Summer Styles for Moms In A Hurry

After viewing my summer wardrobe, it appeared plain I needed some summer dresses. My criteria was pretty specific though: had to be comfortable, flattering to my ever expanding waist/rest of pregnant body and had to be something I could wear again next summer when I'm back to a normal shape.  Not a tall order, right?  It's easy to say you'll just wear/find loose fitting stuff when you're in the 1st trimester, but now that I'm 6 mos in, it's obvious a lot of stuff just isn't cutting it (read: sausage casing) or looks like a tent (read: makes my middle look even larger than it is).


Enter these two dresses. These are from a fabulous book by Sheila Brennan: One Piece Wearables. This is THE book for quick, easy to make stuff that looks good. Like the name says everything in it is made from a single pattern piece (which is included), so there's a minimal amount of work involved - no pieces to match, fairly simple steps, most involve just 1 yard or less of fabric and the stuff is really cute. These are definitely projects that can be completed in a short sitting. I decided to use stretch knit instead of cotton to make these more belly-friendly and I like that with virtually no adjustment, they work for any body shape. For instance, the pattern for the leaf print dress was trapeze style and just called for using a ribbon as a belt, so instead of around the waist, I just tied it above the bump. Easy and effective!


My only issue is that for some weird reason the patterns come in S-M-L, but with no indication of what those are.  Way too vague - that could mean ANYTHING!  While I am considered petite in size, I am pretty round in the waist at the moment, so I was surprised to have to remove a full 6 inches from the back of the swirl one to make it fit properly, but maybe using a non-stretch fabric would have prevented that. Either way, I'm happy to have a few new items that look and feel great for summer!