We are coming out with some new, fitted maternity patterns. It can be difficult to fit a pregnant belly, because they are ever changing! So we've developed a "choose your own ease" size chart.
What is ease?
Ease is how much room a garment has. When a garment has positive ease (like a woven top) it is designed to be larger than the body. When a garment has negative ease (like a bra) it is designed to be smaller than the body and stretch to fit. When a garment has neutral ease, it lightly fits the body without stretching.
The size chart for our negative ease maternity garments will have minimum and maximum measurements.
The minimum is the actual garment measurement. If you are the minimum measurement, the garment will fit without stretching (neutral ease). You would go with this size if you are early in your pregnancy, or prefer garments that aren't tight.
The maximum is the garment measurement plus 60%, which is the average stretch for the recommended knits. If you go with this size, the garment will have a light compression fit (negative ease).
Consider the stretch of your fabric
If your fabric has more than 60% stretch, you will want to choose a smaller size, closer to the maximum fit.
New "choose your ease" size charts
This is for our maternity leggings, releasing June 18.
We have provided the minimum and maximum measurements for each size. This allows you to pick a pant that is loose fit (minimum measurements) or compression fit (maximum measurements) or something in the middle.
For example: you are a 43” waist and 20 weeks pregnant. You could choose the size large and have around 20” of ease for growing. Or you could go with the XS, if your thigh is within the XS range, and you only expect to grow around 10” larger.
No more guesswork!
We wanted a way to choose a maternity garment size that doesn't consider your pre-pregnancy size. A way to predict how the garment will fit, so you can get it right on the first try. Let us know what you think!