Burda maternity tunic

Burda Mag 8-2007-122

This is my most recent maternity garment that I've made, and it'll be my last. I still have several other tops and dresses to share with you here, but they are all in the laundry! Soon.

I remember falling in love with the style of this maternity pattern was first published in 2007, and promised myself that when I was pregnant, I'd definitely make this top. However, now that I've carrying a mini-watermelon of my own,  I noticed something I never noticed before - the "maternity" model is not pregnant!   Perhaps this shouldn't come as a suprise, considering Burda uses not-so-plus size models for their plus size clothes, and they'll use the same woman to model their regular and petite garments. But what really annoys me is that they could have made her appear more than 3 months pregnant by throwing a pregnancy pillow on her, easily found in an maternity store dressing room.  Without that, it makes it hard to imagine how this would look on someone with a real belly.

34 weeks

Since my last Burda maternity pattern in my regular Burda size was an oversize disaster, I decided to make this top one size smaller, a size 36.  Maybe not the best idea, since as you can see, the fit of my top is not nearly as drapey as on the "pregnant" model...

 

I'm not sure what the model is wearing for bust support under her top, but the v-neck is so low, you really do need to wear a top underneath to cover your bra.  I love me a deep v-neck and I'm not typically bothered by Burda's affinity for cleavage, but in real life, the only way to swing look this is to layer with a cami.

The purple fabric I used is a Vera Wang jersey, the same fabric I used for a cut-out shoulder Burda dress last summer.  The only alteration I did was to finish the back neck with a bias strip instead of a facing.

Like the Burda mag maternity t-shirt, the bust is slightly too big; if I were to make this top again, I'd pinch out about an inch of length from the upper from bust pieces, and add several inches of width to the lower front.

Only 6 more weeks to go!  So far I am still feeling pretty good, just moving around a bit slower than normal, which is actually a nice change of pace...

Sew Expo report

 

Vogue Fabrics at Sew Expo

I spent all day Saturday at Sew Expo. Even though it's only 45 minutes from Seattle, it was my first time attending. I didn't take any classes, rather, I spent much of the day wandering through the vendors in the showplex. I'll be honest with you, the vendors are very much dominated by quilting and embroidery companies. The garment sewing is there, it just felt very few and far between. That was secondary though, because the main reason I went was to meet up with sewing friends!

Here we are at lunch, left to right, Cheryl, Deepika, Annika, Jacqui, and me.

Naturally, we all inspected each other's clothes to see who made what. Here's Jacqui in the fabulous new Lady Grey jacket by Colette Patterns, and Deepika in her awesome Jalie jeans and Burda magazine top 10-2005-114 (I used the same collar piece on the dress that I was wearing that day!).

Of course we had to try on Jacqui's Lady Grey...

 

I am so buying this pattern. And (in a few months) I'm making those Jalie jeans.

Nancy's Sewing Basket (my fave local fabric store) was there and had this dress on display, it's Vogue 1152, the new Rebecca Taylor pattern, done in a vintage-print cotton lawn. Just gorgeous.

In the afternoon, I met Alden from BurdaStyle! Left to right are Beth (member of the Seattle BurdaStyle Sewing Club), me, Alden, and Cheryl (also member of the Seattle BurdaStyle Sewing Club).

Alden was wearing the Shakira RESTYLE that she recently modeled for the website. She was fun to talk to, and what an awesome job she has.

I didn't buy too much stuff, I mostly stuck to my plan, which was to purchase some Kai pinking shears. I was also on the hunt for some trench coat buttons, but there wasn't anything appropriate at Expo. I also bought a half yard of Japanese print cotton for making potholders, and from Professional Sewing Supplies (a local business - no website but they do mail order and sell to other businesses) a nice big piece of wax and some white bias woven fusible tape (I have some in black and I use it all the time in my shoulder seams on knits).

I was exhausted at the end of the day but it was so worth it!

Sew Expo 2010

On Saturday I am heading to Sew Expo for the first time ever! It's the largest annual sewing show in the country, right in my own backyard. I'm not taking any classes, just going to soak up the atmosphere and see what it's all about. I'm looking forward to meeting some of my Seattle BurdaStyle Club peeps and Pattern Review friends there. I'll take lots of pics with a full report to come soon.

What I've been up to

Wow, I didn't mean to go dark for nearly 2 weeks like I did! (Since 24 has started up again, there's a lot of CTU-speak here at home...).

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Thanks everyone for your fabric suggestions for the Burda 7526 maternity pants! It seems like a firm knit is the most popular suggestion, although there was high praise for bengaline, a fabric that is technically a woven but with lots of stretch and is commonly seen in RTW maternity pants. I've found it online but I'm not sure if I've seen it locally (Seattleites, let me know if it's out there). I think I'll test out the pattern with a knit first, and then seek out the bengaline if I like the fit.


