Months ago I posted about this dress as the first maternity friendly sewing project I made, with an eye to wearing it afterward too since it is not a "maternity" dress. It is time to share an update since in the first photos my baby bump was practically invisible - time to see how well my theory works months later!
Of course it looks more empire waisted now out of necessity, but the plus side is that it can be empire waisted if it needs to. It is comfortable and roomy and cool for summer, despite the autumn-ish color scheme.
I styled it differently this time, with a belt from this dress, tied in the back, and one of my few actual 1930s hats.
This hat matched the dress colors perfectly. I like the stitched horizontal tucks, pompoms, and the funny little bow in the back.
On a more frustrating note, the morning of these pictures I was really pleased with how my hair brushed out into a nice late '30s style with short, tight curls. Then it rained briefly - one of the two showers we have received since the rains stopped in June - and it was just damp and humid enough for a short time that some of my curl fell out. Disappointing.
I already talked about the details and construction in my original post when I was looking forward to it being a potential maternity dress. Now it is, temporarily, and works very well! (Ok, so the hem isn't even when my belly is bigger. But we can't have everything.)
So far it is my favorite non-maternity-dress-pattern-that-works-for-maternity-too that I tried; in fact, another one is in the works. Most of the others I doubt I will wear much when I don't need to anymore. But this one truly works for maternity and yet as the first photo session shows, truly works for normal size waist as well - not a bit of "intended for one and can be forced to work for the other".
It's definitely a keeper. I only wish the pattern had more variations for collar and sleeve. Oh, well - that sort of thing would be fairly easy to change up for future makes.
Photobombed!
This brooch is one of my favorites, bought at an antique store years ago for more than I usually pay for jewelry. It's one of my finer rhinestone pieces, and came with matching clip on earrings which I changed to pierced. I like how the red in it highlights the red in the plaid fabric.
If the dress had been suitable for either maternity or non-maternity it would have been a success. As it is, it's a double success in my book.
Wow...I remember this dress...great to see it again at the end of your pregnancy!!
This hat is a great match too.
Best wishes,
Dee
Posted by: Dee | 08/30/2017 at 01:58 PM