When my stomach started growing, I started researching maternity clothes tutorials and found that there are so many cute ones out there for us. Who knew? I kind of hate buying maternity clothes because most of them seem like such a waste. I will really only wear the clothes for a few months and then they will be done. Making some of my own seemed like a fun, cheaper way to still be clothed for the next few months.
One of the websites I found was DIY maternity. There is so much on this blog - dresses, shirts, and even a bathing suit. I liked this shirt that I found on there and made my own. It starts with a men's button shirt. It seems most people use their husband's old shirts, but alas that will never work in my situation. Instead, I searched Uniqlo for a men's button shirt with a cute pattern and found one on sale.
The first thing you do is completely disassemble the shirt.
Take the collar off and then separate the folded part of the collar from the stand, take off the pocket and the cuffs. It turns out a shirt looks pretty weird without all of these things.
The first bit of sewing is to make the arm smaller. I used one of my button shirts that I quite like the fit of to determine how much smaller to make the sleeve.
Once the arms are ready, you move to the collar. You don't need the folded part, only the stand. Since you had to take the collar apart, the top of the stand needs to be sewed back together.
Then sew a basting stitch around the collar and pull one of the threads to gather it.
Sew the bottom of the stand back onto the shirt.
Next, using elastic thread, sew a few lines just under the bust to gather it in a bit. This was my first time using elastic thread. I always thought it would be difficult, but turns out it is so easy and really quite satisfying. I think I will probably use it a few more times before this baby decides it's time to come out.
The final step is to adjust the length of the sleeve. I wanted to keep these on the longer side for some reason, but I think once the weather warms up a bit, I might shorten them even more. Cut off the bit you don't need and then pin the cuff back on.
Then just sew the cuffs on and you are done! I thought the shirt would take me ages to do with all the disassembling and such, but it was quite fast. I disassembled on a car ride to Costco and it was done before we got there. After that, it was pretty straight-forward and simple.
I like the shirt, but I am not 100% in love with it. The back is a bit baggy, I am hoping my stomach will help fill it out at some point. Also, because of the elastic thread, the front has a bit of a gap in it. For now I have it pinned, but I think it was really just an unfortunate placement of bust to button. I am thinking of putting a new button and button hole right in the middle to fix this, but I just haven't gotten around to it. One day...maybe.
Anyway, here is a profile shot of my 5-month gigantic belly. Yikes, huh?
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