Pattern: Madalynne's Free Sierra Bra + Modified McCall's M5681
Fabric: swimsuit lycra
Cost: $15
Greetings summerlings! This past weekend I snuck away for a girls weekend in the foothills of California. No cell phone reception, no wifi, and no work! We stayed in the river all day, stayed up all night, and drank more than a little tequila. It was heaven! And, of course, I made a new bathing suit for the occasion, which is also making an appearance today on the BERNINA blog.
The top is the free Sierra Bra pattern from Madalynne modified into a swimsuit. The bottoms are a version of McCall's M5681 that I have been making for so long they are barely recognizable from the original pattern, but they fit great. To do the ruching, I just stretch a length of swimwear elastic down the center back and zig-zag in place.
I've been wanting to try the Sierra pattern as a bathing suit forever, but I waited for summer as an excuse to sew it up. The wraparound style is something I've seen a lot on Pinterest, and it's a fun detail to use on something that will actually get seen by others.
The pattern as drafted is a compression style bra, with no elastic at the bottom under the bust. I much prefer to have some elastic there to keep everything in place, so I added some along the entire bottom edge. It's nice to have that extra security, which is especially important on a swimsuit! With this modification, I found that the bra didn't need to be pulled quite as tight to provide compression, and actually had to be extended along the back straps to fit comfortably. I am 32" at the full bust and cut a size medium, but with the elastic pulling the suit tighter I added 2" on either side of the clasp. This was done after the fact, so you may be able to see the addition on either side of the clasp in the photo above. By joining the elastic neatly, it is concealed nicely but not invisible.
Ironically, for the bottoms I have found that I often don't like elastic along the leg openings. As cut, my pattern fits pretty snug there so I just hemmed the leg openings and left as is. On a different style, however, I would add it back in.
Here are the full front and back views:
The pattern as drafted is a compression style bra, with no elastic at the bottom under the bust. I much prefer to have some elastic there to keep everything in place, so I added some along the entire bottom edge. It's nice to have that extra security, which is especially important on a swimsuit! With this modification, I found that the bra didn't need to be pulled quite as tight to provide compression, and actually had to be extended along the back straps to fit comfortably. I am 32" at the full bust and cut a size medium, but with the elastic pulling the suit tighter I added 2" on either side of the clasp. This was done after the fact, so you may be able to see the addition on either side of the clasp in the photo above. By joining the elastic neatly, it is concealed nicely but not invisible.
Ironically, for the bottoms I have found that I often don't like elastic along the leg openings. As cut, my pattern fits pretty snug there so I just hemmed the leg openings and left as is. On a different style, however, I would add it back in.
Here are the full front and back views:
Unlike my first several swimsuits, this year's and last year's are definitely winners. I learned to not set the elastic in too tight, and everything fits much better. This year I also got to use my new BERNINA coverstitch for all the hems. If you have a coverstitch machine and are thinking about doing lingerie or swimwear with it, I have a post about sewing swimwear elastic up on the We All Sew blog today. Learning to sew on a coverstitch has been exciting but challenging. It feels like learning to sew all over again, and took a lot of patience for my first swimsuit.
The finished suit was perfect for hanging out at the river, and tolerated everything from napping in an inner tube to jumping off rocks. Definitely a fun suit if you have a small bust.
The finished suit was perfect for hanging out at the river, and tolerated everything from napping in an inner tube to jumping off rocks. Definitely a fun suit if you have a small bust.
**GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED**
And now for the giveaway! If you would like to sew your own swimsuit (either this summer or next!), I'm giving away 5 yards of my favorite 1/4" cotton swimwear elastic to one lucky winner! Here are the ways you can enter:
And now for the giveaway! If you would like to sew your own swimsuit (either this summer or next!), I'm giving away 5 yards of my favorite 1/4" cotton swimwear elastic to one lucky winner! Here are the ways you can enter:
- Simply follow me here (if you don't already) and leave a comment to enter. Share your favorite swim pattern if you can!
- You can also get an additional entry for following me and commenting on Instagram here.
And please make sure I can click through to your contact info or leave your email in the comment. I will close the contest at the end of the day Friday, August 12 PST and ship it right off to you. The contest is open to all countries!
