Crazy Christmas Cozzies

Merry Christmas everybody!!  I've scheduled this post to pop up on Christmas, as I imagine I will be too busy celebrating with my family to blog, but I didn't want to spoil the surprise by posting this earlier.

About a month before Christmas, one of my teenage sons suggested that we have matching swimmers for Christmas (we did something similar for Australia Day once).  Not everybody was keen on the idea.  My daughter only came on board if she got input into the fabric choice.  We went straight to funkifabrics.  None of the Christmas prints appealed, but the gelato flamingo print made us laugh.  I ordered a few metres and was grateful that funkifabrics ship really quickly.  Only then I got carried away, and decided to sew up a storm and include quite a few members of our extended family in this project.  I'm not sure how many of them will wear them, and I am certain that not many photos will be allowed, but here is what I sewed.

For my youngest nephew

Top: Jalie 3668 Valerie

Bottoms: Jalie 3887 Clara Leggings

 (Both in size F, I have never traced off a Jalie pattern this small.  So cute!)

For my youngest niece

Top: Jalie 3247

Shirt:  Kwiksew 2889 (OOP)

Bottoms:  from the old patternschool site

For the teen boy who requested matching swimmers in the first place

Top:  Jalie 3668 Valerie, with the hips slimmed down and cuffs on the sleeves

Bottoms:  Jammers modified from Jalie 2563

For a sporty niece

Top:  Jalie 3247

Bottoms: copied from RTW

For one of the uncles

Pattern:  Bruce briefs by Joost de Kock at freesewing

For a bunch of nephews

Pattern:  Bruce briefs by Joost de Kock at freesewing

They can wear these under their board shorts or wetsuits.

For one grown up and one teen

Jalie 3885 Gerald.  Both of these versions were shortened.

For the teen girls

Top:  my own pattern

Bottom:  Her own pattern

Top: my own pattern

Bottom:  Swimstyle heiress bikini

(This was made late in the process, and I forgot to pay attention to print placement.  Oops, not sure if it will be suitable for pubic swimming).

For me

Jalie 3668 Valerie

Also for me

Swimsuit traced off RTW

I hope you're all having a wonderful day.  Best wishes, and happy sewing in 2020 xx

More swimmers, 2019

It took me a while to find my groove sewing swimmers for me this year.

First I made this gorgeous one-piece.  My training suit was perishing and I was in quick need of a new one.  I woke early one morning, about 4:30 am, and thought, "If I don't waste time, I'll be able to quickly sew up a swimsuit before I go to the pool this morning".  I was efficient.  I would have got this make in under an hour, only when I went to put it on to determine the strap length, I couldn't get it up over my hips.  In my hurry, I had pulled out my daughter's pattern and not mine.  To make matters worse, she has grown so much since I last sewed her a swimsuit, that it doesn't even fit her.  I am hoping this fits one of my nieces.  The fabric is from Funkifabrics.

Next I tried the Megan Nielsen Cotteslow pattern.  I chose a size based on my bust, but as I later discovered when I sewed a Jalie top, I need to sew for my upper chest size, not my bust.  I know other sewers have said that they swim laps in their Cottesloe, but it does not work for me.  It is too high under the arms.  I started to chafe just driving to the pool, and was glad I took a back-up swimsuit with me.  I have since passed this onto a friend.  The fabric is from Tessuti.

Then I was thinking more of a beach bikini, and I made the SwimStyle Celeste Bikini.  I first made a size M, based on my bust size, but it was so big that I couldn't wear it.  After comparing the patterns to some others I have used, I decided to have another go using size S and shortening the straps.  This fit okay, but the style does not really suit me.  The fabric is a new ribbed lycra at Funkifabrics.  I haven't made bottoms to match this one, because I am not sure what to do with it.

I was getting a bit frustrated by this point, so I decided to return to an old pattern.  I don't think I have ever blogged this one.   It was a mash-up of a Jalie, my self-drafted, with some style lines from Lily Sage's Coco racer, which at the time had only been published in girl sizes.    This fabric is from Funkifabrics and left over from jammers I made my son, but it turns out I really like wearing sharks!

