whiptips: forum question: altering patterns
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jrobichaux asks this question at the forum
Hiya. I’m interested in making myself some maternity clothes, but there are so few patterns available from the big companies. I’m wondering if anyone can point me to a source for something a little bit funkier, or tutorials on how to convert a standard-sized pattern to be maternity-friendly. Thanks for your help.
February 12th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
There is a great tutorial for turning regular jeans into maternity jeans on Craftster:
http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=28377.0
February 12th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
There are loads of step by step instructions for altering a bunch of the free Burda Style patterns to maternity wear. One of the BurdaStyle staffers, Nikki, is expecting and she’s done a load of blog posts and How Tos over there. http://www.burdastyle.com
February 13th, 2008 at 9:54 am
Burda patterns have some good maternity patterns, check the website http://www.burdamode.com. If you know someone that buys the burda magazine regulary then they usually have maternity patterns in one issue during the year.
February 13th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
I see Melissa beat me to the Burda Style posts by Nikki. You can find her refashions by clicking on the NikkiShell’s Recycle / Pattern Change category of the blog.
February 14th, 2008 at 1:25 am
I have made many maternity clothes for my 4 daughters. There are scads of cute empire waist fashions right now that would work as a maternity patterns with an easy alteration. I cut out everything except the lower front according to the pattern. I usually do this when I am cutting out the front piece.
Place only one pin thru the pattern and the fabric where the top front seam allowance meets the folded edge of fabric. Mark a spot about 3 inches longer than your pattern piece at the hem edge of the center front. Mark a spot 1 inch higher than the center top edge.
Now for the side seams. Pivot the lower part of the pattern piece away from the center front about 3-4 inches and mark a cutting line along the side seam cutting edge. Replace your pattern piece to the original position. Mark a gently curving hem cutting line from your lower centerline mark to your new side seam mark. Repeat this for the top edge.
cut out your front piece according to your new cutting lines.
Hope it helps. If not contact me thru Etsy and I will try and further confuse you. :)
February 14th, 2008 at 2:26 am
Correction: The pivot pin should be at the point where the top seam allowance meets the side seam allowance (before you move the front pattern piece). I was drawing it out for you and realized my mistake. You can use this pivot point to create your top cutting edge too. Just pivot the patern piece up 1 inch and extend the cutting line to the center front. Contact me thru my link and I will send you a drawing. http://www.junktique.etsy.com
I checked out the link to craftster. It is a good tutorial. I have made maternity jeans that way but instead of using a Tshirt, I sewed on a 6″ band of navy blue ribbing, folded over 3″ wide elastic. I couldn’t find the elastic anywhere except Ebay. They stay up great and they look just like Gap maternity jeans. You can fold the band down when your bump gets big. I use that technique for dress pants too. I think they call it a Demi-panel.
February 15th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Congratulations!
You might take a look at the boards at sewing.patternreview.com. I apologize if this site is old news to most sewers. My boyfriend is an avid sewer (lucky me!) and he reads and posts on their message boards constantly. They do review actual patterns (and machines, fabrics, fabric stores, etc), but there is also lot of info on altering patterns and other general advice. A search for “Maternity” in the forums section revealed a number of threads, including this one on favorite maternity and baby patterns: http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/sewingclasses/board.pl?t=20501
I hope this helps.
February 27th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
Thanks, y’all — this is all very helpful!