I Have A Plan-For a Maternity Top Part 1

I went to an op shop (I LOVE opshopping-which is another topic for another day) at Gepps Cross the other day after getting a pair of River's sandals on special (AUD18!) and found this really sweet shade of yellow cotton material-which used to be a bed sheet . I saw a dress in it-and several tops.  It's beautifully soft and cottony and I envisioned a pretty dress with a cinched waist and short cap sleeves. However, a pregnant gal must be practical and think of maternity tops to accomodate an ever-growing belly, for this pregnancy and all the ones to come.  The piece of blue material you see on top of the yellow cotton is a 1-metre piece of denim I found at an opshop at Lobethal-some teenager had made it into a curtain! And evidently got tired of it, hence my find. I made a flounced and gored maternity skirt with it, and decided to use the leftovers for the neckline and sleeve cuffs for this maternity top that I had in mind.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Yellow Cotton Bedsheet and Denim Curtain!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Puffed sleeves with denim cuff, empire gathered waist and denim neckline detail."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="My Drafting Tools"][/caption]

This is a self-drafted project and I have all my tools laid out. No commercial patterns for me! I don't like the fit they offer and all the alterations you have to make to fit your body-I find it much easier to draft a custom pattern from scratch.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Love my Clover tracing wheels, especially the double one-fantastic for seam allowances."][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="Homemade carbon paper-10 sheets stuck to a broadsheet newspaper. Works like a charm!"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="My Foundation Block from Winifred Aldrich's Metric Pattern Cutting"][/caption]

I made this block some time ago when I first got Aldrich's book on drafting. I LOVE her book. It's the one I go to time and time again. Her fit is excellent, and the book has huge amounts of infomation for the size of it. I like it better than Helen Joseph's Armstrong's Patternmaking for Fashion Design. I drafted this block to the size 12 measurements in the Aldrich book, with a few changes at the bust and waist. I also added a maternity line for maternity designs around 2..5 inches below the bustline. This means that my neck, shoulder, armhole and bust will fit as per pre-pregnancy, and I would just need to extend the the bottom half of the bodice block to make way for my baby bump.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="The Pattern with finished seam allowances, for cutting out"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="All Cut Up"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="639" caption="My material laid on the pattern and all ready to be cut out."][/caption]

To be continued....