Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Where Are They?

Pretty soon, I'll be needing to wear maternity clothes. I only have so many elastic-waisted pants or skirts. So far, the stores I have casually looked into seem to carry overpriced & sleazy-looking clothes. Just because I'm preggo, doesn't mean I need to bare my body any differently than I have before!! I can't believe all the low cut or extremely revealing things I've seen.

I'm looking for good deals & modest clothes. Also, I'm planning on using these clothes again, Lord willing, in the future. So, I'm hoping to stick with classics, so that I just can add a couple things here & there for upcoming pregnancies.

Anyways, for those of you who have experienced the baby belly, please let me in on your secrets. Where did you find your maternity wardrobe?

13 comments:

Shannon Smith said...

Pam,

I've been having the same issue as you! I don't like wearing the tighter looking/sleezy looking clothes, but that is definitely what is in style! My biggest issue has been finding dresses/skirts! I have 3 skirts and 1 dress (which my mom made.)

I have found a few things at Motherhood Maternity, they also have an online store: motherhood.com I've found 2 skirts for a decent price from there.

I found a denim skirt from JC Penney's online store.

Some of the shirts I have I found at JC Penney, Kohls, Younkers and Motherhood Maternity. If you look at Gap.com they have some stuff, but you have to sort through it all.

I was lucky and had a co-worker give me a HUGE box full of clothes so a lot of the stuff I have come from her.

Good luck searching!

~Shannon

S said...

I too had a co-worker give me a tub full of clothes. It was a blessing! I found deals at Salvation Army (on Wednesdays-half off) and that worked out when I could find cute stuff, but not sleezy. I think it's ridiculous that they want pregnant woman to look that way - but that's another story. Anyways, I loved Target's selections and always found deals there on their clearance racks. Sometimes I even just got elastic waisted skirts and that worked the whole pregnancy. Especially in this time when the baby doll style dresses and shirts are in style, you might not even have to get maternity! I love that Target has sizes for Maternity. That helps in stead of the generic s, m, l,etc.

Katie said...

I also was given a bunch of maternity clothes, which was great. But, I think most of the other stuff I got was also from Motherhood Maternity. I haven't been there yet with this pregnancy, so haven't seen their styles lately, but before I liked the styiles and the prices weren't bad either. I also got some stuff from Old Navy, if I recall right.

Karis said...

I was able to borrow maternity clothes and also built my own wardrobe from thrift shops. It was pretty hit and miss at the thrift shops -- I got some great deals but looked through a lot of outdated clothes to find those although I did't mind that. We have a couple of good children's consignment shops here that carry maternity clothes, and I was much more likely to find cute stuff there. Of course the prices (here anyway) are halfway between thrift shops and regular store prices. I had to wear camisoles under several of my maternity shirts because I found it very hard to find modest maternity clothes too.

Carrie said...

I shopped Motherhood's clearance racks in the off season (sorry for that late advice - one year I got a sweater in June, knowing I would need it in Nov.) I found a few pieces I liked at gap.com and old navy. I wear tank tops under just about everything - even non maternity clothes b/c so much is low cut and v necks or see through. There are nice things out there just keep looking - check target as well.

Carrie said...

Hi Pamela,

I don't think I have commented before, although I do keep up with your blog and enjoy reading. I don't actually "know" you but I think I graduated from Northland when you were a freshman. Anyway . . . congratulations on your pregnancy!! I hope all continues to go well for you.

As far as maternity clothes, you are right about the styles being horrendous right now. I bought most of my stuff during my first pregnancy, almost 4 years ago, and I found most of my nicest clothes (for church, etc.) at Motherhood outlets. I also got things here and there at Kohls, Target, Penney's and Old Navy. One thing I would suggest is checking Ebay. You can find some pretty nice, gently used maternity clothes there; the only bad part is that you can't try them on before buying. But they do have some of the nicer styles from a few years ago. I got my sister-in-law a couple of cute Motherhood dresses there recently, which were reasonably priced and in very nice condition. Just a thought . . .
There is also a site called littletouchofelegance.com that has a maternity skirt that a friend of mine recommended--I haven't tried it but it does look nice. Good luck with your search; I know it can be frustrating sometimes!

Jenny said...

Pam,
I feel your pain! When I wasn't pregnant, cute clothes abounded! Then the minute I needed some, they all were horrid. :-) I second what everyone else is saying about thrift stores - and I invested in several (okay, maybe more like a dozen) tanks for "fixing" the modesty problems. I couldn't find any maternity tanks that weren't low cut as well (!?!?!!!!) so I bought some regular tanks in a larger size. Sometimes I even wore them backward because the back was higher up than the front.

Sometimes it worked for me to buy things in a big size and wear those - like I bought a few cotton shirts and wore them over tanks, either open or buttoned at the top. It didn't look as weird as it sounds. :-)

Also, garage sales can be great!! I found several things that worked for 25 cents.

Don't know if you have Kmart, but right now, our Kmart has some cute t's and shorts for not a horrible price.

There are some other good ideas at this link:

http://www.biblicalwomanhood.com
/2006/11/input-requested-modest-
maternity.html

Sorry I had to break that up. OK I think I've written long enough!

Jenny said...

Hey Pam, email me, okay? I have a question for you twomuthsatgmail.com

pamela s said...

Thank you all for your advice!! I really appreciate it. At least I know where to start.
I did find some $7 jeans at Target on the clearance rack, so I've started. :)
Looks like I'll be be-bopping around town checking out a couple stores & after I try on some things from those stores, I'll then e-bay for things that seem like will be my size.

Carrie said...

I just thought of one other suggestion--biblicalwomanhoodonline.com has a new maternity shirt pattern. Don't know if you sew, or know anyone who does, but Crystal has a couple pics on her blog now that show her wearing a shirt made from that pattern, and it's really cute. I think I may just have to get one next time I'm pregnant! Happy shopping!

Abby said...

Motherhood maternity has some good clearance online, and ebay is great too. I've noticed that maternity pants just don't fit me the way pants should, so I've actually just gone into bigger pants/plus size at times, and more of the cotton knit, so I can breathe a little better in them. They've been great and are the only things that I wear!!!

Dave & Heather said...

Hey Pam,
I was able to borrow maternity clothes, but in my last month I popped out alot so I ended up going to the thrift stores. I really only wore bigger sizes until that last month. I was able to find clothes for a really decent price. It helped since we didn't have much money. Happy hunting!

Heather Locke

Unknown said...

I realize this discussion is probably over already, but I wanted to contribute something. I too liked Target's and Kohl's selection but found Kohl's awfully pricey. I ended up buying just a few staples from Kohl's and snatching clearance items from Target.

Besides thrift stores and garage sales, you could also try looking at children's resale clothing stores (there's a branch in Ohio called "Once Upon a Child"). They often also carry used maternity clothing that is in slightly better condition than the thrift store stuff.

You're probably past this point in your pregnancy, but I'm still trying to wear my regular pants/shorts by not zipping them up all the way and then using a rubber band through the loop and around the button. It's working so far but I don't know for how much longer!

I've noticed lately that there are lots of cute trendy shirts in the regular or juniors sections of stores that are actually pregnancy type of styles! When in Chicago recently I was floored by how many young skinny ladies I saw wearing (what looked to me) maternity styles with long gathered tops. I picked up a great "transition" type of top at forever 21 while in chicago and it's way roomier and comfier than my regular large shirts.