In the meantime, I've finished a Patrones blouse and 2 more Jalie knit tops (2804 again). Still need to take some pictures of those.  A knit dress is next in queue.


I've given myself until the end of this month to finish up any maternity sewing. I'm due mid-April, so that'll give me about 6 weeks (hopefully!) to focus on baby sewing, or maybe just relaxing :)

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they're weighing me down...

There's a whole room re-org happening here at my house to make way for baby, so the other day I went through nearly every book, magazine, and pattern in my sewing area to pare it all down. I feel like I hardly made a dent, but I am happy to report that I'm freeing myself of about 100 envelope sewing patterns.  Most of them (sadly) unused.  (It makes me really appreciate how compact a Burda magazine collection is!)  My BurdaStyle Sewing Club peeps are getting first dibs on them, I'll use FreeCycle to get rid of anything left over.

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In the midst of all the purging, though, I have added a few great things to my sewing area.

First, these Kai professional series scissors, a gift from Birgitte, are fantabulous!! Seriously, I have a pair of regular (non-professional) Kai scissors and I didn't think there could be a better pair of scissors out there. Well there are. Even my husband commented on what nice quality they are. Thanks again, Birgitte!!

And my local sewing pal Amy gifted me these Ottobre back issues. Talk about insanely adorable kids clothes. I can't wait to dive into these come March when the baby sewing marathon begins.  Thanks Amy!

Maternity pants

June asked if I'm planning on making any maternity pants. Well... here's my pants situation:

1. I bought 2 pairs of stretch woven pants early in pregnancy in the juniors section at Marshalls for about $12 each. One pair is very low-waisted and is still wearable, the other pair I tried inserting a Dritz maternity panel, but they turned out horrendous so I ditched those.

2. I bought 2 pairs of maternity jeans, one from the Gap and one from the Dutch maternity chain Noppies (purchased when I was in Munich last month).  (My workplace is pretty casual and "nicer" jeans are okay.)

3. I bought the maternity pants pattern from Burda's newly released envelope patterns - Burda Style 7526. I just can't figure out what fabric to use! The recommended fabric is "only very elastic fabrics with 2-way stretch". Does that mean you should use a woven or a knit? If a knit is recommended, doesn't it usually say that explicitly? If they want you to use a woven, what kind of woven would have enough stretch? The style includes adjustable buttonhole elastic in the waistband so you can cinch or let out the waistband as needed.  I like the bootcut, but I'm not quite sure where to start fabric-wise.  What do you think?

Jalie empire crossover top - Take 2

28 weeks

Alrighty, I made another Jalie 2804 top on Sunday. (Recall my recent test version.) This one is a light chartreuse-y yellow rayon/lycra that I got at Stonemountain & Daughter in November. This is no test garment, it's the real thing!

The modifications:

(1) Traced one size larger, size T

(2) Made View A which has the gathered lower front bodice, I think this flatters the growing belly.

(3) Omitted the modesty panel

(4) Altered the front lower bodice for a "full tummy" using this Rostitchery tutorial. I added about 1 inch to each side seam (for an additional 2" around, total) and lengthened the center front by 1.5". As you can see, the side seams are still pulling forward and it'll only get worse as I grow larger, so next time I'll swing out the side seam more.

I'm very happy with this version!

Also, I want to thank Katherine for sharing some additional maternity alteration webpages, both from patternschool.com. Scroll halfway down this page where a pregnancy alteration to a tankini is shown (similar to the Rostitchery alteration), and this page gets into the nitty gritty theory behind the changing pregnancy figure. It's fascinating!

Study in empire crossover tops

Browsing through my BWOF back issues, I found this knit empire waist tee maternity pattern, 08-2005-123, that looked like the perfect piece to help get me through the next 3 months. Seeing this style, though, reminded of a Jalie pattern that I've had in my stash, yet to make.

Jalie 2804 just won a place in Pattern Review's top 10 patterns of 2009, and while it's not marketed specifically as a maternity top, it's said to be appropriate for that purpose too, and ever since I first saw these pics of Emilie during her pregnancy (check out pg 3 for top 2804 in a white sleeveless version), I mentally filed it away as a promising pregnancy pattern.

Since the two patterns are fairly similar, one designed as maternity wear, one winning accolades from seamstresses all over the internet, I decided to make both as a "compare and contrast" study, with the thought that I could take my favorite pieces/features of each top and morph them into one uber-fabulous pattern.

