Another Swimsuit? A Gallery of what I have made so far

I'm back! We had family visiting us the last little while so I had done no sewing nor blogging at all. And now I'm itching to make another summer garment - another swimsuit! I know I have already made several but for some reason I just feel like making another one. It feels like after I had made one swimsuit and learned much from the experience, I just want to apply the knowledge and make more in different styles and colours.

I swim at the pool all year round and at the beach quite often in the warmer months. So I'm not opposed to making another suit. These are the swimsuits I have made or refashioned thus far:

A RTW refashioned swimsuit. The body was too long so I cut it to make it look like a mock tankini. Good for swimming.

My first self-made swimsuit! Kwik Sew 2690

My 2nd try at Kwik Sew 2690 - Love!

Kwik Sew 3503 - The horizontal neckline and the floral fabric makes me look wider.

A modified Kwik Sew 2797 - My most beloved swimsuit. I wear this all the time because it's easier to get in and out with the front zipper.

A refashioned old RTW swimsuit. Unfortunately it's still a bit loose - not practical for swimming.

So there you have it! Although I have made/refashioned quite a number of swimsuits, I really only wear 3 of them for swimming - the teal one, the red one and the black/white one. I feel like I can still improve on the designs even further. For example, one piece suits are great for actual swimming and slightly holds in my mommy tummy. However, it's not so great for going to the washroom or doing a quick change at the beach. Also, some sort of zipped pocket would also be nice for the key to the locker.

After looking at tonnes of pictures at Pinterest, I have to figure out how to choose the design of my next swimsuit to the following:

A simple tankini top with high waisted bottom?

A zip front swim vest with bottom?

A regular 2 piece bikini with a matching rashguard on top?

Or a Swimdress that can be worn as a top or a dress with a regular bottom?

What do you think? What would be a good design for my next swimsuit that I can actually swim in?

Refashion: Old Loose Swimsuit to New Strappy Swimsuit

I was cleaning my wardrobe and found this Pre-Kids swimsuit from more than 10 years ago. I thought that I had donated it to a charity shop already. I tried on the swimsuit but the low back of the swimsuit made the straps fall off my shoulders all too easily.

I liked the colour of the suit and I thought I could salvage it somehow by refashioning it. I have some black swimsuit fabric scraps. I thought that I could add some straps to the low back to make the suit more secure. Lucky for me, there is currently a trend of 'strappy swimwear':

Source

I cut and sewed 2 long straps from the black swimsuit fabric scraps. I tried on the suit and positioned the straps to the places that worked for my body. I sewed the straps down onto the black trim of the swimsuit. Within 30 minutes, I had a swimsuit that didn't fall off my shoulders!

Another quick and easy and useful Refashion!

Another Swimsuit muslin - Kwik Sew 2797

I guess I'm in a mood to make swimsuits! I made yet another one this weekend based on Kwik Sew 2797 View B. I had long wanted to have a zip front, colour blocked swimsuit like this:

Source

I thought that the zip-front makes it practical to put the suit on and off. And I thought that Colour blocking will help to artificially give my 'blocky' upper body more curves. But of course this designer suit cost almost US$400! I figured that I could probably make something similar with my remnant fabrics and a stash pattern.

Kwik Sew 2898 is meant to be a leotard but I made quite a number of design changes to make it into a zip-front swimsuit. I used remnant black and white swimsuit fabric that has 20% lycra content.  I cut a size S based on my experience with previous Kwik Sew swimsuit patterns (they run at least 1 size larger). I drafted separate front side panels and back side panels. I shortened the crotch by 2cm (something that I always have to do with swim bottoms or underpants). Last but not least, I chalked out the area on the fabric for the white zipper that I thrifted at my local thrift store.

I topstitched the colourblocking seams to reinforce them. Everything went okay except when it comes to the front zipper. I hadn't found a lot of info regarding how to install a front zipper to a very stretchy swimwear fabric. Some said that I needed to use a stablizer while others said not. I examined a RTW swimsuit with a front zipper and found no stablizer. I reinforced the area where the zipper was to be installed with stitching and then basted down the zipper before sewing 3 rows of narrow zig-zag stitching to attach the zipper. I used black thread so that the messy stitching would not show easily. But I would definitely not point out to others how messy those stitches were. I used swimsuit elastics for the neckline, armholes and legholes at 1:1 ratio. The stitches inside were also really messy. It is a muslin after all!

I used a regular swimwear lining for the entire back and in the front chest area. For the tummy area I used a nude swimwear fashion fabric that has 20% lycra to gently hold back my mommy tummy.

I do like the look of the colourblocking and the front zip. However, there is excess fabric at the back due to my sway back. You can see that weird fold on my back in the photo. So I will have to eliminate about 2cm from the centre back length at the waist, minimizing to nothing on the sides. The neckline is also a bit low for my liking so I'll have to redraft a higher neckline. Also, the white part of the swimsuit is actually quite transparent. If I make this again I will probably use a coloured fabric for the sides.

I'll try to swim with this next week and see if the zipper will hold up! I hope the zipper stitching doesn't come apart while I'm in the pool!

My review for this pattern is at PatternReview.com.

Another Swimsuit - Kwik Sew 3503

I got this floral swimsuit fabric in my stash for a while. I bought it before I made my first ever swimsuit (see here). The large floral pattern is a bit loud for me. However, it was in the cheapy bin and I thought it would be a great fabric for swimsuit muslins. I also had Kwik Sew 3505 in my stash. I bought it when I also bought Kwik Sew 2906, which I made 2 swimsuits with (see here and here).

