Now that I am back to normal size, I've been able to see how well my adjustable dresses made during pregnancy, work for a non-pregnant shape. The answer in a nutshell is – some better than others!

My tie front dresses I have not worn since the baby was born, since they do not open down the front for nursing access. I am confident they will look fine, once I can wear them again, because the pattern was not intended for maternity in the first place. This particular dress got a ton of wear and no longer looks so fresh!

1940s anchor dress

This dress, created by combining 2 different patterns, turned out to be my most flattering maternity dress during pregnancy. I really like it. I do think the general idea would work for a non-maternity pattern as well, but since I made it during pregnancy, I ended up with an empire waist, which looks quite nice with a baby belly. Wearing it without the baby belly now makes the waist band fit around my rib cage instead of my waist, which I don't like, so I will retire this one with my other maternity clothes. If I make this pattern combo again, I will make the waist hit farther down, so that it will work better for non-maternity.

Thankfully I have enough fabric to make another dress that fits me now!

1930s adjustable floral dress

I have not gotten pictures of my 1930s house dress without the baby bump, but I have documented another version with normal proportions, so I know how it will look and fit.

1930s house dress worn while pregnant

earlier tropical version worn while not pregnant

I made two versions of Butterick 6485. The rayon version was photographed while I was still small enough that you can pretty well tell how it looks now. I wore it through the whole pregnancy, and was very happy with it.

I made it again in cotton, and didn't like this version as well to wear while pregnant. It looked ok when I was just large enough to want an adjustable waist, but once I got to the last few months, it made me feel even bigger than normal. Any woman who has gone through the months of pregnancy knows that is not a nice feeling.

So I did another photo shoot to show if normal proportions would help, or if this pattern is one that really does need the limpness of rayon.

It looks better for sure, but I still am happier with the rayon version (both for maternity and regular), so likely will not make this again in cotton. 

(I had fun with a more structured hairstyle this time than my usual brush-out. It ended up looking a bit more late-'40s I thought.)

My blue and red adjustable dress started out too snug for how large I had become by the time I made it, as you can see in the first batch of photos I took. It would work well for previous months, but definitely is one I would grow out of during the last few months.

How well does it work though without the baby bump? Pretty well, I think!

Nice and trim with the belt, and the extra gathers in the back allow for plenty of movement and comfort without looking obviously maternity. I'm happy with how well my alterations to this pattern worked out.

So overall, I would say that the patterns I experimented with were successful, especially since none of them were officially "maternity". All of them I would wear again, though some of them not for the entire pregnancy.

Some I have retired for now, while others remain in my closet, and yet others will have their turn when the baby is weaned. It was a fun experiment, but I'm very happy to fit back in my normal clothes again and be able to give the dresses I made earlier this spring while I was still small, a few more outings yet before winter!