Maternity board shorts

My 5th complete sewing project for 2009!

These are the completed maternity board shorts

I really like to wear a pair of shorts with a swimsuit, but my shorts that I usually wear didn't fit because I am pregnant, and also I really wanted to have cute swimwear, like thinkgs actually matched. So I found that below pair of pants at DI (local thrift store) for $4.

They were way too long, but also way to small, so I thought the extra length would help me add to the sides so that they fit appropriately. I used my maternity pants pattern as a template, and used some of my board shorts to figure out the length. I did a curved cutout in the front, so it hugs right underneath my huge tummy. I redid the waistband, and did the waistband on the front of the pants on the bias so it can work with the curve of the pants.

I also had added 8.5" of width to the shorts so that they would fit me correctly. If you notice in the above picture, there is only one green striped on the side of the pants. When I added width, I used the green part, so there were then double stripes. I actually had to unpick the white racing stripe entirely because it was over the seam line. So then I added back in over one of the seam lines that I did. If you look very carefully on the bottom picture you should be able to see the other seam line, but because the racing stripe is covering up one of them, it is normal to have a side seam, and so it doesn't really look like I added anything.

I am pretty pleased with out these turned out. If I were to do the project again however, I think I would have 1.5" of height on the back of the shorts, so that they rode me a little higher and felt a little more snug, especially in the front that they are trying to stay on underneath my tummy. Overall they are nice, and it wasn't worth another 2 hours of work to take off the waistband and add height to the back of the shorts.