It went... swimmingly

So I've been absent for a while. During my little blog absence we've gone on a family vacation (will post pics tomorrow), I've finished up the semester at school (YAY summer!!), and Liv has finished up her first soccer season. All in all, a crazy busy time.

In betwixt and between I was able to get a bit of sewing done. Nothing major - some t-shirt dresses and such for Liv. But the BIG thing I tackled was actually something not so big after all.

Ever since I saw Dana's Coast to Coast Swimwear Sew-Along last year, I've been dying to try my hand at making a swimsuit for Liv. Over the past 10 months I've been reading, gathering supplies, and generally getting my nerve up. Given that a basic girls' swimsuit doesn't require much in the way of supplies, and there's actually not super a whole lot of practical nuts & bolts info out there on sewing swimwear, the bulk of that time was spent in avoidance. Thinking, planning, plotting, but not actually DOING.

But this week, I tackled it.

And it went.... swimmingly.






The edges all have contrast binding with cotton-wrapped elastic on the inside for stability. I'm not so happy with the top where all the binding comes together with the straps. With all of that elastic sandwiched, I couldn't get anything to lay down smoothly.

I couldn't find any information about how to transition from binding the edge to wrapping the binding around the elastic. I couldn't get a smooth finish where the edge binding met up with the straps, so I finally just stitched it all down ugly covered the top with a strip of black that I pulled really taut. A band-aid fix, literally.



I tried it on Liv tonight and it fits to a tee! I'm so giddy from my bathing suit success that it's taking every ounce of self-control to keep me from spending down my entire bank account on spandex for future bathing suits.

Toodles,