Clip the seam allowances up to each edge of this seam before turning and continue as instructed.

When you stitch the side seams (step 21), you will be catching the edges of the underlay (top and bottom). Pin or baste the tops and bottom together at the side seams, overlapping the top over the bottom. The underlay will be between the two lining pieces as you stitch the side seams.

When you attach the skirt to the bodice, hold the bottom underlay as one along with the parts of the bottom front seam allowances that are still free (up to where you clipped). Sew to the skirt as directed.

To finish the underlay, sew the center front seam, joining the two top pieces. Pin the top pieces over the bottom with the proper overlap, and topstitch across the center of the bottom edge with a seam long enough to hold the pieces firmly together, without encroaching too much on the nursing opening. You may do the same at the sides, if you like. Overlap the front bodice pieces as they would be when wearing the dress, and mark the placement for a snap or other fastener at each corner to keep each piece in place. The left piece, which lies beneath, will fasten to the underlay, and the right piece will fasten to the left. and ... Ta-da! You're ready to go!

A couple of notes: With all these layers (and the JoAnn's linen being more medium- than light-weight), the dress can get rather heavy, with some bulky seams. One way to combat this is to make the sash an entirely separate piece, rather than sewing it into the side seams (gathered, no less!). This should make the zipper lie much more nicely, if nothing else. Sewing it into the side seams also restricts where you can put the bow; if you tie it off-center, as shown in the drawings, you end up with one tail quite a bit longer than the other. If you are sewing it in a medium-weight fabric, you might also consider cutting the skirt a bit narrower than called for. It's very full, and can get rather heavy. The pieces are just rectangles, so it's an easy modification. I also recommend adding in-seam pockets, because what mom couldn't use pockets?

Other than the sash, I really only have a couple of minor quibbles with the pattern. One is that the armholes are cut a bit low for a sleeveless dress, so I'll raise those and redraw the curve next time I make it. (And be sure to do the same to the underlay!) The other is that having the zipper closed at the top makes it a little difficult to get into the dress, and also has created a stress point that has already started to tear. I think when I repair it, I'll move the zipper to the top of the seam and add a hook and eye instead.