Belle of the ball (or pool…)

After my last swimsuit success, I was looking forward to trying my hand at sewing another suit, this time with some really gorgeous custom swim fabric from the Magical round over at Pink Zeppelin Fabrics.

When a group puts up fabrics for their strike off seamstresses, there is usually an opportunity to chime in and ask for certain bases, prints etc. This round has a princess/magical theme, with Unicorns and Beauty and the Beast prints, which are all adorable (see some of the amazing work from the other seamstresses here), but I was really, really hoping to get this burgundy and gold damask in swim to make myself another suit.

I pretty much held my breath until the choices were announced, and then got busy printing and planning my outfit and photoshoot. Right when the fabric arrived in my mailbox, George and Ginger released their new rash guard pattern, and I knew I HAD to change my plans and sew up the cropped version as a swim top.

I was even more impressed with the fabric in person- the print has a subtle watercolor/stripe effect, and the golden damask is just stunning. I was almost afraid to cut into it, but I’m so glad I did!

Sewing with custom swim was even easier than sewing with “regular” swim- it seemed less slippery and slightly thicker, which was nice. I know there’s a tendency to choose inexpensive fabrics for your first attempt at something, but in the case of swim, I’d recommend trying some nice thick custom first instead. The good news is that despite the increased cost of custom fabrics, a little goes a long way when making a swimsuit (which are comparatively so expensive in Ready to Wear), so you don’t have to order much! I got both the Rashie and the bottoms out of 1 yard, and if you’re making a kids suit, you might be able to get two sets out of a single yard.

Since I had a little trouble with the construction of the Ultimate Bikini Bottoms last time (though the fit was good), I chose the Jalie Gigi Bottoms instead- that side detail is just so cute, and I usually have good luck with Jalie Patterns. They didn’t disappoint, and very quick to construct! The fit is spot on, and not too cheeky!

The Rashguard pattern sewed up nicely as well- the construction is very well explained and the result is very stylish. The underarms do feel a little high/tight on me, so next time I’ll try grading out a size there. If I were truly surfing in this though, that would be an advantage, as its not going to ride up and would keep me well covered.

I had the bright idea of taking our photoshoot to a friend’s pool (still haven’t convinced my husband to put in one of our own), which was NOT heated. It was about 60 degrees outside, and much cooler in the water, but I think we’ve already established that I’ll do anything for a good photo (see evidence here).

We also sprinkled fake rose petals in the water, which seemed like a good idea at the time, but quickly became problematic as they sank and we had to go diving down to get them all out!

Aftewards, I really felt like I’d earned my slices of pizza and ice cream- had to replace the calories lost keeping myself warm!

Don’t miss out on this pre order and creating your own “magical” outfits. Closes 5/15! Order HERE.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve done for a photo (sewing related or not)?

 

 

Get notified of new posts via email


7 Comments

  1. Brenda on May 11, 2017 at 1:09 pm

    Very nice…and the rose petals make the floating picture perfect!! Thanks for suffering for us!!

    • Sarah on May 11, 2017 at 3:07 pm

      Thank you Brenda- it was worth it! But it took a lot of pizza to recover!

  2. Abbey on May 11, 2017 at 1:32 pm

    This whole photoshoot was fantastic! The fabric does look really nice made up too.

    • Sarah on May 11, 2017 at 3:06 pm

      Thank you Abbey!

    • Sarah on May 12, 2017 at 5:14 pm

      Thank you Abbey! We have fun doing them (usually!)

  3. […] actually made the Gigi bottoms before (here), and I knew I loved the fit. They show just enough cheek to avoid feeling matronly (which is NOT […]

  4. […] Emboldened by my success, I sewed up another suit using some gorgeous custom knit (here). […]

Leave a Reply Cancel Reply