Kwik Sew 2605 - Pink Girl's Swimsuit

My daughter has a birthday party to go to on Sunday afternoon.  She's soooo excited.  A birthday party is always great, but the excitement is compounded by the fact that this is a swimming party at the local recreational complex.  That's all fine and good except that my daughter's swimming suit from this past summer was really tired.  The elastic wasn't elastic anymore and it didn't cover her up as well as it should have.  So, a new one was in order.

I've never sewn swimwear before, but I wasn't optimistic about being able to find a RTW one to buy, so now was as good of a time as any to try it out.  Fabricland still had some swimwear fabric and I found one that would meet with my daughter's approval.

I used Kwik Sew 2605.  It included good instructions for sewing swimwear and good measurements for sizing.

I started with a size 4, lengthened it about 0.75", and took 0.25" off of each side seam (front and back) at the underarm, tapering to 0 at the waist.  After basting it together and trying it on, I took in the CB seam 0.5" from the waist down and trimmed 0.25" off of the back sides at the hip, tapering to 0 at the waist.  (Essentially, I made the side seams straight).

I really like the racer back as the last swim suit was always falling off her shoulders.  I think I could have added more in length.  We'll see how this one works while she's in action.  Obviously, I made no attempt at pattern matching across the CB seam.

I self-lined the front, enclosing the crotch seam.  The pattern instructions just have you line the crotch.  The fabric I used was pretty substantial, but I think a lining is still a good thing.

I used a triple zig-zag stitch for the hems.  Not the most professional look, but I thought it was the safest for me as a rookie.  Next time, I'll try something else.

Next up:  I have a few things in the works.  We'll see which gets to the finish line first....