Splish Splash
22 July 2008, 10:17Looking at this week’s London weather forecast, it seems for once, rather than being really late to the summer swimsuit party, I’ve actually timed this all rather well. We may actually get some nice summer temperatures in the high 70s/low 80s F (upper 20s C), which will actually feel really hot after the summer we’ve had again!
So I’ve finally been given some impetus from the weather on top of my recent confidence-boosting forway into sports gear to finally tackle one of sewing’s ultimate challenges – swimwear! I’ve been wearing two piece suits since I lost so much weight a few years ago, but I was so smitten with the one piece suit in KnipMode 06/2008 that I just had to try this as my first bathing suit:
When I went to cut out the pieces for a muslin, though, I realised that I’ve actually been a bit too good at using up my knit stash, and had to place a quick order to Chawla’s for some cheap muslin lycra. So forgive the shiny, neon blue – it really is just a practice suit!
I learned a lot in making this suit, though – like how to apply lycra edging (serge onto the wrong side, then flip inside again and zigzag from the right side) and how much you can stretch it before the lycra starts to pucker (take a look at those shoulder straps, argh)! The Threads swimsuit issue from last summer (June/July 2007) was especially helpful at applying the leg elastic, as it said to apply the elastic 1:1 at the front, but then stretch it to create fullness in the back. I only ended up edging one leg on this muslin since I have no need for a practice suit, though if I still lived in Pennsylvania, I’m sure I’d find this especially useful for muddy creek swimming!
All in all, I was really pleased with this muslin and in terms of fit, I only needed to add an extra inch to the torso length to get it perfect.
So it was without fear that I cut into my beautiful Lineazzurra swimsuit lycra from eLingeria, taking a huge amount of care to get the butterflies and stylished arcs running the right way up and in flattering ways in my pieces.
As you can tell by the amount of fabric left, the print is only placed sporadically along the edges and in alternating directions, so I’ll have to take equal amounts of care when I go to make my two piece suit from this fabric! I was able to sew up most of my final suit yesterday so there should hopefully be some (artfully photoshopped!) photos for you later this week if all goes well.
Though I’m not about to take a dip in the Thames any time soon. Ewwww.
Tags: knipmode, knitComments:
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Ooh! Are you planning to line it? I got a relatively posh swimsuit for my holiday (half price, phew) and it was lined, and made such a difference! Unfortunately it also had weird padding/support thingy inserts in the cups which were not remotely sewn in (they were just between the lining and the outer fabric) and they tended to fold in half when I got in the water, pulling the cup away from the body and risking major exposure – certainly wouldn’t have been good for real actual swimming!
— Anwen Jul 22, 11:58 AM #
Wow – sewing a swimming costume… I’m impressed. And I love the butterfly and rainbow fabric – I look forward to hearing how you get on!
— Cassie Jul 22, 12:18 PM #
Anwen – I’ve got a crotch lining in it (elingeria sell a ton of stretchy nude linings, too) but I’m not going to line the whole thing. Mostly because I only go swimming maaaaaaybe twice a year and also kinda for the reason you said – in RTW ones the linings always seem to bubble out huge and collect air!
— melissa Jul 22, 12:36 PM #
Oooh. Thanks for reminding me about that Threads. I think I actually have that one.
— cidell Jul 22, 01:22 PM #