I got restless and decided to make another swimsuit for myself. This material stretches more than the solid colour lycra fabric that I have. I first made size Medium but then after trying it on, I had to ripped the seams apart and resize it to XS! Even then I think I should have made it even smaller than XS because once the suit is in the water, it will stretch out even more.

I added straps to suit because I wanted the suit to be secure. I'm actually using this for swimming - not just posing out of water! LOL! I decided to be 'crafty' and crossed the ties at the back and then tie it in the front just under the bust. I don't know if this is going to make the suit more secure. I'll have to swim in it to see how it works. If it is too cumbersome then I'll just sew the straps down at the back of the suit.

This is how the suit looks on me:

I'm not in love with it. I think the loud floral make me look bigger. But I'm glad that I have made a  muslin from this pattern. I think one can make many design adjustments to this suit to suit their needs (e.g. adding straps, colour-blocking, etc). I'm certainly going to make this again in a not-so-loud fabric.

My Pattern Review can be found here.

Encore Pattern Review: Kwik Sew 2690 swim suit

I had such fun making my first ever swimsuit I knew I had to make another one. See this post for the first attempt. This time I used a red 20% lycra swimsuit material. I basically made it the same way, lining the entire suit with the same lycra fabric. The only variations were:

• No more tie at the front. I just cut a rectangular piece of single layer fabric, sewed it down at the seam allowance, wrap the whole gathered front from the outside to the inside and then sewed it down again at the seam allowance on the inside.
• I reduced the crotch length by 2cm (right at the crotch) because of my flat seat.
• I adjusted the positions of the straps slightly.
• I added more width ( about 1cm) to each of the bust cup area.

I was going to put cups into the bust but I didn't have any on hand. This suit definitely fits a bit better than the last one with my tweaks. I'm so happy to have 2 self-made swimsuits for this summer. Yay!

I like this pattern very much. It suits my body well now that I have tweaked it. I think 2 swimsuits are enough for me for now. If I do make it again, I would like to make one with some colourblocking or contrast piping. It's easy enough to make some unique looking suits with this pattern.

I sewed my first Swimsuit!!! Kwik Sew 2690

I sewed my first swimsuit! I'm so happy! It's one of those milestones for us sewist, please understand. I have been reading blogs about sewists who had made their own swimsuits and I had been doing a lot of thinking and fantasizing and now I have done it!

I have never liked the RTW swimsuits. They never fit me properly because of my unusually shaped body. And now after 2 kids, there are many lumpy bits in the middle front as well as back fat. RTW are usually quite expensive and I haven't seen any that are fully lined front and back. The sewing on the RTW suits are usually quite sloppy. If I want sloppy sewing, I can do that myself!! LOL!

I used Kwik Sew 2690, a pattern that I bought a couple of years back. I used a basic black swimwear fabric that has 20% spandex in it. I didn't have any Powernet lining or anything like that so I lined it with the same swimsuit fabric. I wanted it to be snug and sturdy to hold back my lumpy bits. If I had used my body measurements, the pattern envelope would have had me make a size M. However when I compared my RTW swimsuit to the pattern pieces I found that it was more a size S. So I just made a size S to assess the fit. Good thing it's a wearable muslin.

The instructions are very good (Kwik Sew patterns are known for that). The adjustments I made include:
1. I didn't use the pattern to make a swim dress. Instead, I used the pattern pieces for the lining to make the actual body of the swimsuit.
2. I didn't gather the front tie all the way. I wanted more fabric to cover my chest area.
3. I didn't gather the straps in the front. I also cut off at least 2 inches of the length of the straps because I found them to be too long for my body. I also positioned the straps in different positions than what was suggested in the pattern.

If I were to make this suit again, I will make sure that I add more fabric to the chest area as my boobs are a bit squished. I will also add foam cups to the bodice. I messed up the elastics for the leg openings so I hope next time I will do a better job at it.

All in all I'm very happy with the fit of this suit. I will sew a few more swimsuits in the future. I don't think I'll want to buy another RTW swimsuit again!

Swimsuit refashioned

Remember the teal swimsuit that I was thinking of refashioning? Well, it's done! Thanks very much to hubby who single-handedly put 2 kids to sleep. I was able to have some sewing/refashioning fun for an hour (it has been really really difficult to steal an hour for myself when having a raging toddler and a 2 month old baby!).

I had been doing a lot of planning and thinking before I took out the scissors for this project. It was a bit of trial and error: cutting some, sewing some, trying the suit on, cut some more, sew some more, etc. That's why I didn't take any 'during' pictures because I didn't know how I was going to do it and how it would turn out.

So a too-long one piece swimsuit:
Became a faux tankini suit!


Steps:
1. Try on swimsuit. Make a rough mark on where to cut the across the suit.
2. Turn the suit inside out. Mark the line to cut and cut it.
3. Try on the tankini top and the cut bottom. Note where else needs cutting. In this case, because I have a flat bum, I found the bum portion of the suit had too much fabric. So I decided to shorten the front by 1.5cm, and the back by 3cm.
4. Sew the tankini top and the bottom together again.
5. Try on the suit again to check the fit.
6. Topstitch the tankini bottom edge to make it look more like a real tankini.


The new suit feels more snug which I hope will not droop after being in the water. Now I just have to go swimming to see if it will perform as I wish!