Tutorial: Making Maternity Pants

So, I'm finally at the point where I can no longer wear regular pants and have had to make the move into maternity pants. I have one of the Belly Bands from Motherhood Maternity store, which was like $15.. and it's ok. I don't love it, but I don't hate it, I just have to constantly tug at it to keep it in place. But it's a great idea and it works for a quick solution.
Lord knows I'm not about to buy maternity jeans at that store or any other store that charges over $30 a pair. Sorry, but I don't even spend that much on regular jeans that I wear all the time. Plus, now that I'm working at Target, I needed some khakis. I lucked out and found a pair at the Goodwill that were maternity, so that was awesome, but I needed more than one pair. So this is my tutorial on how I turned a pair of cheap Goodwill-bought khaki's into maternity-wear. I've watched a few other video tutorials. This is basically the same concept.


First I took an old stretchy camisole that I was no longer wearing and cut the top part off, leaving just a tube of material:

Next I took the lucky pair of pants, and cut around the top, basically above the seam of the pants all the way around:

I cut above the seam to give about a half-inch inseam, and I will be sewing right underneath the hard seam of the pants. If that makes any sense.. ?


So next, I take the tube of material, and pull it over the pants, bringing the cut sides together, like so:

Basically, this is how it will look after it's sewn. All right sides are facing out and I pin it together and sew all around the pants.

This picture may appear confusing.. the white panel on the left is the other side of the pants. Where I'm sewing is the inside of the pants and the white material is underneath that. But you see how I'm sewing under the original seam of the pants. I also use that as my guide to make it straight.


I start sewing at the side seam and work my way around. You may need to adjust and tug a little at the stretchy material to make sure it all fits around right... especially around the zipper part. I am careful about sewing over the zipper metal and take this part quite slowly. This particular pair, I left the zipper in, because I can still zip these pants up, but otherwise, you may need to make adjustments to the zipper area.. i.e. sewing it closed.

But you should end up with this basically when you're finished.

and this when you put them on:

this is with the panel all the way up. I actually wear mine with the panel folded down, which is why I sew it the way I do, so that that the inside seams aren't showing when it's rolled down:

Not that you can really even see it when I wear a shirt over it, but, you know, just in case.


and tada!!! Maternity pants that aren't $40!!
Khaki's at Goodwill: $5.00
Old shirt I wasn't wearing anyways: Basically free


Hope this helps!!!

Headed into 5th Month!

Well on my way into the 5th month of pregnancy. Not that anyone would know it by looking at me! I've hardly any belly at all! lol. Oh well. Count my blessings I suppose. I've noticed a little belly pop out, but very little. I do know that it's very low and I can no longer button any of my jeans and using hair ties to loop around the button isn't much working anymore either.


So the other day I made a pair of maternity jeans out of a cheap really cute pair of jeans that I bought for $9 solely for the purpose of making into maternity-wears. I must say they turned out great. I used an old spandex-type camisole that I was no longer wearing, cut it, and sewed it onto the top of the jeans. Works great. Especially since maternity pants are over $50/each, and hard to get really cute ones. The ones I bought on Craigslist are short on me, so I'm planning on running a seam up the pant legs and making them into straight-leg, skinny type jeans instead so I can wear them under boots for the winter and still make use of them.


Biggest thing this past week..
I'm quite certain I've started to feel the baby move inside there. I'm feeling constant bubble-like, tapping feelings throughout my lower belly.. especially after sugar or eh-ehm.. coffee.. not that I'm having it in abundance, but I am drinking some. lol. Baby gets active after that! lol. But it's a pretty consistent feeling, so I'm quite certain that's what it is. It is a very cool feeling. I can't feel anything on the outside yet, so no one else can feel the little kicks, etc but me.
I have my next appointment with my Midwives next weekend. I'm excited for that. I'll get to hear the heartbeat again. I've actually been stalking craigslist for used/cheap Fetal Dopplers for sale, but haven't found any yet.. if I found one for a really good deal I'd probably buy it. I actually may see if I can find a cheap stethoscope for now and see about finding the heartbeat with that. Though it's harder to find than with the doppler.


Now we have to decide when we want to get the ultrasound done. We're not going to find out the baby's gender until birth, so the ultrasound is strictly to make sure the baby looks good and for my own enjoyment, since my midwives don't require it.


Everything else is going very well. I've been eating regularly and have totally gotten my appetite back, which is a totally wonderful thing, considering how much I love food. It was sooo difficult going those couple of weeks being sick and not being able to eat much. NOTHING sounded good, hardly anything stayed down, and I felt nauseous constantly. Very happy to be in the 2nd Trimester now.


