[MissingInAction]

I'm tall, thin & a size 8.
I love wearing clothes that make me feel good about myself, that suit my figure and express my personality.
I wear a lot of jeans / short shorts (depends on the time of year) and tank tops (think: lorna jane)
I wear a lot of dresses (especially a-line or "skater" shaped dresses: fitted up top but flare out at the bottom: think Dotti, Valley Girl, ) but have realised that a pregnancy belly and those style of dresses in particular really don't work well together. I tend to look sickly thin when i wear maxi dresses, they just dont suit me. Patterns look awful on me (i wear a lot of block colours or basic patterns like stripes and spots).
What sort of maternity wear options do I have ahead of me?

[~kuddlebug~]

I wore normal, loose clothing throughout my last pregnancy and will this time too. I wore my normal jeans with a belly band or long singlet to cover the fact that my fly was open, and lots of fitted but stretchy tops. I'm a similar size to you and that worked well. I also wore leggings with long tunic style tops and had one 'skater' dress that looked really cute with a bump!

I also did a lot of layers, like a long stripy singlet over leggings with a long cardi etc. Good luck, you shouldn't be stuck with just maternity wear if you find nice stretchy items!

[livvie7586]

OP, i'm not skinny, but i've found that the current styles at cotton on/factorie etc all lend themselves to maternity wear. so many of the tops at cotton on are big and stretchy, factorie sell tank 'dresses' that make perfect long line maternity tanks, and layering makes those tops you'd normally wear fit for longer.

Eg yesterday i was wearing a pair of kathmandu cargos with a belly belt (so they'd fit), a factorie tank 'dress' and a katies batwing sleeve top. not one piece was maternity, but it all worked together nicely

[saxa]

I'm not size 8 but found when pregnant I just used to wear regular clothes just a few sizes up until close to the end.

With pants/shorts I always wore under my belly and used a belly belt.

[Matthias' mum]

I am quite tall, and fairly slim (though not an 8). I bought quite a lot of stretchy metallicus stuff. It can be layered as it gets colder, is very comfortable, and you can wear it post baby. i particlarly liked their extra long singlets for covering the bump, and their skirts. I also bought quite a few tops and loose dresses from tree of life, one size bigger then usual. The only maternity clothes I bought were one pair of jeans, one skirt and maternity leggings to layer.

[MissingInAction]

These suggestions are all fantastic... except that I live in the tropics... heat & humidity abound... hmm I guess I will have to take it as it comes and shop at the time, hope for the best.

[EBeditor]

Tube skirts and tank tops? As you gain weight in pregnancy you might find that maxi dresses look more flattering.

[~kuddlebug~]

For a hot environment I'd get a belly band to hold up shorts and skirts, and wear long stretch singlets. You sound a similar build to me OP and the only part of me that increased during pregnancy was my belly. I personally wanted to cover my legs as hair removal got difficult in the later stages, but maybe maxi skirts could work for you?

[squeekums]

As a size 6 I found I only had to upsize to an 8 or 10, even in pants.
Maxi dresses only stopped swamping me at 8 n half months when I had a bump.
Kmart does long singlets that a really good and cheap. When not preg they come to your crotch, with a bump they cover perfectly.
With pants/shorts I found cargos and hipsters were the only ones that sat comfy. Finding them with current trends may be hard though sadly. Op shops will be your friend here lol

Good luck!

[starboard]

I wore normal, loose clothing throughout my last pregnancy and will this time too. I wore my normal jeans with a belly band or long singlet to cover the fact that my fly was open, and lots of fitted but stretchy tops. I'm a similar size to you and that worked well. I also wore leggings with long tunic style tops and had one 'skater' dress that looked really cute with a bump!

I also did a lot of layers, like a long stripy singlet over leggings with a long cardi etc. Good luck, you shouldn't be stuck with just maternity wear if you find nice stretchy items!

I wore very similar to Kuddlebug during both my pregnancies.
I did get maternity jeans from Jeanswest though as I found my fly being undone uncomfy.
Lots of leggings, layers and long cardies. I had a fabulous pair of glittery black leggings that I used to wear with a stretchy bright purple mini dress, black skinny cardie and biker boots when I was heavily pregnant throughout the winter with DD.
With DS, heavily pregnant towards the end of the summer, my fave outfit, was black leggings, stripey loose singlet over a Bonds maternity singlet with a skinny cardie if it got cool. Birkenstocks on my feet.

I'm very short and petite and I found a lot of maternity stuff overwhelmed me. I'm lucky enough to be able to wear casual wear to work so I kind of found what I liked and stuck with it. Found a lot of great clothes in Op shops too.