Are you loving the heat wave, my dear readers? I certainly am! We were lucky enough to have pre-booked a long weekend in the beautiful Cotswolds last weekend, to celebrate my mother-in-law's 60th birthday - those honey coloured, quintessentially British villages sparkled in the glorious sunshine.
What better time to show off my latest make?
It's a multi-purpose dress that can be used both during pregnancy, and also for breastfeeding when the baby is here!
Here's an inside-out picture of the bodice to show you the access ;)
The pattern that I've used is Simplicity 1469, which is designed by Megan Nielsen, and from what I can tell, this is based on the Amber maternity pattern. I bought the Simplicity version to save me from having to print the PDF. I made View A this time, in size XS.
The fabric I used was a coral cotton jersey from Minerva, at a bargain £5.99 per metre. For the bodice lining, I chose a lightweight ivory grey marl jersey, because a few reviews that I read had mentioned about the nursing access being visible on the outside, so I wanted to reduce bulk where possible. I also overlocked the "access windows" rather than hemming them for the same reason.
As someone who is still relatively new to sewing with knit fabrics, I found it easier to work with this coral jersey than the lighter stripey jersey used for the Givre dress. I'm pleased to report that I did not experience any issue with the twin stitches this time, but I did skip the wonder tape as well.
Although this isn't a dress that you can knock up in one evening, I did not find the construction too complicated. The only slight issue that I did have was a slightly overstretched neckline, which resulted in a bit of gaping (you might be able to tell from the first photo), but it is subtle enough to blissfully ignore. If I make another version, though, I would look to avoid this from happening again.
I also shortened the skirt quite a bit so that the hem sits above my knees.
At 29-week pregnant, and now proudly in my third trimester, I am getting quite big! I am enjoying the pregnancy, though, especially now that the nausea is firmly behind me. It is quite amazing, if not a little bit strange, to feel this active little baby moving and kicking inside my belly.
Looking back, it's funny how I thought I was huge when I first wore this dress in La Palma at 16-week pregnant! Look at that tiny bump :)
This truly is a dress that grows with you. Given that it will last beyond the pregnancy, I am planning on making another (either a dress or top) if I get the time.
These photos were taken when we visited the salt fields at Fuencaliente, on a day where there was bad calima. Who would've guessed that this was in the Canary Islands, and the photos above were the UK?
Enjoy the beautiful weather guys!