Maternity – Dual Purpose Wardrobe

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I love perusing maternity sites or even just searching for maternity tops on Amazon. There are so many cute options!

But after browsing for a while, I finally came to the conclusion that, almost without exception, they’re impractical. Sure, that dress looks nice on the model, but it’ll make me look like a whale. That blouse is cute, but I won’t get much use out of it post-pregnancy.

Oh, and then there’s the pricing issue. If you essentially build an entire secondary wardrobe for pregnancy, yikes! Your bank account might start crying.

Of course, we all know that we can shop at second-hand stores such as Goodwill and look for bargains on eBay to help with that problem, but there’s also another solution.

Choose items that can be worn both during pregnancy and after – or before.

Like what? Glad you asked!

Non-maternity blouses

I’m currently making use of several skirts and shirts that aren’t designed for pregnancy and yet, work very well. The key is, for blouses, to select items that are long enough (unless you want your baby bump poking out the bottom), and made of stretch – usually knit – fabric.

Like this:


this was several weeks ago, when I was smaller, but it still fits.

Here, I’m wearing a Worthington blouse that I picked up at Goodwill a few weeks ago.

This outfit came about because I was bored with my usual clothes.


How do you like my “bathroom mirror” pictures?

The button-down top, which I’ve tied up, is something I picked up at the thrift store years ago and doesn’t have tags. The tank is Merona. Since neither of these things are maternity tops, I definitely get a lot of use out of them when I’m not pregnant.

Empire waists are great for dual-purpose wearing.

I picked this one up – you guessed it – at a thrift shop forever ago.

Maternity blouses

One day, while perusing the thrift shop racks, I came across a maternity top that I liked, so even though I wasn’t pregnant, I bought it. Later, when I got it home and tried it on, I thought hey, why couldn’t I wear this now? The tag is on the inside, nobody will know it’s maternity! So I did. Even though, at the time, I was the slimmest I had ever been.

Image shows a woman standing in a park with a toddler. In the background are several picnic tables
This photo was taken about a year ago

It’s a Liz Lange top, and it, too, has served me well during this pregnancy.

This style is really great for both maternity and non. Basically, I it has gathered up sides, it fits my definition of awesome. Interestingly, I felt that the gathers helped to hide whatever tummy pooch I may have had before I was pregnant, but as soon as I started to truly grow a baby bump, this style seemed to magnify it x10! But maybe I’m just a little more self-conscious about it. My unmarried and very style-conscious sisters also have a few of this style of shirt that they wear routinely.

One of my sisters also wears this shirt from motherhood maternity. I wish I had a picture of it on her to show that it doesn’t look “maternity” at all.

Skirts and pants

Elastic waistbands. What more needs to be said?

Granted, it’s a little more difficult to find dual-purpose skirts and pants – especially pants.

I do have maternity-specific skirts, but most of them are still too large, so I’m wearing the “regular” variety.

You can also wear skirts and pants that sit below the belly (I have a few that this works with – not very many), or make good use of a rubber band.

That’s what I’m wearing right now; in fact, I just now stopped, tucked in my tank, and snapped this pic.

It works surprisingly well.

Many of my friends also speak very highly of the Belly Band. I haven’t tried it (yet) myself, so I can’t say from personal experience, but it looks like a good idea.

Now I must confess that I am the owner of several pairs of maternity pants and wear them frequently. Most maternity are ill-fitting, or so I’ve found, so when I *do* come across a nice pair, I tend to snatch them up.

Underclothes

I struggled with finding nursing bras that were both functional and comfortable for a while. Nursing tanks, while nice for belly coverage, don’t offer much support, nursing bras… Blah.

I stayed away from motherhood bras for a while after reading a lot of bad reviews on them but finally got so sick of everything else I tried that I went to Macy’s one day and got a couple. The Wireless Full Coverage Nursing Bra is wonderful! Better than most of my pre-preg bras, and so I’ve been wearing it even though I’m no longer nursing.

The cups are padded, which to me is a plus, even though it takes a little getting used to if you’ve been using soft, thin bras with no body in the cup. They’re not quite as quick and easy to pull down, and for that reason, I’ll probably wear a nursing tank until the new little one learns the art of latching on, but after that initial period, the extra (and minimal) difficulty is well worth the good fit and support.

I hope this post has given you some ideas on how to save money by creating a dual-purpose wardrobe.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas on the subject!

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