How to make a maternity skirt for about a fiver

Going to brave the photo formatting once again and see if I can get a comprehensible 'How To' out before insanity strikes.

I managed to make a couple of skirts with belly bands attached, for pennies, thanks to various US blogs, so thought I'd put up my version of events. 

Really wanted a denim skirt for the spring/summer, seeing as jeans don't fit at the best of times, and this is not the best of times. 

First thing to look for- make sure the skirt is widest to go around your widest part, wherever that happens to be now, and that it will still be long enough if cut under your bump at this point.

So here it is: yes it IS very large and saggy.

Here's the point where the belly band is going to be attached:

 

The belly band.  I got a nice piece of jersey, as time was against, me, but it would be even cheaper and easier to get an old T-shirt the same width as you want the band, so you'd just have to slice it up, with no measuring, cutting out and no side seams.

 The blogs I followed said to use the measurements from an existing garment with belly band, which meant no guesswork and no wondering which bits to measure.  I made mine a tiny bit larger for ease with one piece of jersey twice the height needed, plus hem, and joined at the side to make a tube.  I used the softest waistband elastic I could find, which turned out to be buttonholing, made a circle large enough to stretch over the bump, but small enough to sit comfortably above or below, without cutting or falling down:

Next job is attaching all the bits: fold the jersey over, pin the elastic up into the fold and stitch with a stretchy stitch

 .

Then, using the new pins you used this as an excuse to buy

Pin and sew band to skirt and neaten seam, again using a stretch stitch and stretching the band slightly to fit snugly,

taking care not to stitch over any pins,

and that's it! I think the whole thing took under half an hour. The skirt's been transformed from a big long droopy thing, to a just below the knee full skirt that has proved essential for weekends and 'smarter' slobbing around at home.

Only thing I'd change now is that as the bump has got bigger, the band wants to sit below it, which means if I'm not wearing the right top, letting it all hang out, which is not my thing, or ride up above it, which is fine unless there's anyone else or a mirror around, as what this does is put all the fullness of the skirt around my widest point and it's the lampshade effect all over again.  

A longer band would have corrected this, but how was I to know- and it's certainly not information I will be able to use again in future.  Ever.

You could also just make a taller belly band and use it to fill the gap between tops riding up and bottoms riding down, for a fraction of what they cost to buy, just neatening up the bottom, rather than attaching it to a skirt. Again, too late now, possibly.  Well, by the time I got round to doing it, it certainly would be. 

Next stop is to finish Rich's shirt that seemed like a really good idea at the time....

 

Finally- I kept the cut off part of the skirt- why???

This is as good as it's going to get

This pattern called to me and wanted me to make something I could be proud of, as well as something I won't have the chance to make/wear again. Ever.

After realising that trying to churn out a top each weekend was conflicting with my other plan of sleeping at every opportunity, I spent the last 3 weekends before going on leave trying to make this look as good as I could.

1950s Pattern bought from the States via eBay

1950s repro fabric bought from the V&A museum shop online for a song.

However, the stripes were horizontal, so much calculating needed before buying, then each section had to be cut out and turned round.

Which is when I noticed the stripes STARTED out straight, but had progressively banana-ed out to the right hand selvedge: so more cutting and trying to match straight stripes where it mattered and bendy ones where it didn't.

And keep the flowers the right way round. And not swear.

Nearly lost one of the pattern pieces.

Nice to see I'm not the only one with a taste for vintage.

One nice thing was that the stripes in the pleats at the back actually matched up to the pattern, so they look ok without any special effort from me. So here, after much struggling with Blogger formatting, is the finished article:

And finally, official bump photo of April 2012

Yes, I do look rather horrified about something, don't I?

Smock, Stocky and Looks Like a Barrel

Taking a break from tyre-related posts, unless you count the spare tyre...

Well, I've been thwarted in my plans to make an entire 50s style wardrobe of demure, flattering and adorable maternity garments, partly due to being laid up for so long, partly as everything takes longer than planned, and partly as I think there's something going on with these patterns.  Many photos have been withheld to protect the aesthetically minded.

