the annual fundraising auction for Em’s school was a week and a half after C was born.  we hadn’t planned on going because it was just days from my due date, but they offered up a bunch of much-needed volunteer hours just for attending and since C arrived a bit early, we decided that i could snuggle him in the moby wrap (affiliate link) and he’d sleep the whole time.  we figured we could just bolt outta there if things got to be too much for me or the little guy.  this is the sort of potentially delusional confidence you get when it’s kid #3 i guess.

i THOUGHT i had a dress that would fit and look halfway decent on my newly postpartum figure while also allowing me to still nurse C if the need arose, but i did not.  nope.  not at all.  so of course – i sewed something!

this is the outfit i wore that night, though the photo was taken over a month after the actual event.  my belly still looked about 4 months pregnant the night of, oh so cleverly hidden by the wrap/baby/flowy shirt combo.  oh and i wore flats for comfort/safety that night but in the photos i’m wearing heels because they look better.  ha! the immediate postpartum period is a very hormonal and delicate time – you’re not pregnant but still look like it and it can lead to a lot of self-consciousness, ya know?

the pattern is megan nielsen’s awesome ruched maternity pencil skirt.  this time i made a medium, and i once again skipped the ruching.  i put my striped maternity version on, then folded the top down to where i wanted it to hit my not-pregnant-anymore waist (eliminating the belly panel and high back).  i marked the desired waistband with pins, then carefully took it off and laid it over the pattern to determine how much to chop off the top, while still leaving room for the elastic and seam allowance.  then i just constructed as usual, which takes no time at all.  i think i made it in about an hour the day of the auction while my husband held the sleeping baby.

the fabric is a midweight super soft gray pinstripe knit from Hancock Fabrics that I got in California last fall while visiting Jess (we both got some – she blogged about hers here with better lighting!).  the forgiveness of the knit made up for my slapdash pattern alteration, i stayed super comfortable, and felt as cute as i possibly could’ve that soon after having a baby while still giving me the function i needed.

thank god i how to sew.  this quick and easy project saved me some major “GAH MY BODY IS WEIRD AND NOTHING WILL WORK – THAT’S IT WE’RE STAYING HOME!” hormonal tears for sure.  and seriously – knit pencil skirts are so cute and SO comfy.  i wore that maternity one way more than i expected i would and always felt great, even at 30+ weeks.

i sewed this skirt out of necessity weeks ago, but recently i’ve really been feeling the urge to sew more for myself again as i’m starting to look and feel a bit more normal.  why does this always happen to me right before kid’s clothes week??