So, I ended up waiting for pictures again. And last week I ended up being very busy. In fact, I already know the coming month will be a very busy one. I will still try to keep up the blogging but I don't expect I will be able to do more than one post a week.
At least I now have pictures from two more things I made during the summer holiday from my teaching job.
In the swimsuit post, I told you I was inspired to try and make more swimwear, in different styles. And that I had to wait for new swimwear elastic to be delivered. This is what I made once I got my hands on that elastic. A bikini!
My sister bought this fabric, lycra with a print of reeds or leaves of grass on a background which is a gradient from black to white via turquoise, years ago. A year or so later, she gave it to me. The colours suit me, so I thought it would be nice to put it to good use now.
I used the darker parts of the gradient for the bottom and the lighter ones for the top. I didn't pay to much attention to the placement of the, very random, print. Maybe I could have made the cups look better if I had, but I'm not so sure about that.
For the bottoms, I used the same low-leg cut as one the swimsuit. I picked a nice height for the top by playing around with the top edge of high waisted underwear I had made before. Which didn't turn out well. I was too low and I cut off the top edge elastic and put on a wide-ish band of the fabric instead.
For the top, I used my tried-and-tested bra pattern with the horizontally seamed cup. This works as a strapless bra but here I added halter straps (which are not very supportive but they don't have to be).
I made things more difficult for myself by using an alternative method to apply the elastic at the edges. For this, you sew the elastic to the edge on the inside and then under stitch only through lining and elastic. The good thing about this is that you avoid extra stitching on the outside of the garment. The downside is that it is fiddly, takes more careful planning and handling and even with that, it can still go horribly wrong if the amounts of stretch of fashion fabric and lining are too different. In this case, the lining had a lot more vertical stretch which caused all sorts of problems with the bottoms. Fortunately, I could fix those when I had to cut off the top edge anyway. To avoid more drama, I stitched the elastic on the top edge of the wings of the top in the normal way.
So, now I have a bikini! With a foam cupped top no less. I may still make another set of swimwear: the most practical one, a bikini which would work well under a wetsuit. In fact, I already tried to make bottoms for those but in that case, I had issues with a not sufficiently stretchy lining and I haven't tried again yet.
P.S. There's just nothing like trying to show off a bikini in pictures to make you feel REALY self-conscious! ;)
Of course, this is a garment which belongs in a different setting than my house. I opted for taking pictures in front of that bit of white wall in the living room because the other usual angles would just look more out of place. Obviously, it would have been better to take the trouble of going to the beach and really show this thing off in its natural habitat.
However, I didn't have a lot of time and I had several things to take pictures of. And although it is a bit too warm for that dress in the previous post, it's not exactly beach weather either. So for now, pictures in the living room will have to do.
I made a bathing suit again! Many years ago, I tried that for the first time. Back then, I had just started to draft lingerie patterns and this was my first attempt at swimwear. I was really ambitious and wanted to make a 1950's suit with a skirt front and bra-style cups. I had never successfully made a bra before, so I chickened out of inserting underwires. I still think it looks nice in the pictures but it had issues, some of which seriously compromised wearing comfort.
Then, years later, I made some much simpler pieces. The bandeau top and high-waisted panties can still be used, the other top has always had issues.
To those, I added a highly utilitarian, but not so good-looking, sporty bikini-top a year later.
The truth is, I don't actually need a lot of swimwear. I've never enjoyed sun bathing (which is likely a reason why my very pale skin is quite healthy...) and I'm not a huge fan of swimming either. I do like the occasional spa day (for which you don't always need a bathing suit) and, when on holiday, I love water-y pursuits like rafting and, especially, canyoning. So, to be honest, I only really need a simple piece of swimwear which doesn't cause issues when you have to put on a wetsuit over it. But where's the fun in just making useful things?
I thought it was high time to try my hand at swimwear again. And I would start of with what would just be my second-ever one-piece. Of course, the bodysuits I made last year really helped to fine-tune the fit of my sloper-for-lycra.
For the design, I took inspiration from a RTW swimsuit I tried on years ago (and didn't buy, because of a fit issue). I went for asymmetry: One shoulder, and a big cut-out at that side. In retrospect, I guess the cut-out on the RTW suit was probably smaller but I like how this turned out.
The leg-shape is the one I also used for the bodysuit and some of my retro-style panties.
I was planning to use black lycra, but ended up going for this dark red-brown from my stash instead. I'm glad I did, this colour really suits me.
All in all, it's certainly not your average bathing suit but can function as one. It can be pulled on like most other bathing suits and it stays put. Although the cut-out is not revealing anything you wouldn't see in a bikini, I still think it looks kind of sexy.
I think I'm going to enjoy this thing but it whet my appetite to sew more swimwear and different styles and methods of construction.
As I've mentioned before, I'm usually not much of a swimmer. I really need my glasses, chlorine gives me headaches and I get sun burned easily. Those things conspire to make me neither a keen visitor of the swimming pool nor the beach.
And as a result of that, me making swimwear has been as much about pattern making and sewing exercise as about the result.
My retro bathing suit is the prime example of that. It looks great but I only really wore it once, and then I found out the leg elastic was really a bit too tight. Not very surprising considering that I made that thing after only a couple of lingerie muslins...
I made these bikini's two years ago, with the intention to use them. I wore the one with the bandeau top under my wetsuit when we went rafting last year.
And then, a week before my holiday this year, I dug it out again. The weather was warm and I needed a break from work. And I had decided that a bit of swimming in the sea would be just the thing.
It was only then that I discovered the weakness of this bikini: That strapless body doesn't stay up when you're moving against the current. After every stroke, I had to pull up.
For our holiday, I tried on the other bikini, hoping it would perform better... Well, not so much. Remember that breast growth thing? That was after I made these bikini's. I had noticed the bandeau didn't fit that great anymore. I should have remembered that other bikini was a bit tighter to start with... I couldn't maneuver that drawstring front in anything near to a decent position anymore.
Fortunately, I was in a wetsuit again for this holiday's water activities, so I could still wear the bandeau bikini.
I'll have to address the situation though. I'd like to have a swimsuit I can actually use for swimming. I tried some on in a store to get a bit of an idea. RTW bikini bottoms still have that very low rise, tops and one pieces come in endless variety.
And then I realized: there are bathing suits for beach beauties and there are swimsuits for sports swimmers. And the latter and basically only sold in sports stores and the sports departments of department stores while the former are sold by lingerie stores and some fashion chains.
Beach beauty suits often have foam cups and regularly lack proper shoulder straps, while the sports suits tend to be cut high on the chest and have compression shelf bra constructions (if they have any special bust treatment at all)
Again, the world of RTW doesn't look very appealing to me. I has opened my eyes though.
I may not be a sportswoman, I'm even less of a beach beauty. If I want to be able to go for a swim, I'll have to think about functionality. Both bikini bottoms are still perfectly fine but I will have to make a top which is the right size, has a stable closure (not just ties) and real shoulder straps. I may just make a triangle bikini top which sticks to those rules and see from there (unfortunately, the 'bikini tops' page of Pattern School doesn't load, I hope it will again later).
Another item for my to-sew list...
What surprises me, is that, despite the amount of swimwear sewing I've seen on sewing blogs, I haven't read anything about functionality vs. looks issues. I wonder why.
Is this something regular swimwear wearers are aware of, so they pick the right styles for their use without the need to think or talk about it? Or am I just a bit over-sensitive about the issues with my swimwear?
I'd like to know what you think about making and wearing different styles swimwear...
