I can’t believe this is now my fourth post of 2018 with the IndieSew Blogger Team! IndieSew has long been one of my favorite fabric and pattern sources, and it has been such a pleasure to be blogging with them over the past year. To close out this year’s IBT posts, I’ve got a super cute, super comfortable leggings and sweater combo – perfect to see me through the end of pregnancy, and some chillier weather on the other side!
Despite my dreams of fitted party dresses and beautiful boiled wool coats, knits garments are really my only friends at this point. I’m 37+ weeks pregnant, and I’m quite honestly just so happy to have anything in my closet that fits well right now! I’m pretty limited – I’ve resorted to a pretty strict uniform of leggings and loose, flowy tops, and even some of these options are trying to call it quits on me lately.
My belly has started to drop, and I’ve had the distinct pleasure of being able to recognize my rib cage again recently, but the day I can see a waist will also be really stinking cool. 🙂 In the meantime, though, I need more leggings and flowy tops! As I’ve mentioned many times before, I greatly prefer to sew up items that I can transition out of pregnancy with me, and I think both of these pieces will be up to the job.
These leggings were the base piece for this outfit. As I mentioned in my post about my Kyoto Sweater, which I recently wore to an OU Football game, I’ve collected quite a few fabrics in anticipation of fall that range from bright red to more or a maroon / burgundy, all with potential OU gameday gear in mind. This fabric was marketed as maroon, and maroon it most certainly is – a little too dark for OU Sooners, but still a beautiful autumnal color. I’d used this fabric’s emerald green counterpart earlier this year to make a Minttu activewear top, so I already knew that the quality was wonderful and would make a wonderful pair of leggings!
The fabric features a brushed side and a smooth side, and I believe the brushed side is intended to be the wrong side of the fabric. Despite how great it feels on the skin, I decided to go a little rogue and make the brushed the “right” side of my fabric, and I like the end result quite a bit… Though I do catch myself occasionally rubbing my thighs just to feel the great fabric. Throughout pregnancy, I’ve really grown to like the fit of these Peg Legs leggings with maternity add-ons, so that’s what I went with for this fabric. I used an under-the-belly V-shaped band that I am hoping will translate into a cute, regular V-shaped waistband in the future months! For now, though, these leggings are a perfect comfortable pop of color in my wardrobe. And they FIT. Which is pretty much my only priority these days!!
In my search for a cute and comfortable, belly-fitting, autumn weather appropriate outfit, I came across this fabric in my stash. I went back and forth in my Instagram stories, going so far as to create a poll about whether this was most suited to be a Tabor V-Neck sweater or a Waterfall Raglan. The sewing community wasn’t any more decisive than I was – I think the poll ended at 49% vs. 51%, or something quite similar! I finally decided to go with a Waterfall Raglan, and I love this end result much more than I ever expected! The stripes work surprisingly well with the loose, flowy, ruffled silhouette of the top.
Due to the relaxed and loose nature of the Waterfall Raglan, I chose my size strictly on my bust measurement. I went with a size 4 (which correlates to my pre-pregnancy measurements), and after cutting out the paper pattern pieces, held them up to estimate if I wanted to add any length. Not only am I 37 weeks pregnant with a LOT of belly, but I also have a long torso, so I wanted to make sure that I’d have enough top to cover my whole bump (especially since I’d chosen the low V-shaped waistband for my leggings!). Surprisingly, the length fell perfectly on me, which leads me to believe it would be a bit long on most others. I went to town cutting out my pattern pieces, even taking a moment to match up my side seam stripes (which I almost never do!!).
It wasn’t until after I’d carefully cut out the bodice, ruffle, and neckband pieces that I realized I didn’t have enough fabric left over for my long sleeves! (PS – the fabric recommendations in the pattern are absolutely correct! I was using a fabric more narrow than recommended, so this was totally my fault, not the pattern’s!!) I wasn’t ready to compromise on sleeve length (I had a vision!) so I made a choice that may have been a total mistake – I cut my pattern 90’ different than suggested, so that the greatest amount of stretch ran vertically up and down my sleeve, rather than horizontally around my arm. If you choose to (or you are pattern-tetris forced to!) make this change yourself, ADD SOME EXTRA SEAM ALLOWANCE! Looking at this garment, I love the way the vertical striped arms look against the horizontal striped bodice, and I surely don’t mind a nice, fitted sleeve… But the structural integrity of the sleeve seams is pretty risky, and is threatening to open up on me at any moment. Anytime I wear this sweater, I’m essentially on standby with my needle and thread to hand-mend any little spots that may want to pop open. Which is a bummer, but totally worth it to salvage this sweater – I had no idea I’d love it this much!
Now that I know how well this pattern works for me (pregnant or not!), I’m looking forward to making a few more versions – with the proper sleeves. This pattern is super versatile, and I’ve got some lovely rayon jersey on my shelves that would make a great casual t-shirt alternative, as well as another sweater knit or two that might work. Between the top and dress length options, and the multiple sleeve lengths, this could be a total wardrobe workhorse!
Dress: handmade by me
Pattern: Chalk & Notch – Waterfall Raglan (View A)
Fabric: Sweater Knit from my fabric stash!
Pattern: Patterns for Pirates – Peg Legs with Maternity Add-Ons
Fabric: Performance Knit Maroon from IndieSew (now sold out)
Key Ingredients: Heat & Bond Soft Stretch (Lite)
Though the leggings fabric used in this post was generously provided to me by IndieSew, all opinions expressed are my own, as always!
- XX Elizabeth
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