Designing adjustable maternity apparel for working women.

Abstract

The working pregnant women's apparel has been neglected a Jot here in Uganda and therefore limiting them to few fashionable clothing choices that are not work appropriate for them. The aim of the study "Designing adjustable maternity apparels for working pregnant women" was to come up with designs for working pregnant women using various designs and fabric decoration methods to facilitate their use throughout the pregnancy and enhance the apparel. The objective of the study was to analyze the different types of maternity apparels worn by working class women, to find out the perceptions pregnant women had towards maternity apparels and finally to design and produce adjustable maternity apparels for the working pregnant women. Interviews, questionnaires and observation techniques were used to get responses from the subjects. The data was presented in tables, pie charts and histogram. The findings revealed that shift dress styles, layering and empire waist dress styles were the most favored by pregnant women because of their easy fitting style which provides room for the growing belly. The study also revealed that the perceptions pregnant women had towards maternity clothing was mostly because they were expensive and could only be used once. With the data collected, the researcher was able to design and produce maternity apparels for working pregnant women.