Cordelia Maternity Camisole

Long time, no post! Motherhood is keeping me busy- I've fitted in some sewing but no time for blogging. Here's a make from my pregnancy that I've been waiting to post!  

You might have seen that Zoe from 'So Zo...What do you know?' has recently released a new sewing pattern, the Cordelia Camisole Pattern. I was lucky enough to be selected as a pattern tester during the final trimester of my pregnancy.

The camisole uses only 1m of jersey fabric and approx 2m of fold over elastic. I made two versions. For the first I used a beautifully drapey silver slub jersey from Minerva Crafts which I paired with some silver fold over elastic by Prym.

The pdf pattern was easy to put together - I don't often use pdf patterns but this one didn't consist of too many pages. I cut a straight size 12 to accommodate my 37 week pregnancy bump.

I used a rotary cutter and tin-can weights to cut out the pieces, which helped keep this drapy jersey flat. It was very quick to cut - there were only four pieces including the optional bust support panel.
 

I decided to include the bust panel as the jersey was a bit see through. This has a bottom edge which is finished with fold over elastic. This was the first time I had used fold over elastic and I used a 3 step zig zag stitch which gives a nice finish. I didn't actually test it at all - I recklessly went straight for it and it worked out really well - no where near as hard as I thought!  

The only problem is that because I included the bust support panel and used up some of the fold over elastic, I didn't have enough for the straps. D'oh! So unfortunately, this still lingers in my unfinished objects pile, which is a shame as I love the fabric and it fitted so nicely!

A pic of my 38 week bump in my half-finished camisole 

So after my first attempt at the Cordelia camisole, I immediately (the same day!) began cutting out my second version. For this version, I had picked a red and blue stripy jersey also from Minerva Crafts and used some red fold over elastic from the same supplier.

This was slightly harder to cut as I tried to match the stripes as best as I could. I have decide that this is my preferred method for cutting fabric, as it is so quick and accurate. Unfortunately, due to the gathers at the side of the camisole it meant that when constructed the stripes did not completely match up but was still worth attempting. 

I found the construction easier second time around and this came together very quickly. I chose not to cut out the bust support panel this time, to ensure that I had enough fold over elastic. The fold over elastic straps were very easy to create and I liked the fact that I could adjust the length of them before I secured them to the back.

The fit of the camisole is good- it fits well over my bump. I would recommend using jersey with quite a bit of stretch to get the most out of your garment - this stripey jersey is not too stretchy and unfortunately didn't fit for very long, due to a rapidly growing bump.  

So, if any ladies out there are expecting, or knows anyone who is, I would highly recommend the Cordelia Camisole pattern. It was so so easy to put together, uses less than 1m of fabric and only 2.5m of fold over elastic. The techniques are easy, even if you have never sewn with jersey fabric before so this is a great quick project. 

I wrote this post before my baby was born, and looking back now I can't imagine being that big. It seems strange to see myself looking pregnant in pictures. My next post is also something I made pre-pregnancy.