I get it now. I succumbed to one of those clickbait articles “Top Secrets of New Moms” or something like that while I was pregnant and the #1 secret was “Maternity Pants.” Moms keep wearing maternity pants after they are no longer pregnant because they are so comfortable. And I was like “No way. Not me. I’m already sick of all my maternity clothes. These are immediately getting passed on to a pregnant friend.” Turns out I was wrong. I totally get it now. Maternity Pants.
I sewed these while pregnant and wore them a bunch as they were the only pair of maternity pants I had that really fit me (since they were the only non-RTW pair I had). I used my perfect fitting jeans block, graded up a couple of sizes, and subbed out the waistband for extra-wide elastic. (Side note: I used a heavy-duty elastic and found it to be much more comfortable than the RTW pairs I had that used lightweight elastic since the lightweight elastic tends to fold over on itself while the heavy duty holds its shape). I sewed them from a black ponte-(ish) fabric that I had leftover from sewing a maternity skirt so they have a little bit of stretch in them.
I topstitched the pants with pink topstitching thread (including adding faux fly stitching) to give them a little bit of interest, since basic neutrals ain’t my jam. I also apparently leaned against the wall as I was taking photos, so you get to see a dusty picture of my rear, but hey, that’s #reallife.
Worn with: Flamingos Are the New Black Shirt
Comments 5
The pink top stitching is such a fun detail to add. I love your maternity pants – talk about comfy looking. I’m not at all surprised you still want to wear them post-birth. :D
Those are cute pants and look comfortable. I’m curious about heavy duty elastic. Is it labeled “heavy duty elastic” I haven’t seen it.
Author
I used 2″ wide stretchrite “Knit Heavy Stretch Elastic”. Look for the keyword of “Heavy” waistband elastic instead of a “Soft” waistband elastic.
Thank you, I’ll look for that.
Haha, now that I’m pregnant I’m in complete denial about wearing maternity clothes post-pregnancy. But those pants. So comfortable. It’s gonna be hard to go back to skinny jeans :)