Swimsuit Sewing

This is my first foray into sewing swimsuits or with lycra/spandex materials, and I'm so excited. I thought this stuff would be slippery and hard to sew, but it's just the opposite. The only downside so far is the cost of the material! http://www.sewsassy.com/ was a great site for the chlorine-resistant elastic, s-hooks (which I'm not going to use afterall), and lining (better than what's available at Joann's) and very supportive swim cups! The brown is the prototype and the black is my copy. I had read a lot on line about this first so I knew to put the lining in the suit and baste the two together at all openings. Then I sewed the elastic in the legs by leaving the fronts at the same tautness and pulling the back elastic in the cheek area. I used the three-step zigzag when sewing the elastic to the edges and then folded down once again and used the cover stitch on my serger. I had a McCalls swimsuit pattern to use, but the best help was my daughter giving me her favorite suit to copy. So I compared the pattern pieces to the suit and made some tissue patterns that were just slightly adjusted.

This fabric does not ravel at all. So to make a swimsuit sarong, I cut a rectangle - fabric was 54 or 60 wide, which is what goes around the waist and the bottom I curved up. I initially tried hemming all around and didn't like the look. So I cut with pinking shears and it's fabulous. Then I made a simple tube out of the remainder that she can just pull on as a little top over suit if she wants more coverage - almost looks like a dress. I just made sure the bottom of the sarong would go around her and meet and tapered the top edge a bit. The tube has one seam up back and pinked around top and bottom. Yep, went a little crazy and used another remaining strip to make a hair band. The sarong has been wadded up on my desk, so it's a bit wrinkled, but you get the idea.

Pin It