May 22, 2017

Suit Up for Swim

Hello Summer! I’m kicking off summer with a functional and real post. My good bloggy friends Karly Nelson of Paisley Roots and Tami Peterson of Sew Sophie Lynn are hosting a swimwear tour and I thought I would use it as a great excuse to tackle swimwear once again. I did this one other time before and it wasn’t the greatest success and the pattern was… let’s just say…less than great. So this time I thought I’d really try to get some good creations. You should know there are some awesome prizes to be won by sponsors, so be sure to head over to Karly and Tami’s blogs for how to have a chance to win some goodies from the sponsors.

Well… I’ve finished two of my projects and I would definitely say there is a learning curve to the swimwear creation skill. I’m a little OCD and Karly could definitely confirm that because I am always sending her pictures of things I’m just not happy with and I think she sometimes laughs at my obsessiveness. With that said, I’m going to call the suits created in this post my wearable muslins and this is only because I know I can do better personally. So if you are OCD like me… just be gentle and whatever you do… don’t zoom in on the photos. 😜

So, let’s get started on what I’ve sewn up. I used the Peach Beach Swim Suit from Lil Luxe Collection and the Cosi Swimsuit from Sewpony. Both of these patterns were provided to my for the purpose of this tour, but please know any opinions are my own. I also want to include that I sewed these using my serger and sewing machine. I really did need both. I own a coverstitch machine but was just too chicken to bust it out on this project. I was afraid I would cause unrepairable damage and was racing against the clock to get these in before we headed to the beach for a vacation.

I started with the Peach Swimsuit. As many know, I’m a huge fan of the quality of Lil Luxe Collection and this pattern keeps with that level. There are TONs of tips and photos included in this pattern to help you achieve the best product. I found them very helpful. This pattern includes options for a one piece or a two piece. I love this, it’s like a two for one deal. Both versions are nicely lined and include the super fun front panel and bow front. When my husband saw the finished product I think he was surprised I could make something that looked so legit. I always love when I get a response like that…then I usually continue by pointing out all the things I need to fix for the next version to bring him back to reality. We are our own worst critics…amiright?!

The most challenging part to this suit is getting the bow to lay just right. This is where the learning curve part comes in. I didn’t stretch my elastic across the top enough on my first version which gives it a little more wiggle than I would like, but I think my next one will be better. The pattern includes a lot of support with this.

In terms of fit, this suit gives great coverage and doesn’t ride up the the bum at all. This is a huge deal in my family. No one likes picking their suit out of their butt crack all day long. 😂 I took new measurements before starting both of these suits and chose the size according to the size chart. Both of these worked well.

For the Cosi, I must say… If this is the only pattern you had for girl’s swim, you could be set for life. This pattern is seriously loaded with options out the whazoo. Check out the listing for the options, I can’t even list them all here. I think this would be a great pattern for a mini mix-and-match swim collection. Several tops and bottoms that are all interchangeable would make summers at my house so simple! We basically live in swimwear and don’t even have a pool. I know… so weird.

For my Cosi I chose the one piece view with the skirt option and adjustable straps. I almost chickened out on the straps, but I reminded myself that I jumped on this tour for a challenge and decided to go for it. #challengeaccepted.
For this suit I chose the un-lined version and went with just the gusset lining. I mainly wanted to do this to incorporate a new skill. I didn’t mind this design option at all, but I did learn that it should mainly be used for darker fabrics. My coral fabric was maybe not the best choice, but also not inappropriate either. It did make me aware how lighter colored fabrics could show things we don’t want to show.

If I’m being completely real, I’ll share that while making this suit I totally jacked up and sewed the bottom onto the top backwards… Agh!!! Removing serger seams sucks, but I did it. But for real, I’m not even sure how I jacked that up. I feel like that’s as bad as sewing a sleeve on inside out and I haven’t done that in a loooonng time. I thought I was past moments like that. I guess not.

Are you wondering how the adjustable straps went? They turned out pretty good. My machine wasn’t making friends with the multiple layers of fabric in some places, but overall I love that I did them. It makes the suit potty functional which is a total win in my book.

For fit on this, I thought it was good. No wedgy issues here either. I did add a tiny bit of height to the top of the suit just for personal preference on coverage up top. I will probably continue to do that. I’m super conservative and even though my models aren’t “developed” I want to promote keeping boobies covered. Call it imprinting. 😂

So, that’s my swim journey thus far this year. I’m sure I will make a few more. I still have some swim fabric I bought but haven’t used yet. Thanks so much to Karly and Tami for hosting this tour and pushing my skills a bit. Thanks to Jess and Suz for trusting me with your patterns to tackle for this project.