 

I have since purchased the Lily Sage Spring Racer, but I don't think it has as much bum coverage as my mash-up, so I decided to stick with my mash up.  Here is my new swimsuit.  It is very comfortable and fits perfectly.  Once again, the fabric is from Funkifabrics, this time leftover from sewing for my daughter.

 Then I decided to make another version with a tie back, because my daughter tells me she finds it really convenient being able to adjust the tie.  To work out how to do the tie-back, I looked at an Amanzi suit that she was given that is too big for her.  I tried it on and was surprised how well it fit, so I did a rub-off and now I have another pattern that fits.  The legs are a little higher than my other pattern, and the back cut a little lower, but the bum coverage is good.  This fabric is from Pitt Trading.

I was getting good mileage from my lycra remnants and scraps and found that I could just squeeze a training bikini from these Funkifabric scraps.  The top is Jalie 3886 Julia, following the Jalie tutorial to remove the bust darts and making the straps with rubber elastic and nylon lycra.  The bottoms were cutout suing the one-piece above as a guide, with some shaping added to a CB seam because I did not have enough fabric to cut the back in one piece.  

I bought a Blu-print subscription for the year and watched Beverley Johnson's class on sewing swimwear.  I followed some of the steps in her class to modify the Megan Nielsen Cottesloe pattern to have a keyhole back with a clasp closure and sewed a swimsuit for my Mum as her Christmas present.  (I am hoping that she doesn't read my blog whilst she is away from home so this won't spoil the Christmas surprise.  I have put it way down in the blog post).  I also sewed in a shelf bra in addition to the lining and added pre-formed cups.  This is a bit tricky to do when you don't have the person to try on the swimsuit, but I guess if they are in the wrong place, she can cut the shelf bra out and have a regular swimsuit.

So at the end of all that I have 3 new swimsuits for training, 3 suits to give away and an orphan bikini top.

First swimwear of the season

I sewed these swimmers for my teenage niece, using a striped lycra from Tessuti.  The top was modified from the Megan Nielsen Cottesloe pattern.  I lowered the front neckline (I think by 1 1/4 inches).  I modified the straps to be ties, because I don't have my niece nearby to try them on, and this way she can adjust them to fit.  Instead of swimwear lining, I used a soft swimwear lycra that I picked up cheaply from the Alannah Hill outlet when I was in Melbourne.

The boittoms are the Swimstyle Heiress bikini, with the extra coverage hack option.  This pattern has instructions so that the elastic is sewn between the lining and the outer fabric, which is a technique used in a lot of RTW at the moment.  There is elastic in the waist and the back leg, but not on the front leg.  After trying out this technique, I used the same method for attaching the elastic to the armholes and neck of the bikini top.   I used a traditional method of applying the elastic on the bottom edge of the bikini top.  The Heiress bikini comes with separate pieces for the outer and lining, with the lining cut small enough that it doesn't peek out.

Massive swimwear sewing session

I have had a massive swimwear sewing session, completing 6 sets of swimmers, two rashies and some men's briefs!

First up, the boy swimmers.  This boy always has a lot of fun choosing his fabric from Funkifabrics.   He loves the bright colours and wild designs.  These are pretty bright, which made it easy to pick what lane he was in during a recent carnival.

Last time I made some of these, I promised Sofie a photo of how I make his pattern.  I start with Jalie 2563.  I combine all the pieces, adding the gusset to the back leg.  The I cut off the boy bit at the front and cut it on the fold with a lining.  I add a drawstring, for security when diving into the pool.

Here is a second pair for him, in a shark print.

My teenage daughter is after more fashionable prints than fun prints these days.  Again, this fabric is from Funkifabrics.  I adapted her pattern from Jalie 3673.  I combined all the pieces of the front.  For the back, I combined the pieces, but also reshaped the side bit of the back and the curve more to her liking.  It was a bit of a hack, so I can't give you a good picture of my pattern manipulation.

