Tropical Bikini

Pattern: McCall's Misses Two-Piece Bathing Suits #M5861
Fabric: spandex/lycra and lining
Cost: $20



Ever since I made my first bathing suit I've been itching to make another one. I wanted to try a slightly different style, gather the front a little more to give it a bit of shape, fix some of the imperfections...

I was stuck, however, with the fabric I had chosen: a green modern print that looked cool but didn't seem to fit any of the styles I wanted. You see, I was itching for something girly: maybe some lace, maybe some rouching, maybe some details. And even though I had bought matching green fabric for piping, nothing seemed to work.

So I pulled out some back-up fabric, a red and white zebra stripe that I bought at the discount fabric store after being oddly inspired by my mom's friend, who makes surfer-style skirts from bathing suit fabric. Having finally decided that I was not going to follow her in to the retail business, this fabric lay idle: I am usually inspired by great prints, and often have have the hardest time seeing potential in the moe plain ones. But when I began to play around with it (and to ignore the heart/flower border print), I got inspired to make my next swim suit. When gathered, the swiggly lines become stripes, and this bathing suit takes on an almost nautical look.

I had already decided that this version would be padded, so I picked up some bathing suit-appropriate ones along with my chlorine-proof elastic and trimmed them to fit. The fabric being from the discount store, I also quickly discovered that this piece would need to be FULLY lined top and bottom in order to protect my privacy.

While my machine did not appreciate the elastic and lycra combo, after lots of pushing, prodding and some seam ripping I got the job done. The bottoms look much better on than the do lying flat because of the gathering (and seam difficulty), but you will have to wait for that when I come back from Mexico!! Bon voyage :)


2 comments:

  1. Hi Meg, I absolutely LOVE your bikini and have linked to your blog in my latest blog entry.

    http://hand-quilter.blogspot.com/2010/12/itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny.html

    Sam xox

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Meg, not sure if my last comment worked? It looks like it has disappeared. I just wanted to say I love this bikini and it has inspired me to make one. I have linked to your blog in my latest post.
    http://hand-quilter.blogspot.com

    Sam xox

    ReplyDelete

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