Fabric
100% cotton knit from Denver Fabrics.  For the "real thing", I would certainly use a knit with lycra for better recovery, but the 100% cotton worked for the test garments.

Size
Jalie 2804 - I cut an S based on my pre-pregnancy measurements. This is my first Jalie pattern so I figured I'd just start there.

BWOF 8-2005-123 - I cut a 38 since that's my regular BWOF size.

Both patterns were sewn entirely as directed per the pattern instructions and with no alterations. Anyway, take a look, I think the pictures speak for themselves...

 

 

Are you totally cringing at that BWOF top? I still am and it's been almost a week! It's AWFUL! The bust is waaaaay too big. Yes, the girls grow, but not that much. I would never fill in the top. And the loose bust makes the tight belly section look almost comical. I hate the way the top hangs down below the belly, as in the side view.  Talk about schlumpadinka...

Here's the Burda mag model photo.  It's a little more fitted and actually looks decent. Nothing like mine!  Maybe if I went down 2+ sizes?

Jalie, on the other hand, is golden in my book right now! I need to go up a size or two because, frankly, this top makes me feel slightly like a sausage in casing, but that I can deal with, especially once some lycra is added to the mix. Yup, new Jalie fan over here *waves hands*. Good thing too because I just bought their new cardigan, leggings, and the criss-cross top! The criss-cross top seems to have mixed reviews, but it's said to be good for nursing, and the pregnant model on the envelope looks good in hers so I'll see if I can make it work for me.

Needless to say, I won't be morphing these two patterns into one. I'm just going to work straight from the Jalie. I found this great blog post by Morzel that shows how to turn 2804 into a nursing top, so that's my eventual plan.

If it doesn't fit, make it in a knit

I realize I haven't done a good job of sharing my baby bump with you so far.  But rest assured, it's there and growing day by day, well beyond the "is she or isn't she?" stage, thank goodness.  It's definitely to the point that most of my regular clothes don't fit and my new requirement for tops and dresses is that they must be either knits and/or have an empire waist. Let the maternity sewing officially begin!

Burda magazine 2-2009-110

I have been coveting this BWOF pattern every since I saw Birgitte's fun silk charmeuse version. Even though it's not a maternity pattern, it has the necessary characteristics - an empire waist and a flowy, roomy area below the bust.

I flat-measured the waist on the pattern and found it would have plenty of room and then some, so I went ahead and cut the top in a purple silk/cotton woven shirting (I've mentioned before this is one of my favorite fabrics ever, it's available here at Fabric.com and I've seen it at various indie fabric stores; I used it to make this purple dress and this green dress). I cut my regular, trustworthy, Burda size 38 and set to work. Here's the outcome:

I knew my bust had grown, I had to buy new bras after all, but it never dawned on me that I'd be playing for Team FBA now! Sigh... I did wear the top once, to my BurdaStyle sewing club get-together last weekend. The poor little buttons are just straining to keep the top closed; if I just button the bottom two and wear a cami underneath, it's still obvious, so I think that'll be the last time I can wear it until I have my post-pregnancy, post-nursing bust back.

Back view - love the shape

27 weeks

My only modification to this pattern was to gather the sleeve hems onto a narrow sleeve band, instead of finishing the sleeve hems with elastic in a casing, which I think tends to looks Becky Home Ec-y (that doesn't mean you won't ever see me use that finish, though!).

Still, I couldn't get the style out of my head, I really like it and I find the style to be flattering as maternity-wear. Lightbulb moment - make it in a knit! The bodice is close enough to fitting, a knit would easily accommodate the negative ease situation, and no FBA necessary!

I rifled through the stash and found some chocolate rayon/lycra jersey (same stuff I used to make Simplicity 2850). My modifications:

1) I cut the upper front bodice on the fold instead of in 2 pieces, and scooped out the neckline a bit. Not having to stitch up tiny bias button loops and a bias band finish for the neck were major timesavers!

2) I lined the bodice with black tissue knit, mainly to give it an easy neckline finish.

3) I borrowed an idea from Jazz Couture's gorgeous LMB tunics to finish the sleeve hem with a self-fabric drawstring in a casing. My drawstrings don't look quite as delicate as hers, next time I would sew them a bit more narrow.

4) Because of the stretchiness of the knit, I was able to omit the invisible zipper in the side seam.

I am so happy with the knit version of this pattern, and the best part is with all of my modifications, it's a pretty quick little garment to sew up.  I have plans to make another, in a dress length, and I think I'll change up the front pleat for a little variety.

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Next up, a comparison of a BWOF and a Jalie - both empire crossover knit tops, but two oh so different outcomes...