You guys! i’m so excited to finally be able to share with you the lookbook for my maternity sewing patterns! It’s been a long time coming and lots and lots of work – but i’m so thrilled to finally put all these pieces together in a lookbook!

We all had such a blast working on these shots – and i think the fun of the day really shows through. I really love it when everything comes together perfectly. And seriously, could our model be more perfect? i think not – she rocked it!

I really can’t wait to hear what you think!! i’m just so excited to share them with you all!! I really hope you enjoy them!! i know i already said that but i’m just that excited hehehehe Eeeeek! *excitable shrieking!* 

ok evidently i need to calm down… i’ll go get a coffee now hehehe

Please feel free to share them, pin them, whatever!

Meg XOXO

[SHOP: MN1001 Megan Nielsen Perfect Nursing & Maternity top sewing pattern]

[SHOP: MN1002 Megan Nielsen Pina dress & top sewing pattern]

[SHOP: MN1003 Megan Nielsen Wrapped maternity top sewing pattern]

[SHOP: MN1004 Megan Nielsen Nursing & Maternity lingerie set sewing pattern]

[SHOP: MN1005 Megan Nielsen Rie dress & top sewing pattern]

[SHOP: MN1006 Megan Nielsen Ruched maternity tshirt sewing pattern]

[SHOP: MN1008 Megan Nielsen ruched maternity skirt sewing pattern]

[Credits]

Model: Holly Matthews // Chadwicks
Photographer: Ebony Frost // Ebony Frost Photography
Floral arrangments: c/o Sarah Cooper // Rose & Pearl Events
Hair & Makeup: Emma Schroeder // Milla Makeup
Styling & shoot assist: Yvette Brownlie
Designs & styling: Megan Nielsen 

A very very big thank you to everyone involved!!

© Megan Nielsen for DIY maternity, 2013. | Permalink |

Hey friends!

Something amazing is happening – and i’d really appreciate it if you could help me out.

A few months ago i was reading Frankie magazine, when an ad caught my eye. It was for a contest for people who are modernizing traditional crafts for our generation, to win $100,000 to further their businesses.

I don’t normally enter things, but this really hit me. As i kept reading, i just kept feeling like what they were describing is exactly what i’ve been trying to do – recreating, rethinking and redesigning sewing and sewing patterns for a new generation of crafters. Having a passion for traditional crafts in a modern world. I entered. I never enter things.

And something amazing happened – last week i got an email telling me i was one of the 10 finalists in Australia. I almost passed out with excitement!

I think you know what an investment like that could do for Megan Nielsen Patterns – it would mean more patterns, more tutorials, building a team, more of everything awesome – and I could really do all those things i want to do with the company! It would be literally, life changing. As you know, I’ve built this business working in the middle of the night, with almost no funding – and i can only imagine the amazing things i could do with a kickstart like this.

So this is me shamelessly asking - please, please if you could take a few moments to head on over to the Modern Craft Project website, and vote for me – i would be undyingly grateful. (i believe you can vote once a day)

Please spread the word!! Tell your friends, tell your family – tell anyone who loves sewing! (and forgive me if i mention it again a few times before the month is over… i’m kind of excited)

Thank you so so much! I’ve said it before, and i’ll say it again – your support, and encouragement and love of this brand is everything to me – thank you for being in my corner :)

Praying so hard that I make it through!!!

Meg XOXO

© Megan Nielsen for DIY maternity, 2013. | Permalink |

Had to make make a swimsuit this summer! HAD TO. Luckily with this tutorial, I can change it into a non-maternity swimsuit after the baby comes.

CLICK HERE FOR THE INSTRUCTIONS :)

© Megan Nielsen for DIY maternity, 2012. | Permalink |

 Ever since I did this pencil skirt post a year ago, I’ve been dying to do a shirt version….maybe a dress version will be the next step? Anyway, I LOVE how it turned out and it currently might be one of my favorite tops to date! And you don’t have to have a huge belly to wear it. Woot woot!

© Megan Nielsen for DIY maternity, 2012. | Permalink |

This purple maternity pencil skirt was designed by the lovely Megan Nielsen, made by me. I was thinking it would be a casual knit skirt that I could throw on here and there, but after I made it and tried it on, it is quite a sexy little number! Well, for a prego women anyway. I’m loving all these maternity patterns!

I’m SO bummed that everyone has decided to leave me in Utah to go and further their education to provide for their family or something…pshhhh. What about me?! Just kidding, I know that one day this would happen, I just didn’t know it would happen all at once. I currently have 5 siblings and 3 in-laws and a niece here, but a few short months from now, 9 will become 3. My brother is leaving on his mission tomorrow morning (don’t even get me started about that one…it will make me cry), my other two brothers with fam are moving to Ohio for law school and medical school. And they ALL decided to leave around the same time.

So this little shindig was a last minute invite for Mike and Emily (and baby Rosie) knowing that in the next few days they will be packed up and headed out to Ogden for a little stint, then on to Ohio for bigger and better things. It was quite the party! I actually cooked chicken, and it was fully cooked mind you and I prepared a raspberry vinaigrette salad (what?! I never go past a pre packaged caesar salad from costco). Beck sucessfully, for the first time rode his tricycle and Emily snapped some awesome shots of baby Rosie’s Mad face and tried really hard to get a good angle on my extremely enormous belly in that cute maternity pencil skirt. Can you believe I’m that big already?! Anyway, I’m going to miss all the family, and I wish them good luck. Love you all.

