Last of Summer with the Lawren

As our first winter storm rolls through, I'm sharing the last of my summer sewing - another bathing suit!


Pattern: Madalynne's Lawren Bodysuit
Fabric: 1 yd printed spandex +  nylon-spandex tricot and nylon-spandex power net
Cost: $25

The star of this garment is this amazing printed spandex I found online. It has a vintage, rockabilly ocean feel to it. Clearly it wanted to be a bathing suit, and I had the perfect trip to Vegas to show it off. Unfortunately, we decided to cancel because of Delta and so it sat in the closet for a bit. 




After some re-thinking, I decided to make it up in the Madalynne Lawren Bodysuit. I had ordered a coordinating solid navy and mesh fabric to go with it, and the Lawren offers a lot of opportunities to play with the different fabrics. 

The Lawren was originally designed for lace fabric, so I had to make a few modifications. Whereas lace has a beautiful scalloped edge, I had to add a seam allowance to the front edges of my pattern pieces so that I could fold the raw edges under as I sewed. I did leave the mesh leg ruffles unhemmed as they lay flat just fine. Rather than scalloped lingerie elastic, I finished everything with cotton swim elastic and folded it under.



Madalynne has a wonderful eye for beautiful lingerie and the cut of this pattern is very flattering. It conforms nicely to the curve of my back and I really like the sexy cut of the legs and the sheer front panel. 

Her execution, on the other hand, can be a bit sloppy. There were a few places where the pattern pieces don't match up well at all: the back crotch is nearly half an inch wider than the front it attaches to, and the crotch lining is the width as well. And the seam lines where the top half meets the bottom at the belly button don't line up, even on her pattern sample photos online. She also doesn't include garment measurements for how tall the piece is. I'm 5'7" with a long torso and should have known better, but I had to re-cut the bottom piece and extend it nearly 2 inches to fit. 




Despite these challenges, I had a lot of fun making this using my coordinating fabrics and it was relatively quick to sew, even correcting for some of the pattern errors. I'm hoping it provides a bit of sun protection to my shoulders, and it has already served me well out in the kayak. In fact, it was so warm when I took these photos that I took a quick dip and it works nicely for a swim, too. Here's me having what felt like a "Bond girl" moment. 


2 comments:

  1. you are turning into a swimsuit specialist! looks great. and your new photo locations are fantastic too!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love the fabric you used for this with the tattoo patterns, great idea, very nice design choice too.

    ReplyDelete

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