So today we’re focusing on the “mamas” side of the babies and mamas theme we have going on this month, and I’m showing off maternity photos of my sister in law and niece sporting handmade clothing!
This dress is the Wild Flower top hacked into a maternity and nursing dress. The Wild Flower as drafted is actually fairly fitted below the bust, but since it has the underbust seam, it’s an easy pattern to hack to maternity wear. And my niece is wearing a Fiesta Frock dress.
Last week Monica showed how she hacked hers by adding gathers to the lower part of the shirt, but today I’m going to show you how to do it without adding gathers.
If you think back to yesterday’s post about modifying a tshirt pattern, the idea here is basically the same – you want to add width and depth to the belly area without changing the length of the neckline, armholes or side seams.
So here’s how I did it. I took the lower front pattern and slashed and spread it as shown below, then traced the top quadrants of the pattern to the waist. Measure how much width you added at the center (and note that in this case I’m using a small scale pattern, approximately 1/8 scale.
Holding the center waist in place, move the bottom hem back together until you’ve added the same width you added at center. Trace the bottom center points of the pattern.
Finally, close the horizontal gaps in the pattern and trace the outer corners.
Here’s the resulting lower front pattern – side seams have the same length as the original pattern, but the piece has increased in width and length.
Because of the pleats in the outer bodice of the Wild Flower, I didn’t have to modify that for a fuller bust – the pleats accommodated it. I also modified the inner bodice for nursing, the same way Monica did in her post.