This past week I went and applied at Target for a seasonal job, and they hired me on. Should be fun. Some times the thought of being tied to a random schedule and work is not appealing, but then on the bright side, I think it will be fun, and I'll get to be out and about, and meet people. So all in all it will be a good thing, plus it'll bring in a few extra dollars for the Holidays and to help with paying for the midwife. The hardest part will be that it's retail and I will have to work Black Friday, which limits our travel ability for the Holiday :( I think my husband really wants to go to Oklahoma to see family for Thanksgiving, and this will put a damper in  those plans.. whereas now, not working, we can pretty much do whatever. But we can really use the extra income. Unless I can find something else I can do between now and then that I can make an income doing that doesn't tie me down for the Holiday.
So today I'm going to hit the Goodwill for 50% off clothes and be on the lookout for my khaki pants and red shirts. I'll probably have to "Maternity-size" my pants after I get them, so I'll try to take pictures.


Welp.. That's all I can think of for now. I will be back soon enough.

Making my first Baby Bib...

One Side of the baby bib

So this morning, I decided to make my first attempt at a baby bib. It didn't come out too bad.. to the untrained-sewing-eyeball, it may look ok.. I mean, it's functional.... and for my first attempt.. aka I didn't bother to look into any instructional videos or how-to's.. it's not horrible, HOWEVER.. I have now learned a few things.
1. How to use Bias Tape.. and surely it's not the way I attempted to use it :)
2. Watch videos and read how-to's the first time around.. you might actually learn something..

Other side of baby bib

It was totally fun though. I love doing this kind of stuff. Really, I love the finished product of something I've made...  and then seeing the progress I make from when I first started a project, to when I've learned a lot more.. So I look forward to the next baby bib, and to see how much better it will look compared to this unevenly-sewn venture :) (notice there are no close-ups.. lol)

Coming to you LIVE..

from my brand spanky-new laptop! Woohoo!!


No more oh-my-goodness slow-ness from the other computer.. seriously, you have no idea how happy this makes me. The other computer was SLLLLLOOOOOOOWWW.. it was driving me nuts.. especially on days when my nerves were already totally on the edge... if you know what I mean ;-)


So.. the big news of the day/week/month..
I'm going to start working from home starting Monday..! well.. little loop-hole.. I'll be still working my current job on a part-time-type basis, but basically.. I'll be home :) Yay!


I was so blessed with the opportunity to get offered a job working part time from home for my brother-in-law's business, along with watching my little cutie-almost 1-year old nephew :) Soooo, then came the really hard part of coming in to work that next Monday, and talking to my boss about the dreaded 2-week notice.. eek! For me, this was a very difficult thing to do.. I'm a total creature of emotion, and totally hate doing things that I think hurt people's feelings.. But.. I was able to have a good conversation with him, and as of right now, we're going to try to work out a deal to where I can still do this job part-time, and do the work-from-home job too. Oh my goodness :) I'm so excited! It's quite possible it could be a little hectic at first trying to learn new things, learn a new schedule and figure out the best way to handle all of this, but I think that in the long run, this could work out great.
 I believe that God answers our prayers and guides our lives when we allow Him to, and I had been secretly praying for a way to be home. I love being home. I might be one of the weirdest people on the planet, but home is so comfortable. I love being there and cleaning, and working on projects, recipes, having dinner ready for my husband and all those goofy house-wifey type things.  :) Call me old fashioned. Call me weird. Call me Donna Reed :) lol


So on to other fun stuff!!
I got my new sewing machine for my birthday!!! WOOP-WOOP!
This gorgeous puppy here:

I love love love it!
I'm soooo geeked about all the fun projects I get to work on. I'm waaay too loaded with ideas. In fact, I need to kind get my ideas organized and work on one thing at a time. I get a little anxious and obsessed with things I want to do and my hobbies and I tend get in over my head. But oh well :P


For now though, I've been setting up my little hobby workshop upstairs. Now I just need a trip to Ikea, the most wonderful store for major organization ideas and items.. and maybe some money to make the trip and actually be able to leave the store with items. But for now I will work with what I have :)


Speaking of workshop.. I recently made these adorable puppies from felt for my little step-daughter for her Halloween costume. 

She wanted to be an elf-santa's workshop-worker-girl.. so we made it happen.  We shopped the Goodwill for little dresses, and with the wonders of my sewing machine, we made her a little Christmas dress. It was so much fun. Halloween costume for $5.. right up my alley!

I have a dress-makeover project I'm just finishing up that I will post here shortly. Just have to get the rest of the pictures taken.. my phone and my computer all sync up and make it so much easier.


Well, I'm totally outta here for now. We're headed out tonight for another  family skate night. :)
Much more to elaborate on later!