So far I have made:

 

 

a rather startling smock dress with long sleeves in emerald velour which was intended for Xmas, got finished at end of February and makes me look like Margot from the Good Life (if she was a foot shorter and had let herself go to seed).  It's St Patrick's Day soon, so if there's a shortage of leprechauns on the Kent/Sussex border, it may still be in with a chance.

from the same pattern, a pinafore dress in black watch, which thankfully looks acceptable, yet not brilliantly similar to the picture on the pattern, being quite boxy and shapeless.

a no-pattern pencil skirt from a blog I found.  It seemed to easy to be true, but actually it was fine.  Managed to make it in half an hour and put a kick pleat in for good measure.  This gave me a false sense of confidence.

Another pencil skirt to go with a trapeze top, and therefore make a suit... from this:

This is the biggest issue.  I know I have had to widen the pattern, but I also know I did it in proportion and it worked.  However, what I saw in a photo of myself in it, was a pin head poking out of the top of one green saggy bag resting on top of another green saggy bag.  This is not the effect I was hoping to convey.  However, since starting this post, a good few weeks ago, various things have changed:

1- I have got bigger and it now fits a lot better

2- various people have commented that they like it

3- one of the bows has fallen off...

Having run out of making time, I'm going to keep back the final piece of fabric for when I'm 'back' to a size 8, which I understand can take anything up to an hour after delivery, stick the patterns back on eBay and do something less frustrating instead. So we shall never know what this would have looked like:

However, I've had niggling doubts and looked into it. My conclusions are that actually I've done nothing wrong and the image on the patterns are being less than honest.  These two prove my suspicions:

 So- if this lady is pregnant at all, she is so very recently so, that it would explain her general air of someone who had to run to catch the bus to the artist's studio for her portrait, as well as why she didn't have time to change and actually be wearing the baggy, saggy smock top.  I find it very unlikely that there is the same amount of fabric in her dress as in that top and all it takes is a bit of belting up in the early weeks to get the dress to see you through the whole 9 months.  How convenient that there were no photos printed onto patterns at the time- I don't think reality would have helped sales.  Add to which that this pattern is intended for a 40" bust for a 1940s pattern, and I can only assume that the ladies in question would have kept themselves securely hidden from view down a dark air raid shelter for the duration.

Pretty much all of the above applies here to, other than the two bows implying the garment can be let out to accommodate expansion.  Which is surely what you need to see?  Otherwise, anyone that had the figure in the drawing would have had no need of a maternity garment.  Mind you, these ladies look like they're even more in denial than I am. 

 The patterns I have bought are no better- the ladies wearing the clothes I am trying to make in the ever-dwindling belief I will resemble them in any way at all, don't so much look pregnant in any way (that would never do) as convey pregnancy by holding a bonnet, looking at a bootee, or just staring dreamily into the distance with a secret air of knowing and fabulous pointy stilettos. 

Since starting this post, I have had one more successful project and will share that on a separate post.

Three wheels on the bus go round and round, the other is nowhere to be found

God bless http://www.countryliner-coaches.co.uk/ 

for never giving me a dull moment.

Whether it's the excitement of seeing the bus arriving, or hopping off after it's broken down onto the 'replacement' which is actually just the next one, an hour later, or the challenges of flagging down an out of service bus, a school bus and persuading it to go off route to the station and getting a train,  wondering how you're going to get home after the last bus at 6.30 doesn't show, or simply giving up after 45 mins of waiting and hitching a lift with strangers, there are certainly no two days the same. 

Except of course for the ones where the bus doesn't show up two days running either due to a lack of drivers (so badly and irregularly paid you can hardly blame them for phoning in sick with no notice to get someone else in), or just grinding to a halt somewhere on the Kent/Sussex border. 

Today's fun and frolics was a wheel blowing, taking a panel with it and the driver managing to steer it to a halt alongside the grass after a couple of hundred metres of driving on the three remaining wheels and the metal where the fourth one used to be, in the dark. 

 Luckily I was near enough to home for Rich to come and get me. 

 How we laughed.

