My Sewing Space

I had to interrupt a nice stretch of selfish sewing I had going on to make swimwear for two of my three kids. They had swimming lessons starting up and their suits were so shot after the summer that wearing them even just once more was not a good option. Shopping for new suits this time of year sounded painful. Thankfully, I could make them and I even had everything I needed on hand: fabrics, patterns, notions. Stashing for the win! My daughter's suit is made from a fabric that someone passed on to me. I don't really care for it, but my daughter does like it quite a bit. I used Kwik Sew 2605 (now out of print) - a basic one-piece racer back suit. Sadly I did not add enough length to the size I made. This will get her through the next few weeks and probably not much longer. I didn't pay any attention to print placement when cutting out (I was in a hurry!) but I find the three flowers diagonally across the body rather pleasing. But, then there's the back: Oi...

Last summer I made my first attempt at sewing swimwear for myself . Overall, that suit was a success but having worn it several times now, there are some things I'd like to change about it. Instead of tweaking that same pattern, I made a new suit using a tankini pattern from Ottobre Woman 2/2011. It's actually really similar to the suit I made last year: halter-style tankini with midriff ruching. So why make another suit so much like the first one? There are a couple of things I don't like about last year's suit: the top just barely meets the bottom which means I'm often tugging it down and the knot part of the halter hurts my neck after a couple of hours of wear. But, I do really like the style, so I wanted to change the parts I didn't like and keep the parts I do. I don't really know what to say about how I constructed this suit. Ottobre's instructions are quite good, but I didn't follow them much. The main reason is because I put a bra insid...

So it seems that the last thing I'll sew for summer is a swimming suit. I know it is strange to do it at the end of summer, but I had real need for a new one before last weekend, so I snatched up every spare moment in a very busy week to get this one together. I used Kwik Sew 3238 - the top is view B and the bottom is view A. I found the midriff part of the top pretty short, so I added 2 inches in length.  I wanted the top and bottom to meet, but I have a long torso and used the lower rise bottom. The additional length turned out to be good, but I didn't like the flat stripes, so I added a ruched layer on top. The bust/cups part of the suit is shaped with darts.  I tried using the darts but had a really difficult time getting them smooth.  I wasn't keen on having that part of my body look pointy, so I filled in the dart on the pattern piece, re-cut it, and then gathered it to get the same shaping. It looks smoother and is less disruptive of the stripes. The patte...

My daughter is in the middle of swimming lessons now and her other suit was looking too small, so I made her a new one last week. Kwik Sew 2605 worked well for me the last time , so I used it again, this time making the two-piece version (so much easier for bathroom breaks). I cut a size five and the only change I made was to take it in ½” on each side of the bottom. The racer-back is as nice as I thought it would be - no straps falling off the shoulders. I considered using a double needle for the hems, but went with the triple zigzag instead. Sewing this suit felt pretty putzy while I was doing it - quartering all the elastics and suit openings, getting it all lined up, serging the elastic on, etc.   But, really, it didn’t take very long. It was faster than shopping for a suit, I’m sure. There are no less than 14 things I would still like to sew for summer.   There isn’t that much summer left and I’m working on some window treatments again now. Soon I’m going to have ...

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...