thrifty sunday: not thrifty at all

My maternity wardrobe will be decidedly different this time around. No business attire means no scrounging for the most acceptable black pants to wear with whatever hand-me-down tunic I resorted to once my dresses got too short to wear, even with tights. I recently discovered what I had neglected to figure out before: that instead of looking futilely for an affordable, decent pair of maternity skinny jeans, I should just take in a pair myself. I had some dreadful bootcut ones I'd kept because, well, you can't just wear sweatpants, and I turned them into perfect everyday jeans. Good thing, as none of my pants have fit for weeks. 

After a lengthy Polyvore break (it's worse than Facebook), I threw together a Fall maternity set. Fall, being my favorite season to dress in, during my last pregnancy was the one I least looked forward to. I felt like I couldn't be myself when I had to dress a pregnant body for office work on basically no budget. But now, there's nobody telling me that my skirt's too short (unless it is, then tell me) or making me wear shitty polyester pants instead of jeans or leggings. I can follow the lead of this lovely lady whose maternity (and non-maternity style) is an inspiration to me, and should be to us all. 

fall by lejeunesse 

A lot of this stuff is similar or identical to things I already own. The trench, the boots, the leggings and jeans and skirt and tights are all in heavy wardrobe rotation already -- or, have been in Falls past. Some of this group, of course, are dreamy never-gonna-happens, like the long, beautiful Lanvin dress and the sequin mini, but in thrifting I can usually get the same feeling for a lot less money. 

As I said in a previous post, last pregnancy, there was a dearth of photos of me. Partly because I'm usually the one holding the camera, and partly because I felt fat and weird-looking. I'm looking forward to dressing like myself as this baby gets bigger, and maybe someday s/he will look at old photos and think, hey, not too shabby, mom! 

romp

I made a romper. Okay, technically I made a jumpsuit, but something in me doesn't want to call it what it is. While virtual window shopping the other day, I came across this Alexander Wang number and fell a little bit in love. The fit would be unfortunate on me, however, because of the color, the wider leg and the drop waist (not to mention that I don't exactly have $675 to spend on a jumpsuit OR romper). I've had a truly delicious piece of black brushed silk in my fabric stash for years, attached to various projects that I never got around to cutting before they fell out of favor or fashion. Well! Rompsuit, I guess we were destined for each other. 

I didn't have a pattern, just used a top whose fit I like and some pants of the appropriate width to make a rough template and adjusted as I sewed. To be clear, this method rarely works, but when it does, it's glorious. 

It's arguably unflattering, but I don't really care. It's silk. It's got an elastic waist. It's black. It goes well with elaborate macramé jewelry. I kind of never want to take it off. Don't mind me -- I'll just be lying on my flokati, propped up by floor pillows, listening to Fleetwood Mac. Summer*, here we come.

*Wait, black silk in summer, you say? Isn't that too hot? Oh, ha ha ha; here, I shiver in the evenings until August.