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I have quite the collection of Pitt Trading goodies - kits, fabric, habby… but I hadn’t worked up the courage to make anything with it all. This is despite there being a really cute selection of bralette and knickers patterns also available from the Lingerie Society. Anyway! I jumped at the chance when Julia put the call out for gifted fabric in return for a blog post. It turns out this was just the motivation I needed to get stuck in to some swimwear sewing. Living somewhere as hot as Darwin with a water-loving toddler means I go through quite a few sets of swimwear in a week. In addition to this they need to be sturdy and appropriate for corralling said toddler in around the pool. I’ve heard nothing but good things about the Megan Nielsen Cottesloe pattern so I decided to use this pattern for my first ever swimwear sewing attempt. I selected pattern view D, the bikini top and the high-waisted bottoms. According to my measurements and those given for the pattern, I needed a size 2 top, and size 6 bottoms with an 8 waist. I found it very simple to grade between sizes and this gave me exactly the fit I need. The pattern is extremely flattering while still giving me the coverage I want over my butt, and most importantly I don’t get the dreaded wedgie! Hooray!
Now for the fun part; the fabric! I used an absolutely gorgeous teal lycra. The photos do not do this fabric justice. It has just the perfect amount of sheen/shimmer without being flashy, and it really is the perfect colour for my skin tone and hair. The handy thing about the Megan Nielsen pattern packets is that they have a stretch ruler printed on the back so it takes al the guesswork out of selecting the right fabric. You won’t have this problem when buying from Pitt Trading though - just send a message to the ever-lovely and helpful Julia and she’ll make sure that the fabric is right for the job! As well as the swim fabric, I fully lined my togs with black swim lining, and I used the swimwear elastic also offered by Pitt Trading.
One last thing I will mention for the benefit of future swimwear sewers is to have a few different needles and threads on hand before beginning. My usual needle and thread combo for this kind of fabric was a big fail, but luckily I found a lighter weight (75) stretch needle and Rasant thread were perfect.
I highly recommend that you take the plunge before summer is over and make yourself some new swimwear
Thanks Bec! You can check out Becs makes over in Instagram @ becsewsthings