I’m on a bit of separates kick at the moment. It makes building a capsule wardrobe really easy if you are thinking about doing that. I know of two different maternity pencil skirts and so I was interested in comparing the fit/construction of them. Since, well, Pinterest is FULL of pencil skirts and crop tops for maternity I was very inspired. I’m not so sure how/if the pencil skirt will transition into nursing (I’m thinking no) but they are easy to whip up so worth it to make in order to look and feel cute while carrying The Bump.

For this crop top I used the bodice of The With Love Dress by George and Ginger. If you have read any of my previous posts you know how much I love the drafting and directions for GG patterns. This one is also part of the staples collection so its only $5. I love that I can use a regular pattern and modify it for maternity, that way I’m using it before, during and after pregnancy.

The only modification I did to the bodice was change the front hem line. I used my handy dandy butcher paper and traced the bodice. Then I used the “shorten/lengthen line” to start the front angle. After wearing this for a while that may have been a little short, I would recommend starting about 1 inch below that line. Then I cut the back bodice per normal. I followed the directions for construction ( I love the binding on the neckband!) but instead of attaching the skirt I just did a 1 inch hem on the bottom.

The skirt I did with this bodice is the Erin maternity skirt by Megan Neilson. This designer has many maternity patterns to chose from, which is fabulous for baby brain- no extra hacking! There are three options to this pattern (knee length, mid length, and ruffle hem). I chose the knee length. The pattern isn’t trimless which is always an extra step, but it came together very nicely and there weren’t many pages given that its just a pencil skirt. The directions were really clear and well written. The pictures in the directions were some of the best I’ve seen, so easy to understand. I made my measured size and followed the directions exactly. I don’t want to take a picture of the shape of the pattern pieces, but they were very different then I have used before, I was really happy about how it accommodated for The Bump. There is slight curve in the front waist which helps it stay up over the bump. Both the front and back pieces are ruched which gives it a really nice even look. It makes it very easy if you are using a patterned fabric and trying to match the pattern.

I had also made the P4P free pencil skirt with the LMU maternity add on hack (you can see that outfit in my previous blog post here). So I thought it would be helpful to take a picture of both side by side. You can see they are very different sizes even though I made both according to what I measured. I like the construction of the Erin better (and its nice that the pattern is specifically written for maternity, no extra thinking/hacking) but I would definitely recommend sizing up one or even two sizes depending on how much stretch your fabric has. I used Liverpool for this skirt and although it has good stretch I don’t think this skirt will fit me for much longer… good thing my bestie is also pregnant and smaller then I am so I will be sending this to her! Sincerely Rylee has some awesome super heavy weight CL that I will be purchasing to make my next skirt. The stretch is amazing 4 ways and it’s thick so nothing shows through! I’ve had a thing for natural fibers while pregnant, I prefer them anyways but now it’s all I want to wear!

I have a few more maternity/ nursing hacks coming up so be sure to sign up with your email at the bottom of the blog so you don’t miss anything! I didn’t have a lot of cute maternity/nursing clothes with me daughter so I’m totally spoiling myself this pregnancy and enjoying each and every day I get to carry this Baby Bump.