Molly's Sewing and Garage Sale Adventures: swimsuit

Showing posts with label swimsuit. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Corsican Swimsuits or Swimwear without a zig-zag stitch

I bought some cool Lycra at Discount Textile Outlet here in Chicago before we left on vacation because I wanted to make two swimsuits. Enter August's Giveaway if you want to win what is leftover!

Now swimsuits themselves are not hard to make, but I have an old Singer 15-91 and it of course only does a straight stitch. I do not have a serger or anything else either, so I needed to design a swimsuit that didn't really need to stretch. This means a tie-side swimsuit and I spent some time looking online until I found a version from Nordstrom's that tied in the front and was cute.

I cut apart a pair of underwear as my bottoms pattern and then made up a trail version (below). I topstitched the edges which made them look terribly wavy and lose all the stretch. Plus I forgot about logic and lined the ties with the nude lining, so that it showed and looked awful. The crotch and leg lines were too wide and low and were very uncomfortable.

Trail run failure.

This is my end pattern, with all final tweaks included:

Bottoms are one piece to eliminate crotch seam. The band ties either front or back and the cup's tie can either be sewn closed or elongated to tie.

The green version was my copy of the Nordstrom's suit. It has a chest band that ties in the front and the neck band is one piece. The neck band ended up a tad too long, so I had to shorten it; it was meant to have all the seams hidden by the lining...

The bottoms tie on the side with self lined pieces to not look super tacky and ugly. I narrowed the leg openings and crotch to eliminate the pinching and bunching from the test run.

Pictures from Corsica (we were staying on the north coast of the island near Ile Rousse):

I made the pink and orange one second, with a few tweaks. I made the bottoms a bit smaller and with a lower waist on the back and the top ties at the neck and in the back rather than the front.

The top stretched a little on the band, which I did not anticipate and therefore made the space between my boobs a little too big. The top on this one needs the front seam taken in maybe an inch. Good thing we were in France and no one cares that you are popping out of your top every time a wave comes by...

You can see Calvi across the bay. This is a different beach than the other pictures, though both are rochers (large boulders instead of sand). There are sandy beaches, as well. It is such a beautiful place to visit and we had fun visiting Andrew's grandparents and family there.

I hope to get a serger at some point to make my clothes look more professional on the insides... The green top is my favorite and the pink bottoms are better. Mixy-matchy time?

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

A Shiny, September Swimsuit!

Here is my pattern, a 70s Vogue:

I bet she has a Bump-it in her hair!

It really didn't call for a lot a stretch sewing. I did figure out how to use the zig-zag attachment, but it kept feeding the spandex through on a diagonal and stretching it out. So I promptly gave up and just straight-stitched everything with a ball-point needle.

I posted this on FB with "I have created the greatest swimsuit in the history of the world. It is known."

Hey, look! The inside of something I made looks nice for once! Let's pause and cherish this fleeting moment. I switched to a stronger needle and reinforced all the seams and topstitched every edge. It looks fairly professional, except for the rear end. Oh yeah, besides the fact that no one else has a swimsuit this awesome.

Here's a close-up of my 25 cent buckle:

All hail Ra!

And now, for some pictures of me in a swimsuit for the interwebs...

It's pretty awesome and shiny. The tops fits really well and hooks in the neck and back, so that allowed me to get a good fit.

Attaching the sun disk let me shorten the body length to fit me as well.

The bottoms are less than flattering. The casings with elastic are just not right and they pinch my butt. The front leg openings have no stretch are are low, so they pinch too sometimes. I have enough fabric to make a new bottom, so I am really thinking about it.

Anyways, I have a rockin new swimsuit and I learned how to use my zig-zagger. Win-win-win!

Thoughts?

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Next up: A Shiny, shocking swimsuit

I want to make a swimsuit before the summer is over and I have just the pattern: a 70s Vogue pattern for a 31 bust. If I am going to make my own swimsuit, I want it to be "memorable" and "unique." So I journeyed across Chicago yesterday to Discount Textile Outlet in Pilsen. I have been there twice, but I distinctly remember their wall of spandex in insane prints.

So I went, I pondered and I selected this shocking, gold, faux snakeskin.

Awwwww yeah. I bought some nude lining as well. Nude was 2.95 a yard and the print was 4.95. So cheap. I also went on a quest to their basement where there are thousands of belt buckles. I found two possible rings for the stomach. They were 25 cents each, so I can decide later...

I'm so excited! I'm also going to try to figure out my zig-zag foot. So either I have an amazing swimsuit to wear to the beach this weekend, or I'm out ten bucks and I learned how to use the zig-zagger. Win win!

Pages