First swimwear for the season

 

A weekend away with friends got me started on my swimwear for the season...I was perfectly happy wearing last year's stretched swimmers at Noosa, where nobody knows me, and swimming in the backyard with family allows me to wear the bikinis that don't quite make it to the public arena...but a weekend swimming with people I know had me sitting at the sewing machine.

The pattern:  This is the halter neck style from Stuart's swimwear Pattern School site, adjusted for my personal measurements.  I had been planning on sewing up some of the more adventurous styles this year, but I needed this pair in a hurry, so went with a pattern I had already used.

The fabric: is a nyon lycra from Tessuti, at their Surry Hills store, which they sourced from a leading Australian swimwear label.  It is a gorgeous fabric.  Small, busy prints can be tricky to use, because they don't allow the eye to settle anywhere, which can necessitate the used of strong design lines or edging / piping etc.  The clever thing about this fabric is that it is like a print over the top of a print....the colours flowers over the top of the brown / white flowers allow the eyes to travel over the garment without getting "lost"...so it can still be used for simple styles.

I used a lace elastic on the neckline and armholes.

I got the lining from Beach Bubble Swimwear, at a very reasonable price.  I stocked up on elastic from them at the same time.