If you have a t-shirt pattern that fits you in the chest and arms you can hack it into a variety of different maternity shirts pretty easily. In this blog post we’ll walk you through how to hack a pattern into a maternity babydoll style tee.
Start by selecting a size on your shirt. As a rule of thumb, you’ll probably want to go up a size or two, and/or if your shirt pattern has separate cup size options you may want to choose a larger cup size. Over the course of pregnancy you gain weight all over your body, not just your belly. The amount each woman gains, when during her pregnancy she gains it, and how that affects her size (especially cup size) is different for each woman and if this is your first pregnancy it can be hard to predict. Better to have your shirt be a little loose than uncomfortably tight during a time when all of you is uncomfortable to begin with!
Next select your fabric. You’ll want to follow the fabric suggestions (most especially the stretch percentage) of your original shirt. However, you don’t want to use a fabric that is too thick because it will get too bulky when it is gathered at the waist seam. Another way to ensure that it will be comfortable as you gain weight (other than going up in size) is to use a higher stretch percentage fabric so consider using fabric that’s even stretchier than that suggested by the pattern.
This style of shirt can be worn postpartum as well, especially if you’re into the 90’s fashion resurgence going on right now! You can unpick (or just cut off) the lower portion to remove some width from the gathered panel if you’d like or just wear it as is. This is what it looks like on a body with a small belly.
Of course if you don’t want to draft your own pattern, you can always buy the perfect pattern already ready for you in our shop! Browse all of our knit shirts or, if you’re specifically looking for a babydoll style, check out XXXXXXXXXXX.
Erin is one of the co-founders of Maternity Sewing. She also publishes patterns as Tuesday Stitches where she publishes patterns to help you play Every Day Dress Up, whoever you are. She believes in empowerment through sewing and encourages inclusivity, representation, self-love, and self-expression.
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