Clothing

People who sew quickly learn the vibe given off by each brand of patterns: Daisy Kingdom patterns make the kind of giant rustling gowns you see at toddler pageants, Oliver + S is perfect for small-boned budding socialites who don’t expect to be comfortable in their clothes. Aptly named ModKid patterns are perfect for urban, modern little ones whose parents want both comfort and cool city style in their clothing.

Designed by textile maven Patty Young (who uses her own two daughters as models on the pattern sleeves), ModKid patterns are extremely simple to put together, yet yield gorgeous, stylish clothing. As Young’s daughters grow, too, the sizing grows: ModKids first patterns stopped at size 7, now there’s even a tween version of ModKid’s most popular pattern, the kimono-inspired Kyoko.

If Mom gets into the ModKid swing of things, there are a few mom-sized patterns available too. Oh, and doll-sized patterns of many of the styles, for those who like to make matching dresses for baby dolls.

ModKid Patterns, $13 each

The dog days of Summer are here and that usually means…back-to-school shopping. If you haven’t started already, you might want to have some fun with it and begin at Tada! Shop. The site was started by two moms who found shopping online for their children too hard and time-consuming. Their answer was to create a one stop shop that brings together popular name brands with lesser know specialty brands and boutiques–all in one place.

Founders Hadley and Holly are both moms of three and diligently curate and find the best essentials, the most original and the greatest deals for you. There are always plenty of sales to take advantage which so make sure and sign up for the weekly email. The “Editors’ Picks” elements is like having personal shopping experts hand pick all of the must-haves and seasonal fashions.

We can’t get enough of the “Create a Look” tool that allows you to mix and match brands to either purchase the items or save the look to your account. Shop for clothing and toys by age or price, filter by brand, or check out the “What’s New” section for timely finds.

www.tadashop.com

Motherhood may do wonders for your self-confidence, but it sure doesn’t make you feel like putting on a bikini. Even women who don’t gain a lot of weight during birth, or who only have one child, can wind up with a belly that feels downright unsightly: crisscrossed with silvery stretch marks, loose, flabby, wrinkly, even (particularly in women who have had C-sections) the dreaded “mother’s apron,” a flap of loose skin that hangs over the pelvis like an apron.

You can tone and diet all you want, but you probably won’t ever look like you did pre-birth. If that impacts your sex life, you have a few choices. Turn down the lights, close your eyes and try not to worry about it, seek surgical help, or just cover it up. If you decide to go for the last option, you might find SexCies of interest.

Created by a woman bummed out about her own mother’s apron, SexCies is a new line of “shapewear” designed to be worn while you are having sex. It looks like a ruffled corset, but it’s shaped especially to hold in all your lumps and bumps while you’re doing it. The first SexCies product is the CorCelette, with ruffles on the bottom and lacing on the sides that can be adjusted for post-partum changing figures.

SexCies CorCelette, $97

The most anti-recession-friendly, financially inefficient purchase a pregnant woman can make is that of a special occasion maternity dress. Maximum cost, minimum usage, over-the-top frustration.

Enter the Netflix of maternity dresses - RentMaternityWear.com. They’ve got simple, on-trend dresses for cocktail parties, showers, weddings and date nights with your DH. So a gorgeous LBD is just a click away. RMW carries Christian Siriano (Mr. Project Runway) for Fierce Mamas, Olian and Maternal America.

Here’s how it works: Just select a dress and size, choose the rental period, one or two weeks, then check out and select your shipping method. Dresses go for about $35-$85, slightly more if you opt for the one-week, never-been-worn/ worn-only-once option. You get a 48-hour, try-on period to make sure it fits before committing to the rental. If it’s the wrong size, just ship it back and RentMaternityWear.com can send you the same dress in a different size (with free shipping for up to three “try-on, returned” dresses). The company is testing a new service called “Hold for Me” on its three most popular pieces (Olian’s Beaded Yoke Long Knit Dress and Christian Siriano’s Charmeuse Maternity Dress with Chiffon Tie in both Black and Multi). For 10 extra bucks, you can reserve a dress for a specific date.

So to all the retailers with the overpriced designer maternity dresses, you can say, “Frock you.”

Visit rentmaternitywear.com.

In another month or so, you won’t need to spend the requisite 45 minutes wrestling Junior into multiple layers of clothing before “gracefully” (not) maneuvering him into the stroller sleeping bag. Spring/Spring Break shopping season is just around the corner. Get ready to lighten up, integrate color back into your family’s life and bring on the fun clothes.

Masala Baby can help you with all of the above. The collection blends a “modern, spirited, urban vibe” with the traditions of India. Palette-wise, think spice colors: saffron, clove brown, raani pink and curry yellow. In fact, Masala, transliterated, is a mixture of unique ingredients that creates a surprising result. Masala Baby’s collection includes bodysuits with traditional Indian motifs, festive-hued dresses and hoodies, and understated tunics with peacock feathers and camels. Company founder and president Dipali Patwa is a native of India and currently calls New York City home. Patwa, the mother of a three-year-old, also knows her way around the world of textiles and fashion; she’s designed home furnishings for Badgley Mischka, Martha Stewart, Laura Ashley and Bill Blass. Her Masala Baby pieces are made in India. Fabrics are woven on handlooms by artisans, and prints are hand-screened or block-printed.