By the way, if you are thinking of adding to your vintage bus collection, Countryliner have a remarkably vast range,  actually for sale from their website: http://www.countryliner-coaches.co.uk/localbushire.asp?id=76. 

Hurry, while stocks last. One less today...

My Other Spare Tyre is a Pirelli

Well, I came home late from work the other night, and went indoors.  It wasn't until Rich came in later and pointed it out that I saw the huge lorry tyre in the front garden:

And here it is, gracing what's left of our log pile. 

So, the next thought is: how did it get there?  It couldn't just have bounced off a lorry and onto the logs, as it would have had to fly very precisely through the gap between our hedge and next door's, then stop dead without bouncing further.  So, our only theory is that somebody decided to roll it off the road, off the pavement, down the drive, up the plank and onto the logs (and some parcels the postie had hidden, which survived in varying degrees).

Of course, now its disposal was our problem. 

Having checked the next morning that it was still there:

and having failed to come up with any potential craft project for it, including the horse-shaped swing especially as it would be more of a giraffe, and require scaffolding to hold it up, I phoned the council, who said it would have to be on the pavement, as not private property.  They then agreed for us to leave it where it was, seeing as it weighed a ton, and the pavement is narrower than the tyre.

The next day the tyre had mysteriously moved to the pavement, blocking our entry and the path of any of the pubgoers- NOT very health and safety-  but one more day and it was gone. 

 We sort of miss it.

How vexing

So the sun is shining, I'm in a t-shirt and it's October.  Utterly hateful- I was all ready to hibernate, now I feel I ought to be DOING things, instead of curling up and waiting for the sun to come out- how can I do that if it won't go away?  Anyway, in the meantime, here are some photos of things that annoy me on a daily basis in T Wells.

In reverse order:

5: random set of wiring under my friend's desk- Why?

4: Most tedious window cleaning I have ever witnessed- at least our firm can afford to pay someone with a mop on a stick

3: Outside the teaching recruitment agency- look closely and you'll see where the apostrophe used to be- presumably they got the job.  This vexes me in that it was allowed to go outside in its original state

 

2: This, on the other hand vexes me no end- and more so as it's now MONTHS since the board was put out.  Where's my red chalk?

Which brings me to my all time most vexing sight ever. One which I have to endure ever time I move to or from the orifice. 

1: AAAARRGHHHHH

Blogging in the Rain- Pt 2: the disappointing sequel. The rain in Grain has seeped into my brain

Wishing I'd just slapped up a couple of photos at the time and been done with it- now this has been built up out of all proportion.  Anyway, let's get it over with:

Woke up after a rainy night, to a rainy morning.   It did abate for a moment while we went to get fried things for breakfast. As I was sitting on a bench waiting for Rich to find his wallet, contemplating the meaning of life, and asking for some sort of sign, I looked up and saw this. Coincidence?

 So, suitably fortified, onwards to the Isle of Grain, to let the novelty wear off naturally and observe, and possibly frolic, amongst the wildlife.  Here is but one of many moments on the road:

Slightly stunned to see a vespa out having fun today. Depressingly had to speed up to get near enough for the photo.  

First destination, somewhere on the Isle of Grain:

always good to have a system

grey flora on grey background with grey skies ahead

Surprisingly hostile-looking fauna

a view- there was a lot of this sort of thing

the only other wildlife of the day, and it really wasn't so much wild, as a bit grumpy.

the compulsory shot of the children's graves which may or may not have inspired Dickens to write Great Expectations.

next stop- it was harder to appreciate the natural beauty from inside the van, but I believe the right choice

After a battle to get it uploaded, this should take things to another dimension 

 Next stop- misreading the map, and past a 'no entry' sign and onwards, just to see.

it would appear the only reason for this being off limits was that its unattractiveness caused an offense to the eye. Even the security guard couldn't be bothered to stop us and ask awkward questions.  

Next stop, the correct bit of coastline.  Rich accidentally forgot himself and started having fun, a bit.

This was all I had to work with.  a semi-decomposed crab.

At this point, the sun started to come out, so we beat a hasty retreat and went home.  So that's done.