Sewing and Swimming

This post may include affiliate links. See my full disclosure here.

 

Sewing swimsuits really freaks a lot of people out.  I was one of those people until last year when I found a cute vintage-style one piece pattern for myself.  I tried it out and, after some tweaking, got one of the most flattering swimsuits I’ve ever owned.  YESSSS!

I have some plans for a swimsuit pattern and more spandex sewing for myself in the future, like after I’ve become a little less squishy. 🙂

This year I decided to put my skills to the test on suits for the kiddos.  Juliet and Toby have been swimming on a team this summer so their suits have seen lots of use.  Not only could they use brand-spanking-new ones but poor Toby never even had a form-fitting one, he was just swimming in his boxer-style suit.  And he kept leaving it behind in his races.  Ha!  Funny for me, awkward for him.

I found some super sweet printed spandex fabric at The Fabric Fairy.  And I’m talking seriously cute prints here, not just “less-ugly-than-usual” prints.  Why is it so hard to find good swim fabrics??

Juliet’s suit was my first attempt at the Cosi swimsuit pattern and I LOVE it!  Super simple, with lots of options.

The pattern mentions having success with regular elastic as well as swimwear elastic but I’ll mention that I had a hard time getting regular elastic to lay well on the leg openings.  I made a couple suits for the twins too (coming soon!) and ended up cutting out the hem and replacing with that rubber lingerie elastic.  It’s a lot stretchier and thinner so it worked much better, IMO.

Toby’s was just a quick attempt at a boy’s suit using a basic legging pattern.  The one I used isn’t available anymore but any simple legging pattern would do.  I just used his regular size 8, cut it off at the knee and hemmed with a double needle.  The waistband is just a strip of fabric folded in half and sewn to the top.  I was going to add elastic but the fabric was so stretchy that it didn’t need it.

Because he’s an 8 year old boy, he refused to do a fancy photoshoot like his sister so this is the only modeled pic you get.  I suppose if he WAS eager to prance around in front of a camera in his skivvies, then I’d have bigger problems to deal with.

It’s this one turned teenager that I’m beginning to feel some apprehension towards.  If those legs of hers keep growing, we might have to lock her up!

So, if the idea of sewing swimsuits make your palms sweat, start here!  Kids suits are super simple, take just a tiny bit of fabric (both kids’ took about a half a yard!) and they don’t have any pesky curves to flatter.  Plus they look super cute when you’re done!

Check out my other Cosi swimsuit makes here!