Mom's Suit!

After all that practicing on the kids suits, it was time to upgrade my own.  I made myself a swimdress last year but have greatly modified the pattern(s) since then.  I had a growing mental list of the things I wanted in my next suit and felt I had practiced enough to give it another whirl.

Here it is!  

Shorts for underneath the swimdress top:  

A nice cap sleeve:  

A nice neckline:

I topstitched this with the twin needle but ended up picking it out.  It lays much better without the extra topstitching.  The bodice portion of the dress is lined so the neckline is a nice serged seam on the interior.  It looks so nice, lays so nice, and is so easy that maybe I'll just line the kids suits rather than messing around with a finished neckline.

And...(insert 'gulp' here for posting myself online)...here is what it looks like on!  

Overall, I'm very happy with it.  

Things I like:  

1.  Fabric is good.  It looks better as a finished suit than it did on the bolt.  I haven't used my favorite fabric yet for fear that it didn't turn out. :) 

2.  Pattern making and the actual construction went very well.  I LOVE my serger and am getting better at sewing with lycra.  

Things I don't like: 

1.  The shape of the neckline.  Its MUCH better since I tore out the topstitching, but I altered the shape of the neckline from my original pattern and I think I like the original better.  We'll see how it feels when I wear it for actual swimming but for the 'ultimate suit' I will probably switch back to the other neckline which is ever-so-slightly higher.  Maybe not.  When I tried it on last night I didn't like the neckline at all and was disappointed because everything else about the suit was good and I can't remake the neckline without starting over.  But today when I took out the topstitching and tried it on for pictures I thought it was just fine.  Time will tell I guess.  

2.  There is a bit of wrinkling right at the waistline.  Its pretty snug.  :)  I'll have to see if it gets looser with wear and washing, or tighter.  Tighter would be a problem.  The kids suits seem to get a bit looser with wear so if that holds true it should be just right after a few trips to the pool.  It could also be the lining of the bodice causing the wrinkles, I'm not sure.  

So, there you have it!  Off to the pool we go!  

Cryptic notes to self for next time:

- I used size small as a starting point.  Depending on whether it shrinks or relaxes I might have to start with medium.  Its very snug right after construction, and that is with small seam allowances.  I started with 5/8'' SA an it was way too snug then.  Had to rip out the basting and go with smaller SA.  

- Sewing order:  shoulder seams of lining.  shoulder seams of bodice.  Lay those two RST and serge around neckline hole.  Serge lining side seams.  Then serge dress side seams.  Turn RSO. Then serge armhole openings of lining and bodice together into one piece.  Then zig zag stitched sleeve to serged armhole.  

 - Finishes:  Sleeves are single fold over and topstitch with double needle. Bottom hem is serge, fold a good sized hem, and then topstitch with multistep zig zag made to be long and flat.  Like the bottom better.   Tacked the lining to the dress at the side seam where the lining ends with a few zig zags.  

 - Fabric is from Mills End.  A remnant for $8/yd.  Used 3.5 yds of 60".  Needed almost all 3.5 yds in length, but had a bit leftover along the bottom/selvedge.