I made a matching rashie for her second swimsuit, in the hopes that she will wear it when she goes to the beach with her friends.  Fashion is more important to her than sun protection at the moment, so I can only hope.  The rashie was made with Jalie 3668.  She wanted something longer than the cropped version and shorter than the full length version, so I started with the longer version and cut it to length.  (The cropped version is tighter fitting around the midriff.)  I was struggling to fit the sleeves on my fabric, so they are finished with a long cuff.

The matching bikini top is a mash up of Jalie 3672 & Jalie 3247.  When I bought patterns 3672 and 3673 from their latest collection, I was hoping that they had interchangeable top and bottom pieces, for the leotard and unitard, but unfortunately they don't seem to.  They each have a similar shaped seamline separating the top and bottom parts of the pattern, but it appears to be in a different location for each.

Making my niece swimmers for her birthday has become a tradition.  This next pair is based on Jalie 3247, with modifications to the neckline to match the higher necklines that are fashionable at the moment.  The bikini bottoms are based off a RTW pair I traced off several years ago..

This next project was a bit of fun.  My brother-in-law loves doughnuts, so I made him these briefs from the leftovers of last year's swimsuit for my niece.  The pattern is the boxer briefs designed by Joost of Makemypattern.  I haven't actually seen them on, so I can't make comment on the fit, but they have been worn and I haven't heard any complaints!

The next swimsuit is mine.  It is based on the Lily Sage Splash Swimsuit.  I made a couple of changes.  Initially I was only going to change the straps by crossing the neck straps over at the back and looping them through a loop where the side strap would attach and tying it at the CB.  This was so that I wouldn't have a tie at my neck, which always gives me a headache.  

Then I was worried about being so pear shaped.  I could easily choose a different size for the top half and the bottom half, but being high-waisted, I thought the small top on the full bottom might not be to my advantage.  Then I took inspiration from a Mara Hoffman swimsuit, which is very similar to the Splash swimsuit, but has smaller cutouts and a different back tie.

Here is how I changed the pattern.  I lengthened the pattern, possibly a tad too much.  I really need the length in my bottom half, but I added to the top half instead to do some more pear balancing out.  I extended the sides.  I got the angle of this a bit wrong, forgetting that side seams are sloped and not straight up and down.  The fold in the pattern below is what I probably should have done.  The photo below is for the lining.  The gathered outer pattern was a little trickier.  I nearly eliminated the gathered pattern and went to use the lining as outer, but because I was using a plain fabric for the top half, I thought the gathers would add a bit of textural interest.

I also added a shelf bra to the pattern, shown in the photo below.  It is okay, but it would be better if it was 1 cm longer and I pulled the elastic tighter.  For the facing behind the loops, I used a non-stretch lingerie mesh, to give some lightweight support to this area, as well as neatening up all those loop attachments.  The Mara Hoffman suit is reversible, so her loops are neatly hidden inside two layers.

The straps are not the neatest.  

This is what it looks like on.  The top half is not as taut as I would like, but if I shortened the bodice and adjusted the pattern as outlined above, I think I would get a better result.  You would not know how pear shaped my measurements are from the back view.  

All up, this suit was a lot of work and it has not ended upas  my favourite, but it is good to mix things up from year to year.  The flamingos are fun.

Next up is a rashie for me.  It is not the most flattering photo, as you can see that the waist elastic in my swimsuit is too tight, but I wanted to talk about it all the same, and this is the photo I have.  The pattern is Jalie 3668 again, with a square shoulder adjustment.  The most interesting bit is that the fabric is a thermo lycra from funkifabrics, with a fluffy underside for insulation.  I have always been a wuss for cold water, and my years living up north haven't helped.  The September holidays are always too cold for me to swim but we often end up at a beach anyway.  This thermo fabric really worked.  It kept me warmer in the water, and even better, it kept me warm when I was already wet and standing only knee deep in the water to watch the kids swim.