© Megan Nielsen for DIY maternity, 2012. | Permalink |

First off….whether or not you can still fit into those pre-pregnancy pants you still need to keep that belly in check! Which means….when your zipper is fully unzipped to accommodate that growing waistband and hips, there NEEDS to be something that covers up that whole mess. Little do you guys know, in 99% of every outfit my pants are fully unzipped and on the verge of busting…but fashion is pain right? Even during pregnancy. So, as some of you have asked…how the heck do you keep that all covered up and in check…answer….a stretchy tube of knit fabric, whether that is a long tank top, or just a band. It needs to be tight, stretchy and comes in a variety of colors. And possibly something you want to use after words, because these things are amazing regardless you are pregnant or not.

My recommendations:

The tee shirt extender from Blush Accessories – which comes in a variety of colors, and can be for those non-prego ladies too (hence the picture above). It is made with a lighter fabric, making it more unnoticeable. Also, this is a local company and I’m all about supporting that.

The bella band – great for pregnancy because it is VERY stretchy, but it can be a little thick. But I didn’t always mind, but it wasn’t ideal when I wasn’t pregnant.

An extra long, tight tank top – can be used, especially when shirt are a little more see through. I will see this is the least favorite of all the options because the fabric tends to ride up and there is a lot of tugging and pulling going on. I love these ones from Nordstrom.

 

DIY: For those of you who have an extra stretchy tank top around that you don’t mind destroying, cut it off near the armpit area, in order to make sure it reaches past the bottom of you zipper. And because knit doesn’t fray, you don’t have to hem. If you are like me and you don’t want the end to roll, then hem end up 3/4 of an inch to an inch with a zig zag stitch or a long straight stitch (if you’re doing the straight stitch stretch it a lot as you go along). I’ve also wanted to make a shorter version too, which is nice when you stomach gets really itchy and you don’t want anything touching it.

© Megan Nielsen for DIY maternity, 2012. | Permalink |

 top: refashioned   pants: thrifted/refashioned   shoes: steve madden  necklace: grandma’s

Now it is time that I show you guys how AMAZING Megan Nielsen’s refashion is! I feel like it came right out of a 60s department store, it is so flattering and vintage looking. I’m in LOVE. literally the best maternity top I own. And with the elastic in the back, it is so dang comfortable. The challenging watermelon sized belly hiding under my shirt was NO challenge at all for her. I was pleased to hear that she was doing my refashion because, well, she makes pregnancy patterns for a living and it is her passion! I’m pretty DANG lucky! She is also the author of DIY maternity blog, where you can get lots of pregnancy ideas, refashions, and sewing tutorials.

THANKS Megan!!

TUTORIAL HERE

© Megan Nielsen for DIY maternity, 2012. | Permalink |

You guys it’s Meg! Did you miss me? I bet you’ve been really enjoying all of Lizzie’s fantastic maternity tutorials! Just popping in today because I have such a fun project to share with you!

Two of my favourite crafty ladies, Miranda and Melissa came up with the fun idea a little while ago of doing a button up shirt refashion swap. The basic idea being that a group of bloggers get together, take a boring button up shirt, and remake it into something super cute for another lady. I was super excited when I was allocated Lizzie to create something for – she’s adorably pregnant, and our current guest contributor here on DIYM! With my line of maternity patterns and this blog, I obviously have a real passion for designing things for baby bumps – it was kind of a match made in heaven! I was also really excited to find out that Mim would be making something for me – we’ve worked together before on a tutorial for DIY Maternity (back when she was preggers) and she is a really talented seamstress. Honestly this whole thing was so fun – i just wish it hadn’t all fallen over my move, but such is life!!

Want to see what I made??

I honestly cannot wait to see how it looks on Lizzie! It took all of my self control to refrain from adding a peter pan collar hehehe. I wanted to make something comfortable and practical but still a bit tailored – and obviously i wanted something that would suit Liz. I included a lot of my favourite maternity details – and the great news is there is a tutorial at the end of this post so you can make one of your own!

There are some really amazing ladies involved in this!!

Jennifer of Grainline Studio (see the top Jen made!)
Krista of Lazy Saturdays (see the skirt Krista made!)
Liz of Cotton & Curls (See the top Lizzie made!)
Megan of Megan Nielsen Designs (that’s me!)
Melissa of I Still Love You (See the maternity top Melissa made!)
Miranda of One Little Minute (see the dress Miranda made)
Miriam of MadMim (see the top Mim made for me!)
Kate of See Kate Sew (see the jumper dress Kate made)
Sunni of A Fashionable Stitch (see the top Sunni made!)
Suzannah of Adventures in Dressmaking (see the dress Suzannah made!)

Today we are all sharing tutorials for how to make the item we made for another lady – and then next we’ll be having a “blog hop” to share the tops that were made for us! So don’t forget to follow the links above to see the tutorials for all the other tops that were made! So fun right?

Here is the blog hop schedule for next week:

Monday, May 21st: Lizzie of Cotton & Curls, Krista of Lazy Saturdays
Tuesday, May 22nd: Sunni of A Fashionable Stitch, Kate of See Kate Sew
Wednesday, May 23rd: Suzannah of Adventures in Dressmaking, Miranda of One Little
Minute
Thursday, May 24th:Miriam of MadMim, Melissa of I Still Love You
Friday, May 25th: Megan of Megan Nielsen Design, Jennifer of Grainline Studio

Okie dokie – that was a mouthful!! Ready to see how i made Lizzies maternity top? Instructions below!

(...)
Click through to read the rest of the button up refashion swap!

© Megan Nielsen for DIY maternity, 2012. | Permalink |