Swimsuit Redo

And here we have a re-do.  

We learned that water, sidewalk chalk, and clothing do not mix.  Leah was playing in the pool, switched to sidewalk chalk, and got her new homemade swimming suit covered in chalk.  I didn't think anything of it, as she often gets clothes covered in chalk whilst making murals on the driveway.  Much to my chagrin, whereas dry chalk dust comes right out in the wash, wet chalk stains permanently.  I tried everything I could think of to get blue chalk out of her cute new pink suit but nothing worked.  Very annoying.  I just couldn't stomach sending her to swimming lessons in a new, homemade, yet stained suit so I had to make another one.  Thankfully I had JUST enough fabric left from the original purchase to eek out another dress portion.  There was a slight stain on the shorts too but that'll just have to stay.

The silver lining is that I got to try out another neckline finishing technique.  It worked okay and looks nice but its a little tight going over her head.  So I guess I have to either do the same finishing technique on a larger neckline hole or go back a different way to finish it.   Its not the best photo but I wanted to 'write down' how I tweak these suits to keep track for next time.

Boring details so I can remember what I did later...
 Elastic filled binding, similar to the binding on the pink and teal playdresses:
1.  Cut approx. 2'' wide strip and sew around neckline, quartermarking.
2.  Sew elastic on top of what was just stitched. (Just because its too tricky to sew the elastic on as the strip is being sewn on.)  No tension on elastic.
3.  Single fold over and topstitch with twin needle.
It lays nice and flat but is a bit too tight of an opening for the head.

I just did a single fold-over and zig zagged the armholes on this one because the above procedure busted my twin needle.  :(   Apparently you can't backstitch with a twin needle.  Lesson learned and won't be soon forgotten as those fancy needles are $5 a pop.

I'm almost thinking the swimwear elastic is overkill on these suits.  The lycra is so stretchy on its own and the suits aren't supertight like a competitive swimsuit would be.  I'll have to think about that one for a while.  These armholes with no elastic have held up just fine through a week of swimming lessons.  We'll see.  Practice makes perfect.