Sewing Swimwear, without clear elastic

This orange Lycra fabric was a remnant that my daughter picked when we visited Dublin last October. As she has just started swimming classes in school, it was the perfect time to sew a new swimsuit.

 

 

The design process was a lot of fun. She wanted a swimming costume with a skirt and then thought for a while about which TV/book/film character who wore/was orange. She came up with 'Applejack' from My Little Pony. The most distinguishing part of any of the ponies is their 'cutie mark' so the three apples were appliqued to the skirt. The rosette isn't part of the character, but was created to continue the pony theme.

 

I am not confident sewing with stretch fabric and even less so with Lycra fabric. I used a small-sized ballpoint needle to prevent holes in the fabric. When I realised that there was no clear elastic in my stash I almost didn't sew this. A quick internet search led me to an excellent tip on Patternreview. In fact It includes more than one tip.

• It describes how to sew swimwear with regular elastic.
• It describes where to stretch the elastic for a better fit.
• It describes where to zig-zag on the elastic so that the edge of the fabric covers the edge of the elastic (Read the comments on the tip).
• It also describes how to use a regular straight stitch on the outside.

Following these tips made sewing the elastic in the arms, neckline and leg openings very straightforward and much easier than the last time I tried. It has made me much more confident in sewing swimwear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Though it's very acceptable to use a zig-zag stitch on swimwear, I much prefer how the straight stitching looks on the outside, and I was surprised how much it stretched with the fabric.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pattern is adapted from Ottobre 3/2011 no30 and the skirt was drafted using the hip circumference measurement and sewn with a stretch stitch.

 

This swimsuit sewed up so quickly that we're already planning more 'My Little Pony' versions. However sourcing swimwear fabric in Ireland is not at all easy. Any Lycra fabric available is mostly marketed as dancewear or for costumes. We'll be crossing our fingers that it won't disintegrate in chlorine!!

 

 

 

 

 

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Sewing on a Budget - Swimsuits for Mother & Daughter

Swimwear has been on my 'to sew' list for a while, and I've always admired how Cindy manages to sew lots of great swimsuits for her family.
Last year I got as far as buying and tracing patterns. So when I found this lilac Lycra fabric from Abakhan Fabrics and this really sweet stretch gingham trim, I decided to try sewing swimwear on a budget.

In the last few months, the push to sew swimwear came in the form of a 'Swimalong' This is where bloggers and sewists support each other while sewing swimwear under the guidance of Lelia and Katie. These generous bloggers have produced really excellent & helpful posts all about sewing swimwear. So any information you could need about fabric, patterns, sewing techniques, finishing seams can all be found on their swim along posts.


The details of the fabric and haberdashery for these two swimsuits are:
Nylon/Lycra swimsuit fabric 150cm x 1metre =£10.25
Stretch gingham with double frill edge x 2metres = £1.40
Swimwear elastic = £2.99
(Patterns, button and cotton lining from my stash)
Total = £14.64 for 2 swimsuits. Considering that the adult swimsuit was fully self-lined, this represents excellent value, as a similar RTW version could cost from £50 upwards.

I started with a swimsuit for my daughter. A child's swimsuit is more straightforward as it doesn't need lining or support and provides a perfect opportunity to practice techniques. This pattern is from Ottobre magazine 3/2009#38
I used a coverstitch to sew this swimsuit, which is a stretch stitch that looks a little like how a serger sews.

Then I progressed to sewing my own. I had the KwikSew 3416 swimwear pattern that I bought a few years ago but changed View B up by adding a ruched panel in front and adding lining and support.
This suit was sewn completely with a small zig-zag stitch which is on almost every sewing machine.

This was much more work than the child's version, but mostly because of the changes I made.
One part I was particularly pleased with were the straps which I wanted to be narrow, unlike the wider straps of my daughters swimsuit.
 Hers were sewn by folding them in three and zig-zagging the length.
Generally turning narrow straps is awkward, so I found an easy way that involves using a drinking straw. This makes sewing narrow straps much simpler and works for jersey, cotton and other lightweight fabrics.

The trim wasn't meant to be 'matchy' with my daughter, but added to cover some of the uneven zig-zag stitching.

My favourite part of sewing the swimsuits, was the seahorse appliqué on my daughters suit. This was remarkably easy, and is sewn with a straight stretch stitch unlike appliqué for woven fabric which is often sewn with a satin stitch. The outline for the seahorse is provided in the pattern magazine and the instructions suggest Bondaweb to attach the seahorse to the swimsuit, and then to sew around the outline.

(The fabric and notions for these swimsuits were chosen by me and supplied by Abakhan Fabrics, free, as part of their challenge to sew on a budget)

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