The Red Wren - from Pregnancy to Breastfeeding

Having read about how successful Zoe's Colette Wren dresses were both for pregnancy and for breastfeeding, and of course seeing how gorgeous and effortlessly stylish they looked, I had my heart set on making one for myself.

I bought this red lightweight jersey from Minerva with my birthday money in February, cut it out in March but only finished this dress in early May when I was 38 weeks pregnant. So rather than attach the skirt to the bodice a few inches higher up to make it a Maternity hack like Zoe did, I decided to make it up as normal so that when (if!) I got my waist back after having the baby, the dress would have a more flattering line. I really didn't want to make anything that I couldn't wear after baby was born at this point! It seemed like such a waste, especially since the last few weeks of pregnancy saw me mainly mooching around the house and the park, not really needing any special clothes.

Er, sorry about the dodgy mirror selfies. They're all I have of this dress! These pictures were taken the day before I went into labour. It was SO HOT, and every day I would go for a stride round the park to try and bring on labour. It worked!

Anyway, the dress worked out perfectly. While still pregnant I just hoiked the waistline up to above my bump, and afterwards it worked really nicely as a comfy but smart-ish nursing dress. Zoe was right, this style really is perfect for breastfeeding. I know the red makes me look a bit like the Special K lady but I'm embracing it. She always looks pretty happy!

Things I changed / would change when making this pattern again:

• I cut the skirt length to the largest size (XXL). I did this so I'd have good bump coverage for when pregnant but I actually quite like this length anyway.
• I cut the skirt back on the fold since I had enough fabric.
• I used ordinary elastic to shirr the waist of the skirt rather than clear elastic. It's such terrible advice in the pattern instructions to use clear elastic for the waistline shirring - it just is not stretchy enough. I knew this really when I cut it but doubted my instincts and went with the instructions anyway. I should have trusted myself, as I ended up ripping that clear elastic out and using much stretchier ordinary elastic instead.
• the sleeves were massive on me. I've left them as is for this version but will definitely make them much smaller next time.
• next time I think I will make the neckband pieces doubled over rather than have to turn and stitch the hems
• I don't have a twin needle so I used zig zag stitch on all the hems. I'd like to try a twin needle next time as I think it looks much neater.

This is 6 days postpartum in the dress, on our way for baby's check-up, our first trip out with the pram! I was operating on another plain entirely of course but I remember thinking it would be a good picture for this blog post, whenever I finished it. So there we have it! Blog post finally published only 10 months after making the blooming dress! Haha. Better late than never! These babies do keep one busy!