Swimwear!

I spend a lot of time during the summer at the pool, and I like to vary which suits I wear each day.  I also wear rash guards so that adds more variety to my swim wardrobe.  The 3 suits I wear the most are my 2 versions of Jalie 3023, in blue (blogged here) and red polka dots (blogged here).  I also wear this one, which is a Jalie 3023 skirted bottom and a Jalie 2563 sport bra top.  

Link

Link

Link

Link

I love tankinis and wanted to make a new one in a different style.  I wound up copying a RTW suit I had that fit well, but whose elastic was showing its age and whose straps were stretching out.  For the top front, I copied the RTW suit, and for the back I used Jalie 3023 raising up the back to eliminate the back band.  I cut the straps extra-long so that I could decide later if I wanted them to cross in the back or not. 

The bikini bottoms I copied directly from my RTW suit, and once I tried it on, it was a little blousy on the back (I’ve never had that problem before!) and I removed some of the length between the legs by taking an extra large seam at the crotch.  There is still a little bit of extra fabric but it is acceptable as is. (Sorry: no photos of the bottoms). The fabric was a printed spandex from SpandexWorld.com that I bought quite a while ago and had been saving for something special.

As I said before, I wear rash guards at the pool since I don’t want to tan/age prematurely.  My current collection of rash guards, most of which were purchased from Land’s End, are starting to wear out.  The fabric in several spots have worn thin and they need to be replaced.  I have made one rash guard for myself using Jalie 2566, (blogged here).  Searching on Pinterest for some rash guard inspiration, I noticed that most of the ones I liked had raglan sleeves.  I owned Jalie 3245, the raglan tee and tank pattern but had only made the tank.  I traced off a size V (2 sizes smaller than I would normally) and raised the neckline up to be much higher for a rash guard.  For the sleeve and back, I used the size FF neckline.  The front needed to be raised up even higher than the FF level.   I did a quick muslin and was happy with the fit.  Instead of doing Jalie’s method for the neck binding (which is quite clever) I cut a 2” wide band and folded it in half lengthwise, for a Renfrew-style neck binding.  I also made the sleeves full length. 

The fabric is a very pretty navy background with dark turquoise rose and leaves.  I purchased it from Hancock Fabrics before they closed their doors for good (sniff sniff).  I absolutely love how it turned out!

(the sleeves are all twisted because I was already wet when it put this on!) 

A New Swimsuit

Here is a quick post showing photos of my latest swimsuit.  The skirted bottoms are Jalie 3023, and the top is  Jalie 2563 (view B).  I used a stained glass patterned spandex from SpandexWorld.com.

Here are IRL photos of me poolside in Cancun!

The only changes I made to the bottoms were to raise the waistband and to lengthen the skirt.  The top was made without changes.

Back to vacation!

More Red...just not for me

After celebrating an excellent Fourth of July, both of my daughters realized the wisdom in my words "Reapply sunscreen!"  My eldest had been complaining about her current rash guard being too small and didn't want to wear it.  (tsk tsk)
I had her search through my spandex stash to find something she liked which I could make into a rash guard and bikini bottoms.  She chose the red polka dots which I used for my most recent Jalie 3023:

 

I had only purchased 1 yard of the polka dots so there wasn't enough to make an entire rash guard from it, but I was able to make the bottoms of Jalie 2447 in size M.

 

 

 

The bottoms come in either a high or normal waist version.  From previous experience I knew that the high waist version is quite high...about belly-button high.  I cut the high waist anyway knowing that I could trim it down before adding the elastic.  My eldest thought that the high waist was indeed too high and I trimmed it down 1.25" before adding the elastic.   After finishing the briefs, I made a solid red rash guard for her from Jalie 2566 with a raised neckline and lengthened sleeves.   I had enough polka dot scraps to make the neck band and sleeve bands (Renfrew-style) to up the style factor.

 

 



 I topstitched the seam allowances down using a chain-stitch on my coverstitch machine.

 

So there you go...more red threads.  If this keeps up I will soon need a new huge spool of red thread!  

 



A Polka-Dot Tankini: Jalie 3023

It's summertime so I am sewing swimsuits again!  I have made another Jalie 3023 Tankini.

Jalie 3023

My first one was made last March and I still love and wear it all the time:



First Version: Blogged Here

 I got the idea into my head that I really really wanted a red polka dot swimsuit, and so this one was born:

 



Ta Da!  I made only tiny changes on this version.  First, I raised the waistband of the bottoms by 1/2".  Second, I lengthened the skirt by 1"; I think the skirt hits my hips/thighs in a better spot now.  Third:  I added powermesh to the front waistband.  It now acts like a little tummy smoother which is awesome!

 

Once again I'm glad I made the little tutorial about the strap assembly and construction.  I referred back to it before I started sewing and it was a good refresher which sped up my sewing considerably. 

 

For this version, I used white for the waistband just for some fun contrast.  :) 

 

Bring on Summer!

