Burda of the month: 2/2012 #125 maternity pants

When Sharon, a fellow Sydneysider, left a comment on the last post saying that she had already received her March Burda in the mail I thought I had better get started on this Burda lite challenge I've set myself before I get three months behind without even starting.  Luckily the March issue hasn't arrived at my house (which is a little annoying too), although the subscription renewal has - ironically the subscription is through a company called Speedimpex Australia, ha not so speedy at all!

The obsessive order freak within me really wanted to make the January pattern first so I could do these in order, but practicality dictated otherwise: with only 2 weeks to go before 'official' due date I thought it perhaps wise to make the maternity pants from the February issue so as to maximise wearing opportunities.  But even the weather has been against me, after a wet and cool summer we are now (for the last week anyway) having a hot and sunny autumn....

Anyway, here's the pattern from the Burda website:

It's a simple pull on, jersey knit waistband pattern made in the style of kid's pants: sew the two legs separately, put one leg inside the other right sides together and sew the centre back seam, crotch seam and centre front seam in one 'u' shaped sewing line.  Then just sew on the waistband and within an hour or two you're all done!

Well that's the theory anyway, I still had some fitting issues to resolve because the centre back of the pants had major gaping that I didn't think the waistband would pull in, at least not in a flattering way.  So I took a pinch out of the centre back seam, and sewed two small darts in the back as well to get the pants to fit closer.

And then I wasn't confident that the stretch knit I planned to use for the waistband was strong enough with sufficient recovery to hold up my pants - I hate nothing more than walking around tugging up my pants! So I decided to sew a wide elastic around the top of the pants, stretched a little across the back which resulted in some gathers but better to be safe than sorry:

I just sewed the knit jersey to the top of the pants as well, so that the elastic was fully encased inside and out:

And that did the job, the pants are still easily pulled on but are snug enough they won't fall down. I made mine from a khaki stretch cotton sateen from the stash, as was the elastic (bought at a garage sale long ago) and the cotton knit for the waistband (picked up from an op shop long ago).  Here's my finished version (and a 38 week belly):

These are really comfortable, but I see now from these photos that they aren't so flattering, which actually is normal for me in pants anyway what with my pear shape and sway back.  It's funny how when you try something on and look in the mirror things look ok, but when you see a photo from all angle it's suddenly obvious how they really look! Oh dear, my backside really has expanded a great deal, and my hips/saddle bags are even more pronounced in this cut, fabric and colour but you know what? At 38 weeks pregnant I just don't care, these pants provide coverage and comfort and that's good enough for me at this point in time!

For anyone else contemplating making these (and a note for myself in case I ever do something silly like get pregnant again) the changes I would make to the pattern would be to increase the centre back rise because they sit quite low and the waistband is quite visible unless you wear a really long t-shirt, and to decrease the centre front rise because these bunch up a little under my belly although that would depend on how high or low you're carrying.

I would also make the waistband a bit shorter, because as sewn the top of the waistband finishes just under the bust, but it's not an hourglass shape pattern so that the finished width of the top of the waistband is too wide to wear it up:

meaning you really have to wear it folded down in half, which finished mid-belly and gives good coverage but is sort of bulky:

So I'm patting myself on the back for finishing the first step in my challenge so quickly, now to change the thread in my overlocker and make the January pattern so I can get back to the other things sitting patiently in the queue.