Post-partum sewing

It has been three and a half weeks since my husband was home with us.  He will probably be in rehab for another two weeks.  He is working very hard and seeing a lot of progress in his left leg.  The therapists believe he will be able to walk with a hemiwalker (used on one side of the body) by the time he is home.  His left arm is progressing more slowly, which he finds quite frustrating.  I visit him nearly every day and take one or two of the kids with me at a time.  Family members have been taking turns staying with me and helping with the kids.  

When he gets home, he will do outpatient therapy. We have been told that he likely will be able to go back to work within a year.  We are fortunate.  This could have been much worse.

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When I was pregnant people kept telling me I was "all belly." I smiled and nodded, knowing this to be completely false.  Now that I no longer have a baby belly to make me look cute, the truth comes out.  As none of my pre-pregnancy clothes are even close to fitting it is clear I was more than "all belly."

I know, I know, I just had a baby, don't be so hard on myself, blah blah blah.  It's true enough, and being that this is my fourth postpartum period, I know what to expect.  But I think most women, and especially those who have been pregnant, know what a bummer it is to have nothing in your closet that makes you feel cute.

I am very much in that position.  So I did a little sewing.

The skirt is made out of a cotton interlock that I found at a thrift store ($4 for 2.5 yards, score!).  The floral reminds me of a dress I begged my mother for when I was in the 7th grade.  I adored that dress.   And while it's not really my current style - I'm more of a stripes gal these days - I knew my girls would love it.  I'm thinking raglan tees for fall with contrasting sleeves.  I won't need all 2.5 yards for that, so I figured it was a good fabric to use for a skirt that will hopefully be too big on me in a few months.

To make the skirt, I cut two rectangles based on my hip measurements minus a little for negative ease.  But it turned out the interlock wasn't stretchy enough for the amount of negative ease I had allowed.  I cut two triangles of fabric and inserted them at the side seams to make more of an aline shape.

For the waistband, I serged 1" elastic directly to the wrong side of the fabric, then turned and topstitched through it twice.  I also serged the hem because I hate hemming knits and I didn't feel like resetting my serger for a rolled hem.  The print is so busy that the serged edge isn't very noticeable.

The tshirt is a modified Kirsten Kimono tee like the purple one I blogged about here. I actually made it while I was still pregnant. I felt quite cute when I wore it to a cocktail party with a gold belt and a black skirt, though sadly there is no photographic evidence of this outfit.  I modified the pattern by trapeze-ing it out a couple inches from the narrowest part of my rib cage to the hem.  I bound the neckline with fold-over elastic, but I cut the elastic a bit too short and it pulled my scooped-out neckline up higher than I intended.

The tee is quite long, so I tucked it into the skirt.  I don't usually wear tops tucked in so I think I will cut a few inches off the length before I wear it again.

These items are seeing heavy rotation in my postpartum wardrobe, along with a couple other new makes that I will share next week.