A delicious way to dress. Hey, it is Fashion Week. Spice things up.

Available at masalababynyc.com.

With Valentine’s Day fast approaching and a rare night out with your DH, your maternity wardrobe requires an emergency infusion of hip, sexy pieces. After all, your pregnancy basics have been in heavy rotation and could use a break.

Time to pull in the big Gunn (as in Tim) or, rather, his Project Runway co-star, supermodel Heidi Klum. After almost seven seasons of Project Runway, years of red carpet action and miles of catwalk trekking for Victoria’s Secret, Klum knows fashion. And after having four kids, she knows maternity fashion. Next week, on February 12th, Klum launches two lines - Lavish and Loved. The first is for A Pea in the Pod and the second for Motherhood Maternity, both part of the same company. The two collections are heavy on the always-versatile black and gray, while Loved punches it up a notch on the color spectrum with some pops of cobalt blue. The LBD from Lavish (pictured upper right) is what you’d call a statement piece and is not likely to give you (or your DH!) maternity-wear fatigue as your pregnancy progresses. Klum notes that she experienced some fashion challenges during pregnancy and wanted to design maternity clothes that were practical and comfortable as well as stylish.

So on 2/14, be lavished and be loved … before the bambino arrives on the scene.

Available 2/12 in stores and online at apeainthepod.com and motherhood.com.

Yes, you have to have navy wrap dresses and plain black separates in your wardrobe whilst gestating; anything more decorative is also more noticeable, and you’ll feel weird if people realize you wear the same pair of pants three days out of five. But when you have a special occasion to attend, a dinner, a wedding, a party, you really don’t want to come in wearing something schlumpy.

Enter the Chic Chiffon Dress, designed by Project Runway winner Christian Siriano. Siriano has been designing for the Moody Mama’s maternity label for a couple of years now, designing under the name Fierce Mamas. Most of what he’s produced is elegant and spare, often in neutral colors and designed to be a basic that’s worn often. Not so for this flirty number in teal, with a ruffly bustline that accentuates your lovely swelling bosom, and a floaty A-line skirt that camouflages the basketball you swallowed.

Speaking of Siriano, he made style news this month when Mad Men star Christina Hendricks chose one of his dresses to wear on the red carpet at the Golden Globes.

Teal Chic Chiffon Dress, $249

There are so many different kinds of breastfeeding-friendly tops on the market, and many of them seem designed either to make you look like a heifer, or to expose your postpartum stretchmark-speckled gut to the world, even as they shield the top of your breast.

Maternity tops from Swedish company Boob Design feature a horizontal flap above a lower flap, so that one or both breasts can be easily pulled out, while the rest of the body is camouflaged. There are no supposedly one-hand snaps to undo, no layers of cloth to fumble through, no complicated wraps that suddenly fall apart. And the flap is often cunningly concealed in design details, so that it looks like you’re wearing a regular shirt, not a shirt that screams “I LIKE TO TAKE MY BOOBS OUT A LOT.” They’re pricey, but wear well, and will stand up to the stretching and washing that a nursing top takes.

In fact, the one big flaw of Boob Design is that the clothes are hard to buy in the United States. You can’t buy from the company’s website; for a list of online boutiques that sell Boob, see boobdesign.com.

Once you get pregnant it’s like you’re a ticking time bomb, counting down the moments until you’re going to be in a heinous pair of maternity pants. Oh sure, you can hold on for a while, looping your waistband together with rubber bands, or wearing some type of big cloth belt to keep them up as they bag beneath your swelling protuberance. But sooner or later, you’ll be forced to buy a big, baggy pair of paneled pants. Unless you send your favorite pair to Denim Therapy. This innovative company specializes in denim restoration: patching up holes in the knee, butt, or crotch. But it has a sideline in turning regular jeans into maternity pants, and then back again.

For $60, Denim Therapy inserts comfy, stretchable panels into the seams of your regular jeans. While you swell, they swell with you in the belly area, while giving you the same fit down to the ankles. When you’ve had the baby and deflated back to your normal size, you send them back to Denim Therapy and the panels are removed. There! Wasn’t that an adventure for both of you?

For more information, visit denim-therapy.com.

Boys clothing tends to be either of the bland “play clothes” variety (bedecked with masculine imagery like dinosaurs, tools, trucks), or fancy-dress duds suitable for wearing to a wedding. What does the well-dressed young man wear to social occasions where fashion matters, yet formal gear is inappropriate (and hellishly uncomfortable)?

The Goncalo Polo Sweater by Tea Collection fits the bill. The style is retro, bringing to mind the ubiquitous Penguin polo shirts of the 1950s. The shirt’s pattern, inspired by the tile sidewalks of Rio de Janeiro, is similarly vintage in feel. It’s a cozy, easy-wear pullover that has a great deal more style than a T-shirt. It’s available in sizes 6 months to 6 years.

Goncalo Polo Sweater, $47-49