 



Me Made May 2013: The Finale

I made it!

I, Meigan of Get My Stitch On sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '13. I endeavor to wear at least one item of handmade clothing 5 days of the week for the duration of May 2013'

I only took 2 days off the entire month!  Yay me!

Last week I did up the ante and pledge to wear a skirt at least one of the 3 remaining days, and to prove my commitment, I wore one twice instead!

Here is what I wore on the final days:

Day 29: unfortunately no photo from that day but I wore my Kwik Sew 3341 skirt, (which I also wore on day 19 as seen here) but this time I wore a red RTW tee shirt.

Days 30-31:

Day 30: Another Skirt!  McCall's 6654 which is possibly the simplest thing I have ever made.  It is an A-line knit skirt with an elastic waistband.  I made the entire thing on my serger (my regular machine was in for repairs) and I finished the hem with a lettuce edge hem.  It's one of those patterns that I had trouble believing I actually spent money on it is so simple.  Look a the line drawings:

I made view G in a size 18.  So stinkin' easy!

Day 31 is a 2 part-er:  I wore my purple burnout renfrew (again), and went to the beach in the afternoon where I wore my second Jalie 3023 bathing suit.  I do wish I had cut the skirt longer, but I was too quick with the rotary cutter.  Oh well...

So that's it!  Me Made May Mission Accomplished!

Those Jalie 3023 Bathing Suit Straps!!

I made another Jalie 3023 bathing suit.  This time, thanks to a suggestion in a comment on my original suit, I took some photos of the strap attachment which was the only confusing part of the whole process.  Hopefully this little walk through will shed some light on things.  One thing to remember is that the seam allowances are all 1/4" (6mm) on this pattern.

Starting at the 3rd bullet under the "Straps" Section: (I will copy the pattern instructions & show them in  italics and my notes will be normal font)

• Pin right side of strap to wrong side of armscye as shown, matching:
• Marks with neckline/armscye corner (my note: aka edge of bodice at top of yoke) and side seams
• Strap center back seam with center back of tank top (mark the center back of the bodice too)

Here you can just see my little blue mark on the strap lined up wit the top of the front yoke.

Right side of strap is touching the wrong side of bodice.  

Pin like crazy and stitch.   

•  Fold upper part of strap (unsewn above neckline) by 6mm (1/4") to wrong side and pin

Flip your seam open (the seam allowances will be toward the right side of the fabric).  

Then pin 1/4" or 6mm of the upper strap toward the wrong side as shown and pin like mad.

What you are doing is folding all of the raw edges of the strap toward the inside of the strap.

• Fold strap wrong sides together, butting raw edges and pin

Fold the strap.  Bring the unsewn raw edge to the edge of the seam allowance (remember this is 1/4") at the bodice and to the small 1/4" (6mm) folded bit that you pinned in the previous step.  

See how all of the raw edges will find themselves safely tucked inside the finished strap? 

A closeup of the above step 

• Fold wide part over narrow part to hide the (original strap-to-bodice) stitch, pin and topstitch with right side of tank facing up

Folded and pinned 

Seam allowance and narrow folded part are now tucked inside the strap

 Topstitched.  I used a twin stretch needle.

Pinning and adjusting the straps is pretty self explanatory, so I'll skip going through those steps.  And there you go, the tricky part is done!  I hope my photos and step-by-step helps you out!!

\

TA-Da!

Look what I have CREATED!

Let it be known that this morning, March 12, 2013 at 9:02am Eastern Daylight Time, something unexpectedly wonderful was born. 

This is EXACTLY how I feel about my latest creation:

Are you ready?  I, Meigan, made...a...bathing suit!  An Awesome Bathing Suit.  It is so awesome that I am posting photos of me wearing it (and without makeup).  Presenting...Jalie 3023:

Seriously, it is an awesome pattern.  It is a 2 piece suit, the bottoms have an optional skirt, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

Side View

Yes, it is 2 pieces

This is the pattern (my first Jalie!!):

I bought the fabric from Spandex World which sounds like a sketchy place, but it has a great selection of swimwear fabric.  

What else can I say?  Oh!  The sizing on the pattern is very good.  One thing to note is where they show the hip measurement to be taken.  For me, it's more at my high hip.  The widest part of my hip is a bit lower, unfortunately it's right about where the skirt ends, but the briefs underneath are perfect.  Due to my particular shape, including my 'athletic thighs', the skirt is a tiny bit tight (since it's stretchy, hardly noticeable), so next time I may flare the skirt out a bit more to give me a bit more room and make it so the skirt won't have the tendency to ride up.

There is top-stitching along the contrast bands which I did with a twin needle.  There is also top-stitching at the top of the (blue) bodice.  Once I did finished top-stitching, the front became a little wavy whereas it wasn't before.  It's not terrible by any means, but I may not top-stitch there next time.  I stitched bra cups to interior lining with a zig-zag stitch.  

So how do I feel about this suit?

Like this:

That is some serious Swimsuit Love!!