My first knit top

Well, now that it is finished I must say that I am glad that I attempted my first knit shirt.  It is so comfortable!   However, there were times when I was sure that I had ruined the fabric and/or was going to lose all of my patience.  I’ve made it through to the third trimester without buying much of a maternity wardrobe- I’ve mostly just worn a size larger top than normal.  Without the underlying fear that none of my tops were going to fit within a few weeks (the baby is getting big!), I don’t know if I would have actually completed the project.

In the end, I learned that the majority of my issues were due to the tension on the sewing machine and the serger.  Once I mastered the tension issues (I had to pull out my manuals again), the sewing went smoothly. I don’t even want to think about the number of times I ripped out wavy stitches…

If it helps anyone else, I used a combination of my serger and a walking foot on my sewing machine to sew the seams of this garment.  Even with the walking foot, I still had to significantly decrease the tension of the sewing machine foot to eliminate any wavy seams.  The hem and sleeves also were finished using the walking foot.

The Kwik Sew 3487 maternity tunic went together really quickly and I am pleased with the finishes of the shirt.  Even though I compared all of my measurements (including measuring my 31 week belly– a bit traumatic), I found the shirt to be cut very generously.  If I had to do it all over again I would have cut a size small instead of a medium.

I should also note that the bodice is cut quite low, so if modesty is of concern to you, you might want to consider tweaking the way the overlapping bodice falls.  After wearing the top around the house a bit, I decided to rip out the shoulder seams and raise the height of the crossover bodice.  I kept the back shoulder lines intact, but raised the front bodice by 2.25″ at the neckline– so in essence I cut out a long triangle of fabric (with 2.25″ at the neckline seam, tapering to no change at the shoulder seam).   This fixed the problem and now there is no gaping along the neckline.

31 week belly!

Tutorial: Maternity version of Simplicity 2599

My knit maternity top is finished. While I wait for the Professor to take pictures of the finished product, I thought that I would share a maternity top that I made earlier this winter.

When my tops started to get a bit tight in November, I thought that I would try to make a maternity top that would work with my expanding belly.  So I pulled out my Simplicity 2599 pattern, which I used to create a few tops last spring.  I was  envisioning a top with a gathered empire waist – something that this pattern could easily be adapted to reflect.

To adapt the pattern for maternity wear I used the “cut and spread method” of increasing pattern size. This allowed me to keep the slopes of the necklines, armholes, and side seams intact while adding much-needed width to the front bodice.

Here are some helpful tutorials on this method:  Threads Magazine shows the typical cutting lines and the one by Sandra Betzine gives a good visual diagram.  You could also search for tutorials on “full tummy adjustments” as this is essentially the same adjustment as converting a pattern to maternity wear.

This is what my pattern looked like prior to the maternity adjustment.  The white bodice pattern shows my adapted version (which is overlaid against the original pattern), in which I removed a fair amount of ease.  I added this ease back into the pattern for the maternity version.

I only adapted the front bodice of this pattern- preserving the back bodice and neck facings as originally constructed.  Starting at the center front, I drew several lines that were parallel to the center front and pivoted 90 degrees toward the side seam.

Once you have drawn several lines a few inches apart (the number of lines depends on the width that you are adding to the pattern), cut these lines and spread the pattern half of the distance that you require.  The width is halved in this particular pattern because it is cut on the fold- thus you are only adding half the width to one half of the bodice front.

I originally added about an 1″ to each point for a total of 8″, but ended up reducing the width to a 1/2″ at each point for a total of 4″ after making my muslin.  The shirt has fit well so far- I started wearing it around 20 weeks, and now I’m almost 8 months pregnant and it still fits just fine.

The second step in creating a maternity pattern is to remember to length the bodice.  As your stomach grows the hem on your shirt will get shorter and shorter.  I would recommend adding 3″ or 4″ to the pattern to accommodate this growth.  Length should be added at the center point of the bodice, and should gently taper toward the existing side seams.  No additional length is necessary in the back.

I also made a few alternations to the pattern itself.  I wanted the top to appear more fitted, yet still allow for growth, so I used 4 rows of shirring at the empire-waistline to get a tighter fit (and allow for lots of stretch).  The great thing about shirring is that I’ll also be able to wear the shirt postpartum, as it easily shrinks back to a ‘normal’ size.

I also adapted this top to have long sleeves using an existing sleeve template.

All in all I’m really pleased with how it turned out!  I hope that this tutorial helps!

The 30 week belly!