I got a lot done in my swimwear sewing marathon, but I didn't get everything made that I wanted.  The boy and the girl each have fabric for one more suit and I wanted to sew the girl a new leotard at the same time.  I love the funkifabrics, but they don't last especially long, so it might be better to sew their third suits mid-swim season anyway.  My oldest child has swimming for PE this term and doesn't own a swimsuit at all, but he doesn't like to wear my sewing, so I will just buy RTW for him.

Swimwear 2016

It is only 2 weeks off swimming sign-up, and I have ordered a heap of funkifabrics ready to make the kids new swimmers...and I haven't even blogged last year's makes.  Here we go...

I made this first pair to go on a beach holiday.  I love the fabric, which I got from Tessuti, and originally wanted to make a more elaborate design that I was trying to design / muslin.  But it was the day before the holiday, I was trying to get the kids to pack and help sort out the house, and there may have been shouting.   I decided to cut my losses and go with this simple halter design, that I originally got from Stuart's patternschool site. 

I left the fabric of the neckband raw, as halter necks tend to give me headaches, and this seems to reduce that.  A bit softer on the neck.  I used a picot elastic for the neck edge.

This next pair looks great, at 6 in the morning, but as the day goes on and my tummy swells up, the little diamonds do some sort of distortion thing and it doesn't look so good.  I should have put a ruched panel on the front.  The fabric is from my stash, but was originally marked Anna & Boy from the Fabric Store.  The pattern is Jalie 3350 .  I like the twisty bit and will make this again.

I made this next pair to swim laps in.  The idea is to do laps once a week, but in reality, it is the first thing I drop when I get tired or busy.  The fabric is from Funki fabrics.  The pattern could be my own, or adapted from a Jalie, I can't remember.  The kids took a photo of me wearing these at a rockpool one day, and it was less than flattering.  Probably should not wear bikinis in public.  There weren't many people there and usually there are only 2 or 3 people at the pool when I do my laps.

The next two pairs were for my son.  The fabric is from Funkifabrics and the pattern is my man-i-fied version of Jalie 2563.

This next pair was for my daughter.   It was adapted from OOP Jalie 2564 to have a higher neckline, which seems to be the current fashion.  I made another pair in donut fabric for her cousin, which she wore out, so then I made a second donut pair, but I don't seem to have any photos.  A daughter of a friend in the swim squad liked these city scape ones, so I made her a pair in the left over fabric.

We love the new prints from Funkifabrics and are all set to make the next round!!

Coverstitch Binding in the Round

I have an amazing tutorial for you today.  Well, nearly amazing.  Not quite perfect, but I haven't seen another tutorial like this out there.

And, like many improvements, born out of necessity.

I forgot to bind the neckline of my sports bra before sewing the shoulder seams together.  It was a new pattern and I was having lots of issues with it, so I just forgot.

So this is what I did.

I stay-stitched a short line the width of the binding and made a clip.

The I went to the cover-stitch machine and started binding at the clip.  In the photo below, you can see that I am holding the section above the clip out of the way.

Continue binding all the way around.  Fold the start binding out of the way as you finish.

Here it is off the machine.  This is the less than amazing bit.  You can see that my start is not perfect.

Trim the ends of the binding.  Fold garment right sides together so that you can sew the ends of the binding together.  Using a hump jumper will help the ends stay aligned as you sew this together. Here is my bonus tip for the day.  I have a hump jumper, but you can also use the plastic case that sewing needles come in, as it is a good height for this (and usually on hand!)

This is what is looks like now.

Trim the ends, press open (well, I didn't actually press, but it conveys the action required) and stitch down (again using a hump jumper) .

From the wrong side.

And the right side.  You can see that it is not quite perfect because of my start, but this was my first time and I will get better :).

The completed neckline.

It is actually neater than when I bind before sewing the shoulder seams because it all lines up better.  I can see myself using this technique a lot in the future. especially on leotards and swimmers for my daughter.