Completed: Two seam tunic

Here is my second maternity make. This wasn't in my sewing plans, but Megan Nielsen posted the tutorial a couple of weeks ago. I was struggling with finishing my Anda, and as much as I prefer to finish one project before starting another, sometimes I find a quick, easy make rekindles my sewjo and gets me back on the horse. I also had 3 metres of this dark red jersey in my stash, pleading to be used, so this turned out to be a stashbusting project too!

I followed the tutorial to the letter, but opted to go for a straight hem, rather than Megan's cool hem line. Although I followed her measurement guidelines, my dress feels a lot less looser than Megan's looks. The neckline is also a lot lower than hers looks. I was a bit concerned it was too low. Normally I'm fairly comfortable with a bit of bra strap peeking out, in the right context, and providing it's a pretty bra (no grey from too many washes bras please!), but with the maternity and non-underwired bras I'm wearing currently, I feel really self-conscious about showing any bra whatsoever. Maybe it's the fact that the straps are so close together or that the cups come up so much further (I prefer a balcony style normally, which has fairly wide spaced straps - sorry if that's TMI), or maybe it's the fact that the straps themselves are about 2 inches wide. Either way, I want them kept well under wraps. Luckily, the fact that the dress is tighter than I expected means that the bodice is inclined to stay put and the neckline is just about as low as I'd feel comfortable going.

Just in case you were in any doubt about the size of my bump!

I was also concerned, once I put this together, that it was too lightweight for winter. The style naturally lends itself to wafting about in summer (a la Megan), but actually I've worn it twice now - once with thermal black opaques and once with leggings (as worn in these photos) and I think it looks fine. Looking at the above picture makes me realise that leggings might be the best option in future - as the bump grows the dress is going to become shorter!

Obviously, I actually have a face IRL!

It is remarkably comfortable. I wear it with an elasticated belt I did have to remove towards the end of the day (and during a one to one with one of my team, the day I wore it to work - but she didn't mind!), but otherwise it was comfortable. Without the belt, it's like wearing a nightdress - both in terms of comfort, but sadly also in terms of looks - so not really an option for being out and about. Having said that, a shorter t-shirt length would probably work well.

The whole thing took me an hour and a half to put together. And about 50% of that time was probably devoted to rethreading my overlocker. This is the part of the dress I am less keen on. I still only have black and white overlocker thread, so made this up using the black. It worked out fine until I pressed the seams, and now the black thread shows. I did consider adding some detailing to the front to hide this, but I have obviously cut slightly off grain, as the front seam is not 100% straight. It's not that noticeable as is but it would be more obvious if I highlighted it (obviously!). What is the answer to this? Should I be buying overlocker thread to match every project? Or at least the projects I intend to make in a knit, where I won't be using my sewing machine? I just feel this could end up being both costly and wasteful, as I'm not sure I would get that much use out of the rest of the 4 thread cones. I did ask Hazel about this in Mandors - she said she uses a stretch stitch on her sewing machine, then overlocks in black or white - but my sewing machine doesn't have a stretch stitch. I could zig zag it on my sewing machine but then am left wondering about the purpose of the overlocker. Since a knit fabric doesn't fray, why bother? What do you do?

Just in case you are under any illusions about how lovely and sunny and warm Scotland looks in February, let me prove otherwise. These photos were taken between rain showers, in about 5 mins of very low, very bright sun. Here is how I actually looked for the rest of the day: