Well, I’ve looked and looked. Almost every site mentioned has had maternity mini-skirts (I’m really not sure why anyone would want to chance wearing one of these considering how out of control clothing can become in those last pregnancy months!), or none at all.

I did order the Florinda Maternity Skirt pattern from Blessed Designs and plan on making me a couple for Sunday wear (maybe more, if I like the pattern).

For now, I needed something for everyday wear. A skirt that could take gardening, cleaning, homeschooling, and baking. A skirt long enough to be modest if I’m leaning down for a toddler kiss!

Again, none of the maternity sites have a thing. MaryAnn (thank you for the pattern idea, Mary Ann!) , sent me a tutorial on making a skirt, which was very interesting. It was too short for my needs, but the concept was great! They basically took a tube of fabric and added a portion of a T-shirt to create a maternity skirt.

As I had pondered this skirt and my needs, I came up with the answer that will be perfect for my nine months– I bought two nice, long maternity skirts from the local thrift store. Each one cost between $3 and $5.

I cut them off just below the belt loops. If you have a zipper on your skirt, you could zip it just until your tummy begins to show your pregnancy, and make that your cut line. (I sewed the zipper closed at that line on one of my skirts.)

I bought two T-shirts in a size considerably smaller than I wear, but they need to stretch and hold my skirt in place.

I cut off the bottom “tube” part of the T-shirt and pinned the cut edge to the cut edge of my skirt.

Now, just sew all around the skirt adding this tube section as the top of the skirt. (It’s always a good idea to use denim weight needles….) Also, I’ve always had problems stitching on knit fabrics. They just give me fits! If you use a zig-zag stitch instead, it will sew up beautifully every time! *I did go over my seams twice, just because I don’t plan on doing this task again. I want it permanent!!*

Fold the top over to create an elastic casing, insert the elastic, and stitch closed. Ta-da!! A maternity skirt on a budget!!

I will tell you, these are the *most comfortable* skirts I’ve ever owned for pregnancy. I think because instead of a traditional panel, the maternity section goes all around my mid-section. That is really nice!

A couple of tips here–

• 1. Please use coordinating fabric. If your skirt is blue, use a blue T-shirt. I don’t know what I was thinking with the green shirt…just using what I had, I think. In any case, if your blouse happens to ride up a little, it won’t be so noticeable.
• 2. Please use coordinating thread. I used white in one picture so you could see my stitching, but again, it will be less noticeable if it matches the shirt.
• 3. The skirts above have different sized “tubes”. I made two big mistakes on these, I didn’t measure properly from the top of my growing tummy to the bottom, so one is larger than the other. It really doesn’t matter much, they basically fit the same, but I’ll take this into account next time. Two, I bought these two T-shirts wayyyy too big. I didn’t realize how much this T-shirt fabric would give- next time, I’m buying size small for my skirts.

I loved my skirts so much, I ran back to the thrift store and found two more skirts for sewing later this week.

If you try this project, I would love to see pictures!! 😀

Happy sewing!