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What from your wardrobe can function as maternity clothes?
It only took 10 weeks of pregnancy and I had to start packing my regular clothes away. We didn’t even announce that I was expecting, yet, but already 50% of my wardrobe was useless. My regular size is 6-8 UK (34/36 EU) and I my style is “fitted” dresses, pretty much all of them tight around the waist. Therefore, the first box was packed with all my dresses at only 10 weeks. By week 14 I had 3 boxes packed to put into the loft, as I wouldn’t be able to wear any of it for a long, long time. And by the time these clothes fit again we would have moved to Austria again, so why not already pack them away ready for moving.
You might wonder if my pregnancy might last longer than the 40 weeks and I can assure you that it will not. But I remember my last pregnancy and the 8 months of breastfeeding afterwards and the fact that I won’t be able to wear any dress with a zip in the back for exactly that amount of time. It also took me about 6 months after giving birth to get my small waist back. I have no idea how some of those celebrity mums like Kate Middleton do it. Just 8 weeks after the baby was born and she is back to her slim self, not a trace of a belly left.
Anyway, not even half way through pregnancy and I was standing in front of an almost empty wardrobe. In my case that meant I had about 80 pieces of clothing left. That might sound a lot to you, but for someone who is used to not wear the same piece more than twice a year, this is horrible. Especially when the ratio is 7:1 for tops to bottoms (tops were mostly cardigans) and only 5 dresses left in the whole count.
But the good news, most of the tops would last me throughout the whole pregnancy. So here is what I can recommend to look for in your wardrobe that will fit at least during the first few months of pregnancy:
- Stretchy materials – shirts, skirts and dresses that are made of stretchy materials will fit over your bump but… they also have to be long enough.
- A- line dresses and tops – these garments are not fitted in the waist and therefore hide your bump.
- Thin, stretchy belts – to fit between your boobs and your belly, so even really wide clothes give you some shape.
- Long cardigans
- Blazer and jackets
For inspiration have a look on websites for maternity clothing and just see if you have something similar in your wardrobe.
https://www.hatchcollection.com/
https://www.nineinthemirror.com/
And as soon as you have found the maternity appropriate pieces in your wardrobe, see what you are missing and hit the charity and second hand shops.
Here are some more articles I found about that topic:
https://www.thebump.com/a/maternity-clothes
https://www.babycentre.co.uk/a562984/buying-maternity-clothes-on-a-budget
https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2016/jan/14/maternity-wear-fashion-designed-to-last